Cyclone Tracy exhibition: MAGNT recreates John Garner’s crushed Holden Torana for 50th anniversary

It became one of the defining images of the destruction wrought by Cyclone Tracy – now, 50 years on, a Darwin local’s crumpled Holden Torana has been recreated for the reopening of MAGNT’s Cyclone Tracy exhibition.

'Tracey You Bitch': Darwin resident John Garner's crushed Holden Torana has been recreated for the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory's reopened Cyclone Tracy exhibition. Picture: Alex Treacy

One of the most lasting images of the destruction wrought by Cyclone Tracy 50 years ago, a symbol of the city’s defiance and gallows humour, has been brought to life for the reopening of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory’s exhibition on the disaster.

Rarely can a crumpled car, looking a bit like a Coke can that’s been trodden on, have come to hold such emotional resonance with a community, but after former Winnellie resident John Garner painted his doomed Holden Torana with the phrase, ‘Tracey [sic] You Bitch’ it instantly entered Darwin folklore.

Mr Garner said he was “overexcited” a replica Torana painted with the same iconic rallying cry would form the centrepiece of a reopened Cycle Tracy exhibition at the Museum and Art Gallery (MAGNT), which debuts to the public on Saturday.

John Garner's crushed Holden Torana, emblazoned with the phrase 'Tracey [sic] You Bitch' became one of the defining images of Cyclone Tracy and its aftermath. Picture: Supplied

He happily retold the origin story of his one-man protest at the vagaries and viciousness of Cyclone Tracy.

“I was just outside the RAAF base at Winnellie and because a lot of the buildings had fallen down, there was tin everywhere, telegraph poles bent over and that,” Mr Garner said.

“Then I found my wall had fallen down onto my car, my lovely Torano, two years’ old. It had completely squashed it.”

A few days later, after shifting bricks off the vehicle to see what was salvageable, he decided, upon coming across a bucket of white paint and a brush, to “tell people what I thought of the cyclone”.

John Garner with the replica Holden Torana. Picture: Georgina Campbell/MAGNT

“I think it helped me, just pulling the car outta the bricks and writing those words on it,” Mr Garner said.

“Being on a highway, people going backwards and forwards, people leaving Darwin – of course they all stopped to take a photo of the car.

“So it really did stand out.”

It was about six months ago that MAGNT curator of Territory history, Jared Archibald, told Mr Garner what the museum was cooking up.

'Tracey You Bitch': Darwin resident John Garner's crushed Holden Torana has been recreated for the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory's reopened Cyclone Tracy exhibition. Picture: Alex Treacy

“I’ve been overexcited since then,” Mr Garner said.

“The car went 50 years ago, I’ve got over that well and truly … [but it] just brought back memories.”

Mr Archibald said “dark humour” was one of the ways Territorians coped with the flattening of their city and, often, their homes.

“They were putting a light edge on things that were just horrible,” the curator said.

Mr Garner’s slogan become one of the “icons of Cyclone Tracy” and the presence of its replica in the exhibition would “show the forces that were at play” – both lighthearted and dark.

Crushing the replica Holden Torana. Picture: Georgina Campbell/MAGNT

By happy accident, Mr Archibald was in possession of a clapped out Torana – “There may or may not be a few cars on a rural block that I may own” – and with the help of his family, the wreck was handed over to MAGNT’s technical team, which managed to transform the rusted body into a convincing facsimile of Mr Garner’s original vehicle.

Mr Garner, who still lives locally, was then handed a bucket of paint and brush to repaint his three-word magnum opus.

The image that defined a disaster: John Garner's crumpled Holden Torana with the deathless phrase 'Tracey [sic] You Bitch' painted on. Picture: Supplied

In a statement, MAGNT – which was also destroyed by Tracy’s wrath – said its exhibition was a “much-loved” part of the Darwin furniture.

Highlights of the updated exhibition, in addition to the Torana replica, include a recreation of the Darwin Bureau of Meteorology office from 1974, a cyclone sound booth, large-scale art by Tiwi Islands artist Mary Elizabeth Moreen, never-before-seen family albums, objects and other ephemera, and a new publication, ‘Cyclone Tracy: A Cyclone for Christmas’.

The Cyclone Tracy exhibition opens to the public at 10am on Saturday, December 7.

MAGNT welcomes everyone to join in commemorating Darwin’s resilience 50 years after this defining event.

Originally published as Cyclone Tracy exhibition: MAGNT recreates John Garner’s crushed Holden Torana for 50th anniversary