Here are some facts for this day. You are welcome to log your interesting, quirky or fun fact/s with your log.
On This Day - March 4th 1899
Cyclone Mahina hits north Queensland, killing over 400.
Cyclone Mahina, which hit north Queensland on 4 March 1899, was a category 5 cyclone, and resulted in the greatest death toll of any natural disaster in Australia. It hit a pearling fleet of around 100 vessels which lay at anchor at Bathurst Bay, driving the boats onto the shore or onto the Great Barrier Reef. 307 people were killed in this one act alone, and only 4 sailors survived. Just before the eye of the cyclone passed overland to the north a tidal wave 13 - 15 metres high, caused by the storm surge, swept inland for about 5 kilometres, destroying anything that was left of the Bathurst Bay pearling fleet, along with the settlement. The death toll of between 400 and 410 included at least 100 indigenous Australians, some of whom died when they were caught by the back surge and swept into the sea while trying to help shipwrecked men. A memorial stone to 'The Pearlers' who were lost to the hurricane was erected on Cape Melville. The disaster is also commemorated in the Anglican church on Thursday Island.