Christmas Day, 1974
Cyclone Tracy struck Darwin overnight on 24–25 December 1974, making landfall in the early hours of Christmas Day. Winds were recorded at 217 km/h at Darwin Airport before the anemometer itself was destroyed by the storm; some estimates place the peak gusts considerably higher. The cyclone moved slowly, taking several hours to pass over the city, by which time the vast majority of Darwin's homes and essential services had been destroyed.
Darwin's population at the time was around 47,000. In the days that followed, an emergency evacuation removed tens of thousands of residents from the city — one of the largest civilian airlifts in Australian history. TAA, Ansett, Qantas, Connellan Airways, the Royal Australian Air Force and the Royal Australian Navy were all involved, alongside aircraft sent from New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Indonesia and the United States.
Note: early reporting in the immediate aftermath (including an emergency edition of the Northern Territory News printed on 26 December 1974) put the death toll at 37, with more than 100 people still missing. This figure was revised upward in the weeks that followed as search and recovery continued.
The official toll for Cyclone Tracy, which struck Darwin on Christmas Day in 1974, is 66 people (with some historical tallies and estimates citing up to 71, including 45 on land and 21 to 23 at sea).
Bureau of Meteorology report on Cyclone Tracy.
First In
The first commercial aircraft into Darwin after the cyclone was a TAA Fokker F27 Friendship, VH-TQT, operating flight TN 556. The aircraft had departed Alice Springs that morning on a scheduled service via Tennant Creek, with Captain Ray Vuillermin, First Officer Tony Burgess and Flight Attendants Debbie Marker and Marie Willis on board.
At Tennant Creek, and again at Katherine, the crew learned that severe weather had struck Darwin overnight. At Katherine, their scheduled passengers were taken off the aircraft, and medical staff and equipment were loaded instead — the flight continued toward Darwin carrying a doctor and nursing staff rather than its original passenger list.
Unable to raise Darwin air traffic control, the crew continued their approach in fair visibility and found a city that Captain Vuillermin later described as at least 80% destroyed, with debris scattered across the runways. A Royal Australian Air Force airfield safety officer, working from his vehicle's radio, guided the aircraft to a clear area where it could land safely.
Not long after, an Ansett F27 landed, followed by a RAAF C-130 Hercules carrying Major-General Alan Stretton, who had been appointed by the Federal Government to lead the recovery effort. General Stretton recognised immediately that the fastest way to evacuate Darwin's population was by air, and asked the TAA crew — after a rest — to fly out pregnant women and newborn babies to hospital care in Brisbane.
Commissioned for the 50th Anniversary
To mark the 50th anniversary of Cyclone Tracy in 2024, the Museum commissioned aviation artist Alan Swann to capture TAA's role in the evacuation in three original paintings, now on permanent display.
"First In" depicts VH-TQT taxiing into the devastated airport, negotiating debris on taxiway Charlie with the assistance of a "follow me" vehicle. "First Out" imagines the boarding of VH-TQT's cargo of mothers and newborns on Boxing Day — the earliest departing evacuation flight, and the reason for the painting's title — with a RAAF doctor assisting evacuees toward a damaged mobile staircase rescued from the wreckage. "The Great Airlift" shows Boeing 727 VH-TBG "Charles Sturt" loading passengers on the Darwin tarmac beneath the airport's iconic water tower during one of its three Adelaide evacuation flights.
The Museum's research into this story — drawing on TAA's own staff magazines This Air Age and Network, contemporary reporting in the Northern Territory News, and first-hand recollections gathered from former TAA staff — was led by Museum volunteers Eddie Creaney and Duncan Cameron.
The painting “First In” (top right) depicts VH-TQT taxiiing into a devastated airport. Seen here in mid turn off taxiway Charlie and negotiating the debris with the help of the “follow me” car which was obscured by the aircraft and heading for the hard standing, some distance from the devastated terminal.
The painting “The Great Airlift” (middle) shows TAA’s B-727-276 VH-TBG “Charles Stewart” making one of three emergency cyclone Tracy evacuation flights from Darwin to Adelaide. It uploaded a total of 707 people from Darwin – the first flight evacuating 297 passengers was on the 29th of December a second flight of 175 passengers on the same day and the third flight evacuated 235 passengers on the 30th of December.
VH-TBG can be seen here loading passengers onthe Darwin tarmac under the iconic ATC / watertower.
The painting “First Out” (right) is from artist Alan Swann's imagination as no photo exists depicting how 32 traumatised women and 27 newborns might have been loaded onto VH- TQT on Boxing Day, perhaps arriving in a bus and using a damaged mobile stair that was rescued from the rubble. The crew are looking on in wonderment and the Captain looking towards the weather. In the background you can see severely damaged RAAF base, while the alone RAAF doctor can be seen accompanying / assisting the evacuees in the boarding process. VH-TQT departed after a RAAF Hercules on Boxing Day, but was the first commercial airliner to depart, hence the title “First Out”.
