Miguel Alzona

This public history project was intended as a project between predominantly the members of the North Head Quarantine or Q Station such as Dr Peter Hobbins, curator, Rebecca Anderson as well as a collaboration with the Qantas Heritage Collection team led by curator, David Crotty to reveal the role that mainly Qantas played in the evacuation/airlift of refugees from Darwin in the aftermath of Cyclone Tracy. It is a public history project which in terms of audience, historical significance as well as benefit has developed from when it first commenced, the goal was originally intended to focus more on the aviation aspect, as that was among one of the first reasons that drew me, being an avid aviation enthusiast to the recommendations of Peter Hobbins in telling the story of how passengers made their mark (literally) on Quarantine Station sandstone arriving from airliners in the manner that passengers from ships did in centuries past. However I gradually began to realise that the journey of the individuals themselves held not just great historical importance but the stories from 1974, were just as diverse and important as the glorified history of the Gilded Ages of centuries past.  

The significance of this project was to commemorate as well as tell the untold story of the events that unfolded in Darwin during Christmas of 1974 from key figures, primary sources gathered from the Qantas Heritage Collection archives as well as a number of primary sources via online archives of newspapers such as the Trove archive and online museum collections. This project will serve both the purposes of the Quarantine Station as well as to a smaller degree the Qantas Heritage Collection in allowing the public to understand the role that Qantas played not just in aviation history in creating a record for the most number of passengers on a commercial airliner, 673 and 674. But also how the Qantas archives shed light on the nature of the individuals, the depth of their experiences through various newspaper articles, photographs capturing the emotion displayed, the dire nature of  as well as the aesthetic of the 1970’s to illustrate or paint a portrait of what living during that era would have been like.

I was firstly considering dividing my project into a commemorative piece/story on a website titled ‘Stories from the Sandstone/Quarantine Stories’ as well as forming some kind of tribute on the Qantas website, although I first did not have a clear plan, this changed when Dr Hobbins and Rebecca asked if some students would like to volunteer to present their chosen topics to an audience at the Quarantine Station and I thought, although with some degree of nervousness, that it would be a great opportunity to present the topic as well as cut down some words out of the 4000 for the project. In light of this, I created a Powerpoint presentation which through the use of visual media such as the pictures that I gathered from Qantas as well as other archived sources online would assist the audience in grasping the concepts of my topic of Cyclone Tracy namely how evacuation was carried out, the meteorological aspects and the degree of the damage both physical as well as psychological. Along with this I wanted to pay tribute to the character of Nan Bosler who among few sources from Q Station regarding 1974 was a prominent figure in healing the trauma of those children who suffered which would prove vital for another topic that of Vietnamese orphans a year later.       

This project on Cyclone Tracy aims to shows how all of Australia came together and showed their support for the people of Darwin in addressing their immediate needs helping them get back on their feet again.  In particular, it hopes to bring to light the role that Qantas and the Q station played in providing support to the victims.

It is also meant to draw the audience’s attention to the fact that sometimes, even with the best of intentions, certain decisions made may be questionable.  The way the evacuation was handled seemed to have caused emotional distress to the evacuees specially those who were separated from their families or who were not allowed to return to Darwin.

I have inferred such sentiments echoed by various sources, personal accounts as well as members of the audience who echoed quite clearly their personal opinions upon the controversial actions of figures such as Major General Stretton as a result of directly being affected by the catastrophic event as well as the General’s actions. Throughout my studies in this course from tutorials and especially after my public presentation I am reminded that history is indeed sacred for numerous individuals and that academics should tread carefully that they do not offend or present a wrong or a ‘whitewashed’ account and where all aspects of the story from the virtues to the vice like that of an individual themselves results in the complexity of the story.

— MIGUEL ALZONA