MGANT’s Tracy tribute re-booted as 50th anniversary nears

From Saturday, Territorians and tourists can access a remarkable new exhibition remembering one of our most significant moments. See what it is.

Museum and Art Gallery NT will unveil its new and immersive Cyclone Tracy exhibition on Saturday, featuring a custom-designed shaking wall with “tactile transducers”.

The upgraded exhibition retains the chilling audio recorded by Catholic priest Father Ted Collins, the former NSW policeman who later went on to become Bishop of Darwin.

Closed for the past three months while the upgrades were carried out, the new booth has also retained the written warning that sounds within the exhibit “may be distressing for people who experienced Cyclone Tracy or other cyclones”.

Father Collins was conducting midnight mass at St Mary’s Cathedral when Cyclone Tracy began to hit full throttle.

His recordings were taken from within the cathedral and later inside a concrete apartment.

Matthew Cunliffe puts the finishing touches on the newly remastered Cyclone Tracy sound booth.

“I will never forget the roar of the wind,” he said.

“The lights went out in the cathedral and windows were smashing, with glass all over the place.”

Survivors said the sound was far louder and more intense as their homes and those of their neighbours were destroyed around them.

Tracy’s sounds were often compared to those of a freight train, fighter jet, or screaming banshee.

The display also has a replica of Darwin’s Bureau of Meteorology office as it stood in 1974 when Tracy hit.

It was there on December 20 that meteorologists first detected a weak tropical low on satellite imagery.

By 10pm the next day it was declared a cyclone and given the name Tracy.

Cyclone Tracy’s image first made it onto the Darwin bureau console early on December 22 and the team continued monitoring its route until the power failed just after 4.30am on Christmas Day.

Photos of the console were snapped with a Polaroid camera ever 30 to 60 minutes and these exact images can now be viewed on a special touchscreen exhibit.

Bureau of Meterology team members Shenagh Gamble, Ian Shepherd and Jude Scott with MAGNT Territory history curator Jared Archibald.

The revamped exhibit includes a painting by Tiwi artist Mary Elizabeth Moreen and a replica of the famous ‘Tracey you Bitch’ red Torana that became a defining image in the days and weeks after the blow.

In addition, numerous individual items from Tracy are now on display including a Raggedy Andy Doll that appeared in the Australian Women’s Weekly, a Winchester rifle used by Sandra Holmes to protect her property from looters and a clean-up crew T-shirt.

MAGNT director Adam Worrall said, Cyclone Tracy was a multi-layered story that went way beyond Christmas Day.

“Cyclone Tracy isn’t just a story of destruction; it’s a story of survival, resilience, and rebuilding,” he said.

“This exhibition stands as a tribute to those who endured the unimaginable, those who rebuilt from the rubble and those who have kept these stories alive for future generations.

“The Cyclone Tracy exhibition honours the strength of Darwin and its people, it reflects on the journey from devastation to renewal, and remembers how far we’ve come.”

The exhibition will open to the public at 10am on Saturday.