Rock and Tempest
Surviving Cyclone Tracy and its Aftermath
By Patricia Collins
Published by Hachette
RRP $34.99 in paperback
ISBN 9780733650239

When Cyclone Tracy flattened Darwin on Christmas Day 1974, it was the worst natural disaster Australians had ever experienced. 

Stationed in the city with the Women's Royal Australian Naval Service, Patricia Collins not only lived through Tracy but was part of the massive clean-up effort. This is her extraordinary story.

Most of the city was destroyed. Seventy-one people died..

The Navy suffered terrible losses. A patrol boat was sunk with the loss of two crewmen and another was driven onto rocks. A sailor lost his wife and two children, and another lost his young son.

In the days after Tracy, the majority of Darwin's population was evacuated interstate as the Navy's Task Force arrived to clean up and rebuild. 

Collins was there as a survivor of Tracy and an integral part of the recovery.

Rock and Tempest contains astonishing first-person accounts of terror and uncertainty as well as courage and survival. It is fascinating and moving.

AWARD WINNER
This book was the winner of the ANZAC Memorial Trustees Military History Prize, 2025, NSW History Awards

JUDGES' COMMENTS
'In Rock and Tempest, Patricia Collins has created a remarkable work covering the Australian Navy’s experience of one of Australia’s most significant natural disasters, Cyclone Tracy. She has brought together the chilling personal accounts of Navy personnel, their families and civilian support staff to explain their varied experiences of Cyclone Tracy, including the evacuation and clean-up operations, and the ongoing legacies for those involved. Her work is admirably bolstered by in-depth archival research. 

Through her use of eyewitness accounts from personnel at sea, and their families and workmates ashore, Collins brings fresh perspective to significant events for the city of Darwin, and for the Navy personnel serving in and after the event. Her narrative provides a much-needed accessible window into Navy life from recruitment and training to life aboard, particularly for the Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS), and covers difficult issues such as gender bias, alcohol use and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Rock and Tempest is a standout contribution to military history. In this book, Collins addresses a significant gap in military history literature, which is sparse in its discussions of Defence assistance to the civil community. Well-structured and narrated, it is a primer in bringing personal accounts and the archival record to go beyond memoir. The author also recognises the important role Defence families and civilians play, and artfully weaves them into the narrative.'

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