vide the city with water. On Australia Day (26 January) 1959, Darwin was granted city status.
On 25 December 1974, Darwin was struck by Cyclone Tracy, which killed 71 people and destroyed over 70% of the town's buildings, including many old stone buildings such as the Palmerston Town Hall, which could not withstand the lateral forces generated by the strong winds. After the disaster, 30,000 people of a then population of 43,000 were evacuated, in what turned out to be the biggest airlift in Australia's history. The town was subsequently rebuilt with newer materials and techniques during the late 1970s by the Darwin Reconstruction Commission, led by former Brisbane Lord Mayor Clem Jones. A satellite city of Palmerston was built 20 km (12 mi) south of Darwin in the early 1980s.
On 17 September 2003 the Adelaide-Darwin railway was completed, with the opening of the Alice Springs-Darwin standard gauge line
