The unhappy true story behind iconic Cyclone Tracy image, as told by the late subject’s daughter

The daughter of the man captured in an unforgettable front page published two days after Cyclone Tracy struck has revealed the toll the cyclone continued to take on her father and what they did with one of their few surviving possessions.

The iconic front-page photograph of Lynn John Cox, who gave a pseudonym. His real name only recently came to light. Picture: Bruce Howard

The daughter of the man featured on the front cover of the NT News’ Cyclone Tracy 50th anniversary supplement has shed important contextual light on the famous post-cyclone snap.

Darwin resident Linda Venslovas contacted this masthead to provide share the backstory of the iconic image of her policeman father, taken by Melbourne Herald photographer Bruce Howard on December 26, 1974.

The image shows her dad, identified at the time as being Jeff Casey, returning to his devastated family home at 9 Kilfoyle Crescent, Nakara, wearing his policeman’s uniform and carrying a suitcase and hand luggage.

Taken from behind, the iconic image was published on the front page of the Melbourne Herald newspaper on December 27.

Ms Venslovas said four days before Cyclone Tracy, the family had travelled to Port Augusta, from where her father took a telephone call on Christmas Day saying Darwin had been destroyed.

Bruce Howard’s iconic front page image.

“He managed to get on board the first flight from Adelaide to Darwin by posing as a journalist with a group of media people flying in on Boxing Day,” Ms Venslovas said.

“I think this was where he met Mr Bruce Howard, a newspaper photographer that took the iconic photo.

“Mr Howard was in the car with Dad when he went to see the remains of our house and took the photo as Dad was walking in the driveway.

“Dad didn’t want to be identified at the time of the photo so the name Jeff Casey was applied and continued to be used whenever the photo was published in the media in the many years ahead. It has become quite a renowned photo over time.”

In 2007, Ms Venslovas had the National Library of Australia change the official record to have her father’s real name – Lynn John Cox – replacing the Jeff Casey nom de plume that had become famous.

Journalists, photographers and broadcasters in Darwin in the wake of Cyclone Tracy. Photographer Bruce Howard is standing far left. Picture: File

Ms Venslovas said Cyclone Tracy and its aftermath hurt her father.

“Dad went on to dread every Christmas Day thereafter and passed away on Christmas Eve in 2013 from an illness,” she said.

“He was a good man and suffered mental breakdowns in the years that followed Tracy after experiencing so much heartache and trauma.”

Ms Venslovas said had the family not been in South Australia, it was unlikely they would have survived the gale force winds.

“In hindsight, our family are grateful that we were on holidays at the time as our house was completely destroyed, with the bathtub ending up on the neighbour’s balcony and the storage room/cyclone shelter underneath the house (standard in so many elevated houses back then) completely gone.

“We were told that the house had exploded as did so many at the time. I seriously doubt that we would have had anywhere to shelter after that as there was nothing behind the kitchen wall.”

Despite this, a drum of flour which is visible in the photo and a bottle of port her father had bought when she was a baby was still untouched on top of an overhead kitchen cupboard despite the roof and walls of the house having been destroyed.

“Yes,” she said, anticipating the next question.

“He did open it on my 21st.”

Originally published as The unhappy true story behind iconic Cyclone Tracy image, as told by the late subject’s daughter