Cyclone Tracy formed as a tropical storm in the Arafura Sea
It hit Darwin in the early hours of Christmas Day, 25 December 1974, and had dissipated by about 7am
The wind gauge at Darwin Airport officially recorded winds of 217 kilometres per hour before being blown away itself
It was a category 4 storm whilst still out at sea, but there are suggestions that it was category 5 when it made landfall
"Officially" 65 people were killed, but entire Aboriginal settlements were wiped out, and these people never accounted for
9,000 homes were destroyed, out of 12,000 residences
Most of Darwin's residents were evacuated following the devastation, and many of them never returned
The city was almost entirely rebuilt, and now meets cyclone standards
The bureaucratic red tape which prevented efficient reconstruction of Darwin was largely responsible for the Territory being granted self-government 4 years later.
