- Before Tracy
- Previous Cyclones
- Previous Responses
- Darwin 1974
- Christmas Eve
Despite this strong historical evidence of natural and sometimes human hostility, Darwin regenerated after each disastrous episode. In the early years, rebuilding was sustained by faith in the future of northern development. By the end of the nineteenth century this faith had been dimmed by repeated failure, and South Australia had little will to restore Darwin after the 1897 cyclone. However, in 1911 the new Commonwealth Government had taken responsibility for the Northern Territory, and it quickly made good the damage caused by 1917 and 1937 disasters.
When war came to Darwin in 1942 the town was home to two distinct groups of people. The more visible and self-important group were the bureaucrats who came north for generally short terms to administer the Territory. The more committed group was made up of people who were comfortable with the Territory's cosmopolitan racial mix, and who felt that the place offered them social and economic opportunity which they could not find elsewhere. People from that second group were the first to come back to Darwin after the war, and they were to prove to be the most committed to the place after Tracy. On both occasions, it was their commitment which forced a (sometimes grudging) government commitment to the renewal of Darwin.