PM Submission - Thomas Kearney - MCU18/0015

The Bureau of Meteorology cyclone tracking map shows the path of the 1954 Great Gold
Coast Cyclone from the Coral Sea down past Port Macquarie in New South Wales.

Bureau of Meteorology

The NSW town of Kyogle was also devastated by what locals described as a "wall of
water" that claimed the lives of 10 people.

The entire Byron Bay fishing fleet of 22 boats and the outer section of the jetty were
swept away.

A wall of water moving down the Richmond River hit Lismore in the early evening,
causing the river to swell up to 11km wide in one place.

A seven-year-old boy was swept away at Lismore, one man drowned during a rescue in a
record flood at Murwillumbah.

During an attempted rescue at Casino, two men drowned when their motor boat hit a
tree.

A 21-month-old baby went missing and four people drowned after a car was washed into
a flooded creek at Armidale.

Record flooding was recorded in the Coffs Harbour region, with up to 809mm recorded at
Dorrigo Myrtle Street in the 24 hours to 9am on February 21.

'The Great Gold Coast Cyclone'

The Gold Coast cyclone fell into the period when weather systems went unnamed, as the
convention did not begin until 1964.

        "The flamboyant Clement Wragge, Government meteorologist in Queensland
        from 1887 until 1902, initiated the practice by naming weather systems after