Survivors of Cyclone Tracy will revisit the place it first made landfall this Christmas to commemorate 50 years since Darwin was destroyed.
Many have remembered the sound of the cyclone; the howling winds that sent asbestos filled walls and corrugated iron sheets flying down streets at 3:30am on Christmas Day 1974.
It was a story of survival and renewal said Larrakia elder Christine Fejo-King, who was 20 when the cyclone tore through the top end.
“We were refugees and had nowhere to go,” she said.
“People were so kind and that’s something that I believe was reinforced to me because of Cyclone Tracy.
“We lost our home, we lost our pets, we had nothing, but we had a whole country of people we didn’t know be kind to us.”
Ms Fejo-King is among the thousands of survivors who will recall the pain and healing in the aftermath of Cyclone Tracy, as the Remembering Cyclone Tracy Incorporated committee unveiled a new memorial site at East Point.
Federal and local dignitaries, including Prime Minister Albanese and Country Liberal Party member Lia Finnochiaro, will pay their respects.
The unveiling is just one of several survivor-led events commemorating the 50th anniversary of Cyclone Tracy.
The memorial is located at East Point Reserve, where Cyclone Tracy first made landfall. Called 5 Decades, 5 Flowers, Forever Remembered, it was designed by local artist Techy Masero, in collaboration with Remembering Cyclone Tracy Incorporated.
It is the second memorial to be unveiled after City of Darwin commissioned a $700,000 kinetic art sculpture.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese remembers how Cyclone Tracy impacted the nation. ((A)manda Parkinson/AAP PHOTOS)
The sculpture’s official unveiling ceremony was planned for November but was cancelled when the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese postponed his trip to the Top End until Christmas.
On Tuesday Mr Albanese became emotional while looking at archival photos showing Australians who lost their home and lives.
“We had people throughout Australia provide their support, their funding and their commitment to the people who had suffered through this devastating cyclone … that is part of the Australian story,” he told media.