It would be impossible to talk about Darwin without mentioning cyclone Tracy (or cyclone Troicey if you're talking like the locals), which hit the city on Christmas eve 1974 and made a real mess of a few Christmas trees to say the least.
There's a good exhibition on the cyclone in the museum, including this photo, which reminds us of the photos taken after the bombing of Hiroshima. And you can stand in this dark room and listen to the noises they recorded on the night, though it's hard to keep your nerve for very long.
What with the bombing in the war and then the cyclone in 1974, Darwin has been completely rebuilt twice in the last fifty years. Since the cyclone, the style of the houses has changed a lot - they used to live in wooden houses built on stilts to let the air circulate underneath but they realised these are easily blown away so now the style is much more concrete block, which isn't half as nice to look at, but at least their Christmas trees are safe.
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