Photo: Janine Wells , Aileen Scott and Allen Scott sitting at Aileen and Allen’s home at Resthaven Chiton Retirement Village
This year marks the significant 50th anniversary of Cyclone Tracy, one of Australia’s most catastrophic natural disasters. On Christmas Eve of 1974, Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin, leading to unimaginable destruction and mass evacuations.
The cyclone claimed the lives of 66 people and rendered 70% of Darwin’s buildings unusable. Approximately 20,000 residents, constituting about two-thirds of the population, were forced to evacuate as the city’s infrastructure crumbled.
Aileen and Allan Scott, now residing at Resthaven Chiton Retirement Living in South Australia, lived through the disaster alongside their then-neighbour, Janine Wells. All three vividly recall the traumatic events of that fateful night.
Aileen recounted the foreboding signs before the cyclone’s arrival. “We had been getting warnings about the storm for a few days,” she recalled. Despite prior experiences with cyclones, the intensity of Cyclone Tracy was unprecedented.
Simultaneously, Janine experienced the initial stages of the storm differently. “I didn’t have a radio or anything going, and it was only when I was woken up by neighbours banging on my door around midnight that I realised something was happening,” she said.
As the storm intensified, the Scotts, along with their visiting relatives and young children, sought refuge in their home’s bathroom. The cyclone’s power was such that an air conditioning unit was wrenched from the wall and narrowly missed causing serious injury. “It doesn’t bear thinking about what would have happened if he hadn’t been leaning over the baby at that moment,” Aileen reflected on a close call involving her father.
The storm raged through the night, offering a brief yet eerie calm when the eye passed over. “It became deathly still, and the sky was completely clear,” Allan shared. This fleeting respite allowed a desperate check for community members needing aid before the cyclone resumed its fury.
Post-storm conditions were dire. Darwin was all but destroyed: houses flattened, infrastructure obliterated, and the community in chaos. Janine managed an escape to Alice Springs by car, illustrating the gravity of the situation with anecdotes of vehicles modified for visibility.
In the following days, the Scott family, amongst others, gathered at a local school where emergency supplies and communal support provided some relief. “I remember hearing the ABC news,” Aileen said, relieved that the devastation was being communicated nationally.
The aftermath saw a significant exodus from Darwin. Allan and Ian stayed to assist with the recovery effort. Aileen shared a poignant memory of their departure: “It was our anniversary, December 27, and I remember thinking I can’t even let Allan know where we are going. Luckily, he and Dad came back just as the bus was leaving to take us to the airport, so I was able to blow him a kiss through the window.”
The Scotts’ life post-Cyclone Tracy eventually led them to settle in Morphett Vale. The profound psychological impacts linger, manifesting in their vigilance during storms.
Reflecting on their harrowing experience, Aileen and Allan’s stories, alongside Ian’s film footage documenting the cyclone’s aftermath, have been incorporated into a radio segment series titled ‘Surviving Cyclone Tracy’ set to air on Great Southern Community Radio, Happy FM.
In 2018, the couple moved into Chiton Retirement Village, with Janine joining them a year later. A chance conversation revealed their shared past, highlighting the deep bonds formed through shared adversity. The retirement village community demonstrates a heartwarming, resilient spirit, a testament to the human nature to rebuild and reconnect after unimaginable loss.
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