This site is the personal project of me, Cathryn Doney. I am a survivor of Cyclone Tracy, and for over 15 years have been involved in running the Cyclone Tracy Survivors facebook group, including providing admin services and support to the now over 7,000 members.
As the 50th anniversary of Tracy approached, my objectives for this website were:
- To provide a central repository of all things Cyclone Tracy that should be kept in the once place, in perpetuity. Lest we forget.
- To provide a way to remember and honour the victims in perpetuity, to help tell their stories, acknowledge their families, and to help perhaps find answers where this may not have been possible in the past.
- To acknowledge and provide a voice for survivors to tell their stories in a non-commercial, not for profit forum (this website is entirely hosted and paid for by me).
- To draw attention not just to survivors, but also to those who helped, from the military, front-line responders, volunteers, those who took refugees into their homes, those who donated, and everyone else who helped, even in the smallest of ways.
- To create awareness and education about Top End cyclones for current and future residents of the NT
- To foster reflection at a national level: on how Tracy pulled Australia together as a nation; on what we’ve learned since, and our subsequent responses to other disasters
I am not in any way associated with the Remembering Cyclone Tracy Committee and not responsible for any of the commemoration activities. I was a founding member of the Committee in early 2022, however it became quickly apparent that there was a conflict between my objectives and those of the committee. For that reason, I resigned from the committee and have focused my efforts on building this website, whilst they have focused on commemoration activities. If you’d like to contact the RCT Committee, please email rct74darwin@gmail.com.
I continue to support survivors through the Cyclone Tracy Survivors facebook group. If you’re a survivor, I welcome you to CLICK HERE TO JOIN over 7,000 members.
If you’d like to support me in this work, feel free to make a donation (and I’d really welcome your support in this!)
And lastly, if you’d like to get in touch, please email me directly at cathryn (at) cyclonetracy.au.