To mark the 50th anniversary of Cyclone Tracy, former Navy officer and military historian Dr Tom Lewis will launch his latest book Cyclone Warriors, which discusses the ADF’s response to the shattered city in 1974.

The book examines the critical support provided by Army, Navy and Air Force personnel amid broken infrastructure and poor communication lines.

It was from Dr Lewis’ extensive research over three years which led the author to believe an official medal should be awarded retrospectively to those who came to Darwin’s aid.

“I have got a chapter where I get a bit passionate about the national emergency medal, and I argue that it should be given to anybody who was in uniform,” he said

“In fact, why not give it to anybody who was in Darwin doing something essential?

“There were people - including civilians - without whom Darwin would have been bulldozed into the sea.”

For the thousands of ADF members who spent the next six months cleaning up the city, the day-to-day workload was unpleasant.

“One figure says 90 per cent of the population was evacuated with 90 per cent of homes wrecked, full of rotting meat, bio hazards and so on,” Dr Lewis said.

“Somebody had to pick up and run with the concept of ‘are we going to do anything about this capital city or are we going to just bulldoze it and start again somewhere else?’”

Dr Lewis said he hoped his 128-page book would also dispel the myths associated with the disaster, particularly relating to the true number of fatalities.

“During (my research) one of the things I found interesting were the conspiracy stories,” he said.

“People sort of saying the armed forces conspired to cover things up and so on.

“I said to my publisher, we should leave footnotes because people are going to say ‘how do you know what you know?’ And in good historian style you should say where you got your information from.”

This Saturday, Dr Lewis will fly to Darwin where he and Sir Peter Cosgrove - who wrote the foreword of the book and was part of the emergency response - will share their unique perspectives.

Cyclone Warriors: The Australian Defence Force and Cyclone Tracy December 1974 – June 1975 will launch Saturday, December 7, 2024, at the NT Library.

Sir Peter Cosgrove remembers Cyclone Tracy aftermath: ‘it was like Hiroshima’

December 7: One of Australia’s most decorated generals says he has never been prouder of the defence force than seeing its efforts to help rebuild Darwin in the aftermath of Cyclone Tracy.

Former governor general and Australian Defence Force chief Sir Peter Cosgrove was in Darwin on Saturday for the book launch of Cyclone Warriors.
Written by prolific military historian Dr Tom Lewis, the book details the contributions of the ADF in the aftermath of the worst natural disaster to hit the Top End.

Sir Cosgrove remembered how quickly a fleet of Australian navy ships assembled in Sydney Harbour, ready to render aid up north.

“A great row of ships, full of sailors called back from their leave - ‘jump aboard, let’s go’ - went at their fastest speed possible up here,” he said.

“I’m just imagining how it was when devastated people staying around to do what they could to recover, looked up and heard the echo ‘the navy’s here’.

“When I flew into Darwin myself and I saw them in the harbour - I’ve never been more proud of our navy.”

Then an army captain, Sir Cosgrove was ordered to organise a batallion to help the recovery efforts.

“Flying into your city reminded me of photos I’d see of Hiroshima, the scale and scope of the destruction,” he said.

“In seven weeks, in small teams, our guys cleaned up hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of homes, businesses - anything that needed to be taken away so the rebuild could start.

“Back breaking labour, unrelenting, but those soldiers came to feel ... that they’d had the opportunity to do something really special.”

He said that was thanks to the spirit and resilience of Territorians coming together in times of need.

“The Australian character gets illuminated, and it’s bottomless compassion.”