Tropical cyclones

It is claimed that tropical cyclones are the most feared weather phenomena to affect Australia.

The Deluge at a Glance, 1974

17 April 2015
17 April 2015
Courier Mail

The Deluge at a Glance, 1974. This small inset of three maps appeared on page one of the Courier Mail, which shows rainfall over much of Queensland in 1974.

Farnborough (Iwasaki) resort, surge and flood levels, 1976, sheet 2

Yeppoon, QLD
Australia
23° 7' 40.3968" S, 150° 44' 43.3176" E
23 March 1976
3 May 2011
3 May 2011

Location

Yeppoon, QLD
Australia
23° 7' 40.3968" S, 150° 44' 43.3176" E
Cameron, McNamara and Partners

Queensland State Archives

1:5000

Farnborough (Iwasaki) resort, surge and flood levels, 1976, sheet 2. This surge and flood level map was completed in March 1976 by engineers Cameron, McNamara & Partners so that design levels for storm tides could be considered by developers. Interestingly, the elongated contours on this map, which is further south down the beach, look vastly different showing the influence of wind in shaping the landscape as opposed to water further north. In the south the road way leads to Farnborough School only 600 m west, which connects to Hine Avenue leading to small dwellings positioned close to the coast. In the centre, the 5.7 m flood level from January 1974 is marked where ‘water remained for 2-3 months’. In the far north of the map, the 4.67 m limit of the wave caused by tropical cyclone David is marked. David crossed the Queensland coast just north of St Lawrence (south of Mackay) in early January 1976 and was intensifying as it hit the coast. In nearby Yeppoon, 30 buildings were unroofed and large seas and high tides caused major damage – the breakwater at Rosslyn Bay Harbour was destroyed along with marine craft. Recording the extent of the cyclone was important for designing plans at Farnborough resort. Collection of the Queensland State Archives

Farnborough (Iwasaki) resort, surge and flood levels, 1976, sheet 1

Yeppoon, QLD
Australia
23° 7' 40.3968" S, 150° 44' 43.3176" E
23 March 1976
3 May 2011
3 May 2011

Location

Yeppoon, QLD
Australia
23° 7' 40.3968" S, 150° 44' 43.3176" E
Cameron, McNamara and Partners

Queensland State Archives

1:5000

Farnborough (Iwasaki) resort, surge and flood levels, 1976, sheet 1. This surge and flood level map was completed in March 1976 by engineers Cameron, McNamara & Partners for the design and development of the Iwasaki resort. The map marks the significant places that were already at Farnborough: the ‘hut’ in the southeast corner, the ‘Boys Plains’ and the levee. Abutting the Coral Sea, the map marks the significant water data that were needed for positioning the resort, from south to north: freshwater flood level that reached 2.68 m in 1956, storm tide that hit over two metres in two locations in January 1976, the flood that reached 3.6 m in January 1974, and the sites further north that were affected by the 1976 storm tide. The 1976 water-activity was caused by ‘Cyclone David’ which crossed the Queensland coast south of Mackay in early January 1976 and caused damage to many houses in Yeppoon. As can be seen, in some of the blank spaces of this map contours were not possible to record because the ‘dense vegetation’ was impenetrable for the engineers. Collection of the Queensland State Archives 

Track of Cyclone Agnes, March 1956

1 March 1957
2 March 2011
2 March 2011
Walkabout

Copyright © Collection of the Centre for the Government of Queensland, the University of Queensland

Track of Cyclone Agnes, March 1956 (from Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology records, Brisbane), Walkabout, March 1957. Collection of the Centre for the Government of Queensland

Tea-towel: Nerada Tea

Nerada Valley, QLD
Australia
3 December 2010
3 December 2010

Location

Nerada Valley, QLD
Australia
Reef Productions

Collection of Glenn Cooke

Tea-towel: Nerada Tea. The Cutten Brothers established a farm at Bingal Bay in 1882 and began the first tea planting in Australia in 1886. The farm was destroyed by a cyclone in 1918 but Indian born Dr Allan Maruff settled in Cairns in the early 1950s and, discovering the surviving trees and seedlings, purchased 320 acres in the Nerada Valley in 1958. By 1970 the estate was thriving and Dr Maruff utilised mechanical harvesting and formed a partnership with Burns-Philp to establish the first tea-processing factory in Australia. Collection of Glenn Cooke

Queensland’s historical landscape encapsulates the tension between threat and survival.

Headquarters and signals room of Emergency Civil Defence Services, Green Street, West End (Townsville), set up in 1972 after Cyclone Althea struck in December 1971. Slides by Lynne Clancy, Collection of the Centre for the Government of Queensland

Copyright © Lynne Clancy and the Centre for the Government of Queensland

Damage from Cyclone Althea at 29 & 31 Somer Street, Hyde Park, Townsville, 24 December 1971. Photographs from inside and outside the houses. The coke-stove chimney had blown in at 31 Somer Street. Slides by Lynne Clancy, Collection of the Centre for the Government of Queensland

Copyright © Lynne Clancy and the Centre for the Government of Queensland

Damage caused by Cyclone Ada, Collinsville, 1970. Damage was caused to the pumping station that supplied water from Bowen River to the town of Collinsville and the power station; an 'underground' pipe at the power station; and left debris on top of the pump well almost obscuring the 33000 volt transformers. Slides by Peter Petersen, Collection of the Centre for the Government of Queensland

Copyright © Peter Petersen and the Centre for the Government of Queensland

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