Innisfail didn’t see 1918 killer cyclone coming

THE sugar town of Innisfail was hit by a major cyclone a century ago that killed dozens in the town and dozens more in surrounding area

The day after: Survivors inspect damage in Rankin St, Innisfail, after a devastating cycline swept through the town on March 10, 1918.

THE barometer reading at the Innisfail post office should have given townspeople an idea of how dramatically the air pressure had dropped. Instead, a malfunction caused the pen to get stuck on a flange on the machine’s rotating drum, preventing the proper reading from registering.

It was 7pm on Sunday, March 10, 1918, 100 years ago tomorrow, the wind had been howling all day but in the evening it whipped up to hit the town with a ferocity that was unexpected. For an hour it buffeted buildings, before a brief lull as the eye passed over before another pounding. After, much of Innisfail had been flattened — only 12 houses remained standing intact — and nearly 40 people were dead. The cyclone cut a swath of destruction from as far north as Cairns down to Mission Beach. The town of Babinda, with only three houses left standing, was also badly hit.
But perhaps the highest death toll, the exact number of which may never be known, was among indigenous communities where as many as 70 were killed.

The region had been home to the Mamu people for thousands of years before the first Europeans arrived. Some of the first non-indigenous people to land there were brought by disaster. The ship Maria, carrying 75 men hoping to make it rich on the goldfields in New Guinea, was wrecked on the coast in April 1872. Some survivors were assisted by Mamu, others were killed when they set off on expeditions to exact vengeance.

Rankin St, Innisfail, after cyclone damage on March 10 1918.

What’s left of the Goondi Mill after the 1918 Innisfail cyclone.

Locals stand in front of the courthouse in Innisfail.

Les Alexander searches through the wreckage left in the wake of the devastating cyclone that hit Innisfail in 1918.

Despite troubles with the Mamu, in 1879 Irishman Thomas FitzGerald arrived to establish a sugar plantation, bringing with him “Kanak” labourers (mostly from South Pacific islands). He built a home, called it Innisfallen, after a lake in Ireland and set up his cane fields.

A town grew around his sugar plantation and was initially named Geraldton, until somebody suggested a name change to avoid confusion with a
town with the same name in Western Australia. The town was renamed Innisfail.

An attempt to open a sugar mill south of Innisfail in about 1890 foundered when the Queensland government restricted the use of Kanak labour in 1891. But the sugar industry continued to thrive and in 1915 the Queensland government constructed a sugar mill southwest of the main town centre. It crushed its first sugar in 1916. By 1918 the town was thriving, its population was around 3500 people, most of whom owed their livelihood to the sugar industry.

In January 1918 another sugar town Mackay was buffeted by a cyclone. About 30 people were killed, most from the inundation of the storm surge. The flooding cut off roads, railways and telegraph wires. It was days before anyone heard about the disaster.

In the week leading up to March 10 the Meteorological Department in Brisbane had been posting warnings. “A cyclonic disturbance is undoubtedly approaching the coast between Cooktown and Bowen. The centre is approximately northeast from Townsville, it appears to be an intense disturbance.”

The day after: Survivors inspect damage in Rankin St, Innisfail, after a devastating cycline swept through the town on March 10, 1918.

All that remains is a chimney.

Locals stand in front of their destroyed buildings in Rankin St, Innisfail.

The severe winds began at 11am on March 10 and gradually increased in force throughout the day. At about 7pm the winds began to blow away roofs and knock down walls. The sugar mill was also badly damaged. At 9pm the winds began to calm, but as people went outside to inspect the damage the storm began to swirl yet again, causing more damage.

Roofs had been blown off houses as far north as Cairns. North of Innisfail most of Babinda’s houses had been knocked flat and a train flipped on its side. Further south of Innisfail the indigenous settlement at Hull River (today known as Mission Beach) was swept away by the flood surge that left debris 7m up in some trees. The superintendent of the settlement, John Kenny, died after being hit by debris, along with his daughter and several indigenous people. The pearl lugger Shamrock, anchored off Goold Island just north of Hinchinbrook Island, was capsized and six crewmen killed.

Hardly a stretch of railway along that stretch of coast had escaped undamaged, but soon relief efforts were underway with 12 tonnes of food being sent from Cairns to Innisfail.

The damage to the sugar cane crop and the sugar mill was estimated at the time to have cost the industry about £500,000.

The town eventually recovered, but the memory of the devastation lasted for decades, the anniversary regularly commemorated. Although the death toll was far less than the estimated 400 who died in 1899 in Cyclone Mahina at Bathurst Bay in far north Queensland, it was still one of the worst cyclones to hit a populated area of the state.

Originally published as Innisfail didn’t see 1918 killer cyclone coming