Behind aviation’s evacuation after Cyclone Tracy

Half a century on from Cyclone Tracy, former TAA manager Paul Boyce tells Australian Aviation of his experience coordinating what was the then-biggest airlift in Australia’s history – and how the storm brought out the resilience and generosity of a nation.

For over 30 years, it held the record as Australia’s worst-ever peacetime disaster. On the morning of Christmas Day, 1974, Cyclone Tracy swept into the city of Darwin as a category 4 storm, killing 66 people, injuring more than 500 others, and leaving behind a $837 million repair bill. In modern terms, that’s a staggering $7.69 billion. But after the devastation came the evacuation: around 15,000 people were airlifted out of the city in the four days from 26 December. Coordinating their efforts with the RAAF were Australia’s two major domestic carriers, Ansett and government-owned Trans Australia Airlines, or TAA. And at the head of TAA’s efforts in the city sat the airline’s newly-promoted Darwin manager, Paul Boyce.

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