Bowen Cyclone
16 Feb 1884 Australian Town and Country Journal.
The telegraphic report of the disaster reads ..
" BOWEN. February 3.
" After blowing hard for several days the storm began on "Wednesday morning, when houses and trees commenced to fall. -The primary school, which waa built of "brick, the corporation store, and numerous other buildings, both in town and country, were blown down. Half the roof of the new Supreme Court was blown off. The TIMES office was unroofed, and much damage was done, so that no paper could be issued on Saturday. The Catholic Church was -blown down, the Bank of New South Wales was unroofed, and Smith's large iron store adjoining levelled to the ground. The pilot buildings were blown down, and all tho pilot boats and the cutter lost. Stores were unroofed and much damage done to the contents. The jetty at Poole Island, the steam launch and punts are all gone, and the machinery and buildings much damaged, the amount of damage being estimated at between £5000 and £810,000. The steamer Fiado, which was loading frozen meat, broke her cable, and is now on the beach, and it is doubtful whether she will get off at the next spring tides. The frozen meat on board was given away to thc public. No lives were lost, but many cattle and horses were killed by falling trees. lt is impossible to give full particulars of the damage done. Every house in the town is damaged in some way, and the losses very great. Many families were rendered homeless, and took refuge in the English Church and various public
buildings. There is supposed to have been a Fix this text wreck at Gloucester Island, but there are no boats to go in search. It is not known where the Government schooner Pearl is, but it is feared that she has come to grief. The weather is now calm. Fortunately the rain ceased soon after the storm commenced, or the loss would have been dreadful. The manager of the Poole Island Meat-preserving Works wires us to the effect that the cyclone did much damage to the works, but no lives were lost. Freezing operations wore
going on successfully at the time"

TROVE - The Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld : 1875 - 1929)Thursday 17 February 1927

FEBRUARY CYCLONES

QUEENSLAND The first recorded Queensland cyclone in February arrived on the 20th of the month in 1870, and left few roofs on any houses' at either Townsville or. Bowen. It also mopped up several ships and caused heavy -floods. Febru ary 17th, 1876, saw the next one. It arrived at Townsville and provided much work - for - the building trade to re-erect what it blew down. In the - following year on February 2nd a fear- ful cyclone passed over Conogarie Creek and the Albert River, leaving a broad swath of desolation and wreck in it's wake. Cardwell had the next Febru ary cyclone, which arrived on the 2nd of the month in 1862 doing consider able damage, and the next one smote Cooktown two years later on the 21st of the month. February 17th 1888 saw the next one, which shook up the town of Mackay and wrecked two steamers. The next was an indecisive one that appeared off the coast on the 1st Febru ary 1893, oscillated as if unable to make up its mind what to do, and then. fled for the open sea and was seen or heard no more. Another one showed up on the 16-17th, and terrified the longshoremen of Sandgate before it also left the coast. On 4th February 1898 Mackay was visited by one which came in from the north-east, causing widespread damage and the next February cyclone was re ported from the 4th to 6th of the month in 1899 from the Gulf of Carpentaria. Little damage was done. Nine years passed without another February cy- clone in Queensland, and then one visit- ed Chillagoe and Barcaldine on that 16th in 1906, causing considerable dam age at both places. In 1909 there where two, one on the 3rd-4th February, which almost wrecked Normanton, and the other on the 19th which passed over Cunnamula and Thargomindah. On February 10th, 1910, Port Donglas was almost blown flat (five weeks later it was blown quite flat) by a breeze that came, in from the north. The next one was on February, 19th, to 21st of 1914, hut although it brought heavy rain along the coast the centre of the blow itself remained at sea for the bene fit of timid passengers. On February 6th-9th of the following year a severe cyclone operated off the coast from Bowen southwards. Much the same thing happened in the following year. On February 10th to 15th, and again on February 12th to 14th of 1918. On February 2nd 1920 a swift moving storm swept down on the coast line and passed inland near Cairns. It fell on Chillagoe, Mareeba and Holloy, and shifted the hats off most of the houses. People had hardly got over that one when another drove in from the north-

east and mopped up Port Douglas, as well as most other places between there and Croydon. It was a busy Febru- ary for the north. On February 16th and 18th, 1922, the operations of a hefty cyclone between New Caledonia caused men at sea to peer from behind bridge-dodgers and wonder how long it was going to last: and between February' -18th to March 3rd, one -measured

from York Pennisular to Western Aus tralia, it took its time over the jour ney. Meanwhile, another one sprang up between New Caledonia and Queens land and operated from 23rd to 28th. At Norfolk Island the barometer at 9.0 a-m. on 28th was 29.11 inches. February of 1925 was a busy month with no less than four cyclones of varying degrees of disagreeableness. The first was over the area between Willis Island and the mainland from 3rd to 6th, and was of only moderate intensity. The next was over Chinchilla, and, al- though it lasted only 3 minutes or so, it caused much damage to buildings. Through the collapse of a church a girl was fatally injured. Longreach saw the next on the 22nd. It occurred dur- ing the night, unroofing a number of houses end damaging the railway con- struction camp. The fourth and last passed over Willis Island on the 26th and readied Cooktown the same night doing some damage to buildings. It was the only one of the four that bought much rain.

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