St John NT nab 000 number plate to commemorate Cyclone Tracy

The Territory’s ambulance provider has snagged a special commemorative plate remembering one of the Top End’s worst natural disasters –and it’s for a good reason.

St John Northern Territory paramedics with the '000' commemorative Cyclone Tracy plate affixed to ambulance 74.

Commemorative plates for one of the Top End’s worst natural disasters are proving quite popular – with one of the Territory’s biggest first response organisations jumping on board to commemorate the 50-year milestone.

On Christmas Day 1974, Cyclone Tracy struck Darwin, leaving a path of devastation in its wake.

More than 600 people were injured, 66 people lost their lives, and 75 per cent of the Territory’s residents were evacuated.

But through the rubble Darwin was rebuilt, and now St John's Northern Territory has nabbed the ‘000’ Cyclone Tracy commemorative plate to always remember the occasion.

For St John’s NT, the events of Christmas Day 1974 saw the organisation transform from a volunteer service into a full ambulance provider for Darwin – and subsequently, the Territory.

St John’s would provide ambulance services for other Territory population centres in the following years, and when the Territory was granted self-governance in 1978, St John’s became the Territory’s on-road ambulance service.

“Fifty years after Cyclone Tracy hit Darwin in the early hours of Christmas morning in 1974 we honour the lives that were lost, the resilience of Tracy survivors, the work of our local emergency responders and those across the nation that helped to rebuild Darwin,” a St John’s spokesperson said.

Originally published as St John NT nab 000 number plate to commemorate Cyclone Tracy