Talk:1975–76 Australian region cyclone season

Note surrounding the names: 1975-76

Since several of the names used in a Southern Hemisphere tropical cyclone seasons pre 1980 have been lost to time, I am writing a note on each of the talkpages to explain where I got the names from. I am hoping to rediscover these names, in order to update List of historical tropical cyclone names (LOHTCN) and season articles as well as to give editors a better idea of who named what. As of April 13, 2022, LOHTCN currently shows that the names Alan, Alice, Beth, Carol, Colin, Dawn, Hope, Joan, Kim, Linda, Ray, Sue, Vanessa, Wally and Watorea were used in the Australian region during 1975-76. It also shows that the names: Charlotte, David, Elsa, Frances, George, Hope, Jan and Watorea were used in the South Pacific basin and that the names Audrey, Barbara, Clotilde, Danae, Ella, Frederique, Gladys and Heliotrope were used in the SWIO. The sources cited were the Old Australian Database, the NZMS summary; "Tropical Cyclones in the Southwest Pacific: November 1969 – May 1979", a book written by James P Terry entitled Tropical Cyclone Climatology and Impacts in the South Pacific, and Tropical Cyclone Impacts along the Australian east coast from November to April 1858–2000 a document written by a former BoM TC forecaster: Jeff Callaghan.

I have since managed to obtain a copy of Tropical Cyclones in the Australian Region from July 1909 to June 1980 which shows that the names: Joan, Kim, Sue, David, Vanessa, Alan, Beth, Wally, Colin, Alice, Dawn, Linda and Watorea were used in the Australian Region during 1975-76. However, the summary does not mention anything about names that were assigned by the BoM to systems in the Indian Ocean. The NZMS summary shows that the names Alan, Beth, Colin, Dawn, David, Elsa, Francis, Hope, Ian/Jan, Linda and Watorea were used for tropical cyclone names between Australia and 140W. Trove has found a newspaper article in the Hamersley News from November 20, 1975 entitled Men join Women on cyclone name list. The article provides a few details about the naming lists for the region and notes that this was the first year of both male and female naming. This list also appears in the March 1976 issue of the Mariners Weather Log on page 83 and is replicated here for further use.

• Brisbane: Alan, Beth, Colin, Dawn, Eddie, Freda, Greg, Hope and Ian.
• Darwin: Joan, Kim, Linda, Max, Nita, Owen and Pearl.
• Perth: Ray, Sue, Terry, Vanessa, Wally, Alice, Bert, Carol, Dan, Edna, Felix

As a result it appears that the names Alan, Beth, Colin and Dawn were named by Brisbane, while Darwin named Joan, Kim and Linda while Perth named Ray, Sue, Terry, Vanessa, Wally, Alice, Bert and Carol. The July 1976 issue of the Mariners Weather Log on page 210 shows that the name Watorea was assigned by TCWC Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. MetMar shows that Terry became Danae and that Bert became Heliotrope as they moved across 80E and into the South-West Indian Ocean. It also appears that [Charlotte], David (R), Elsa (R), Francis, [George], Hope, Ian/Jan were used for tropical cyclone names in the South Pacific by the FMS/NZMS. NB: For some reason, David appears on the List of Retired Australian tropical cyclone names (LORACN) despite being named by Nadi, also Charlotte and George will need sourcing on the 1975-76 South Pacific page. LOHTCN, LORACN & LORSPCN have been updated accordingly.Jason Rees (talk) 19:43, 23 April 2022 (UTC)