Honoured guests.
My fellow Australians.
Fifty years ago, children across Darwin went to bed dreaming of Santa Claus and Christmas and awoke to a nightmare.
The sound of torrential rain gave way to the screech of corrugated iron as sheets ripped from roofs hurtled through the sky and scraped across the ground at over 200 kilometres an hour.
Windows shattered.
Trees uprooted.
Cars upended.
Fibro walls torn clean away.
An entire city almost wiped off the map.
Antony Bullock remembers his Dad shining his torch out their front door.
He said: "It was like looking into the gates of hell."
Flying debris flashing past on the wind, too fast to identify.
And as his Dad tilted the torch up to their verandah roof, the wind peeled it away and it disappeared into the darkness: "like tissue paper out of a car window".
Across Darwin, families huddled fearfully in the safest places they could find, whispering prayers, holding each other tight.
Waiting for the howling darkness to pass.
When, at last, an eerie silence fell and the sun rose, it was on a scene of utter devastation.
Cyclone Tracy's trail of destruction rendered tens of thousands of Territorians homeless.
And - tragically - it claimed at least 66 lives.
Today, we gather to pay our nation's respects to all those taken from their loved ones that fateful night.
We think of their families, for whom every Christmas means revisiting that grief.
And we remember all the survivors, so many of whom honour us with their presence here this morning.
People who spent those days after Christmas as part of the biggest peacetime evacuation in Australian history.
And people who still carry the pain and trauma of those days, because in the words of one: "Tracy doesn't go away".
Today, as we reflect on the destructive force of nature at its very worst, we also remember and honour the strength and kindness of Australians at their very best.
The Australian Defence Force and emergency services personnel who were there to help from the first moments of crisis, right the way through.
And everyday Australians, everywhere, who responded with characteristic generosity.
An appeal created by the service clubs of Alice Springs raised over $100,000 in less than 48 hours.
At the Boxing Day Test, Australian and English cricketers walked around the ground with buckets, collecting donations from the crowd.
As Acting Prime Minister Jim Cairns put it: "Darwin became a magic word throughout Australia…evoking assistance in every form."
Above all, we pay tribute to the resilience of the great city of Darwin and the proud people who call it home.
Because the hard work of rebuilding - homes, communities and lives - is always an act of profound courage.
The three-year reconstruction of Darwin was an unprecedented national effort.
And it set new national standards - for quality and safety in construction.
Meaning that when Cyclone Larry and Cyclone Yasi struck North Queensland this century, there was nowhere the same damage done to homes and nothing like the terrible loss of life.
On the 28th of December 1974, one reporter on the ground in Darwin wrote for the Canberra Times:
"The city can be rebuilt…but the casual, friendly and somewhat independent way of living can never be put back together again."
Fifty years later, visitors and locals alike can take pride in just how wrong that was.
Because while the modern city of Darwin has grown and thrived, changed and evolved, the unique character of this place and the special warmth of the people who call it home endures stronger than ever.
The monument we unveil together today stands in tribute to these qualities and this truth.
The story of Darwin - and the story of Australia.
No matter the challenge: we face it together, we look after each other.
We learn from what we've been through and we hold on to what matters most: the memory of those we have lost, the love of our family and friends.
And on this most solemn Christmas morning here in Darwin, the love of our nation, Australia.
