Darwin Council Cyclone Tracy sculpture controversy erupts in community debate and protest
Darwin council’s Cyclone Tracy sculpture debacle continues to erupt with some survivors of the natural disaster vowing to protest the controversial structure. Read why some survivors feel ‘deeply offended’.
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Community discord surrounding the controversial kinetic sculpture at Bundilla Beach continues to brew, with some Cyclone Tracy survivors vowing to protest a private event which they say excludes them.
Debate over the structure, called Coriolis, has been longstanding in the community and its official status has changed over time.
Previously it was described as a Cyclone Tracy commemorative monument by Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis.
More recently, Mr Vatskalis told listeners of Katie Woolf it was “a sculpture and not the official monument or memorial”.
Cyclone Tracy survivor Antony Bullock was 12 years old when the cyclone hit.
He said many survivors felt excluded by the entire process.
“The council held the Cyclone Tracy Commemorative Advisory Committee meetings in complete secrecy,” he claimed.
“They did this to exclude Cyclone Tracy survivors from the decision making process.
“No one likes the monument. It has zero representation of Cyclone Tracy.”
Mr Bullock cited a poll taken by 200 people on the Facebook group Cyclone Tracy Survivors which revealed 93 per cent of members opposed the Bundilla Beach structure.
Mr Bullock said survivors were so ‘deeply offended’ by the sculpture and their exclusion from the process that they would defy council orders and protest the private event scheduled for November 29.
“I’m going to turn up, and plenty of other people will too, and let the council know how unhappy we are with their decision,” he said.
“This will be a peaceful group of elderly Cyclone Tracy survivors who want to be able to tell our story.
“We want a monument that reflects what we know we went through, not what the council thinks we went through.”
Mr Bullock has applied for permission to protest twice and told this masthead the “application process was making it impossible” and was “unreasonable”.
Mr Vatskalis and Darwin Council had been quick to point out Coriolis at Bundilla Beach was not the ‘official monument’.
“The real monument will be at East Point,” Mr Vatskalis said.
Mr Vatskalis is referring to a separate memorial commissioned by the Remembering Cyclone Tracy Incorporated - a group of survivors unaffiliated with Darwin Council.
Construction is underway for this memorial with the Federal and Territory government providing $300,000 and $100,000 in funding respectively.
Chairperson of the committee Richard Creswick told this masthead he was surprised his group’s memorial was now being described by the mayor as the “official monument”.
Their memorial, designed by a local artist unlike Coriolis, will be unveiled at dawn on Christmas Day in the very place Cyclone Tracy struck five decades ago.
It will feature five fallen frangipani flowers, representing five decades since the destructive cyclone.
He says this memorial would be designed by Cyclone Tracy survivors for Cyclone Tracy survivors, as a permanent place for reflection, healing, and education.
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Originally published as Darwin Council Cyclone Tracy sculpture controversy erupts in community debate and protest
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