List of retired Australian region cyclone names
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{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
File:Monica 2006-04-23 0055Z.jpg, the strongest recorded tropical cyclone in the Australian region by wind speed]]
{{Tropicalcyclone}}
Tropical cyclones are non-frontal, low-pressure systems that develop, within an environment of warm sea surface temperatures and little vertical wind shear aloft.{{RA V Tropical cyclone operational plan}} Within the Australian region, names are assigned from three pre-determined lists, to such systems, once they reach or exceed ten–minute sustained wind speeds of {{convert|65|km/h|mph|abbr=on|round=5}}, near the center, by either the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Papua New Guinea's National Weather Service or Indonesia's Badan Meteorologi Klimatologi dan Geofisika. Within the Australian region, tropical cyclones have been officially named since the 1963–64 Australian region cyclone season, though several meteorological papers show that a few tropical cyclones were named before 1964–65.{{cite book|first=James P.|last=Terry|publisher=Springer|year=2007|pages=30–31|title=Tropical cyclones: climatology and impacts in the South Pacific|chapter=3.4|isbn= 9780387715421|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=syqPSpliRCwC}}{{cite web|url=http://australiasevereweather.com/cyclones/impacts-eastcoast.pdf|title=Tropical Cyclone Impacts along the Australian east coast from November to April 1858–2000|first=Jeff|last=Callaghan|publisher=Australian Severe Weather|date=18 August 2004|access-date=25 February 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://www.pacificdisaster.net/pdnadmin/data/original/VUT_TC_1847_1994.pdf|author=Unattributed|title=Tropical cyclones in Vanuatu: 1847 to 1994|date=13 March 2010|work=Vanuatu Meteorological Service|publisher=Pacific Disaster Net|access-date=25 February 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150405052003/http://www.pacificdisaster.net/pdnadmin/data/original/VUT_TC_1847_1994.pdf|archive-date=5 April 2015|url-status=dead}} The names of significant tropical cyclones that cause a high amount of damage and/or loss of life are retired from the lists of tropical cyclone names by the World Meteorological Organization's RA V Tropical Cyclone Committee at their bi-annual meeting. Storms named by Port Moresby are automatically retired regardless of their impact due to their infrequent occurrence.
Within the Australian region, there have been a total of 134 tropical cyclone names retired. Among the retired storms are cyclones Gwenda and Inigo, two of the most intense systems ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere; both attained a barometric pressure of 900 hPa (26.58 inHg). The deadliest cyclone to have its named retired was Cyclone Freddy in 2023, which killed 1,434 people across the Indian Ocean, while the most damaging system to have its name retired was Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023, which left A${{formatprice|12601260126}} (US${{formatprice|8400000000}} 2023 USD) in losses.
Background
{{Main article|Tropical cyclone naming|History of tropical cyclone naming|List of historical tropical cyclone names}}
Within the region the credit for the first usage of personal names for weather systems, is generally given to the Queensland Government Meteorologist Clement Wragge, who named systems between 1887 and 1907.{{cite journal|author=Smith, Ray|url=http://www.metsoc.org.nz/system/files/journals/10/1/1990_101_24-26_rsmith.pdf|journal=Weather and Climate|year=1990|publisher=The Meteorological Society of New Zealand|volume=10|title=What's in a Name?|issue=1|pages=24–26|doi=10.2307/44279572|jstor=44279572|s2cid=201717866|access-date=25 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129194207/http://www.metsoc.org.nz/system/files/journals/10/1/1990_101_24-26_rsmith.pdf|archive-date=29 November 2014|url-status=dead}} Wragge used names drawn from the letters of the Greek alphabet, Greek and Roman mythology and female names, to describe weather systems including tropical cyclones over Australia, New Zealand and the Antarctic. After the new Australian government had failed to create a federal weather bureau and appoint him director, Wragge started naming cyclones after political figures.{{cite book|author=Landsea, Christopher W |author2=Dorst, Neal M |date=1 June 2014 |title=Tropical Cyclone Frequently Asked Question |chapter=Subject: Tropical Cyclone Names: B1) How are tropical cyclones named? |access-date=25 August 2014 |url-status=live |url=http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/TCFAQ_B.txt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012212537/http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/TCFAQ_B.txt |archive-date=12 October 2014 |publisher=United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Hurricane Research Division }} This system of naming weather systems subsequently fell into disuse for several years after Wragge retired, before the Australian Bureau of Meteorology started to use female names for tropical cyclones in the region during the 1963–64 cyclone season.
During the International Women's Year of 1975 the Australian Science Minister ordered that tropical cyclones, within the Australian region, should carry both men's and women's names. This was because the minister thought "that both sexes should bear the odium of the devastation caused by cyclones." As a result, male names were added to the lists of names for both basins, ahead of the 1975–76 season.{{cite news|newspaper=New York Times|title=Sex-Shift in Australia: A Cyclone Named 'Alan'|date=30 September 1975|agency=Reuters|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/10/01/archives/sexshift-in-australia-a-cyclone-named-alan.html}} {{Subscription required|via=New York Times}}
The practice of retiring significant names was started during 1955 by the United States Weather Bureau in the Northern Atlantic basin, after hurricanes Carol, Edna, and Hazel struck the Northeastern United States and caused a significant amount of damage in the previous year.{{cite web|title=They Called the Wind Mahina: The History of Naming Cyclones|author=Dorst, Neal|url=ftp://ftp.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/pub/dorst/Mahina.pptx|author2=Hurricane Research Division|publisher=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration|page=Slides 8–72|date=23 October 2012}} Initially the names were only designed to be retired for ten years after which they might be reintroduced, however, it was decided at the 1969 Interdepartmental hurricane conference, that any significant hurricane in the future would have its name permanently retired.{{cite news|title=It's time (June) to match for Anna...|newspaper=The Daily Gleaner|date=1 June 1969|agency=Reuters|page=2|location=Kingston, Jamaica}}{{subscription required|via=The Newspaper Archive}} Several names have been removed from the Pacific naming lists for various other reasons than causing a significant amount of death/destruction, which include being pronounced in a very similar way to other names and political reasons.{{RA IV Hurricane Operational Plan}}{{cite book|access-date=21 June 2014|author=Landsea, Christopher W|author2=Dorst, Neal|publisher=United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration|author5=Hurricane Research Division|date=20 June 2014|chapter=Subject: B3) What storm names have been retired?|title=Tropical Cyclone Frequently Asked Questions|url=http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/B3.html}}
{{Clear}}
Tropical cyclone names retired
=1960s=
{{Pacific areas affected (Top)}}
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| Audrey || {{Sort|19640107|7–14 January 1964}} || bgcolor=#{{storm colour|A2}}|{{sort|3|Category 2 tropical cyclone}} || bgcolor=#{{storm colour|A2}}|{{Sort|050|Not specified}} || bgcolor=#{{storm colour|A2}}|{{convert|983|hPa|inHg|abbr=on|sigfig=4|sortable=on}} || Northern Territory, Queensland || Extensive || {{sort|0|None}} ||{{cite report|title=Tropical Cyclone Audrey |access-date=5 December 2018|url=http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/nt/Audrey1964.shtml |archive-date=26 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141226005604/http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/nt/Audrey1964.shtml |publisher=Australian Bureau of Meteorology |url-status=live }}
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| Flora || {{Sort|19641201|1–5 December 1964}} || bgcolor=#{{storm colour|A3}}|{{sort|4|Category 3 severe tropical cyclone}} || bgcolor=#{{storm colour|A3}}|{{convert|75|kn|km/h mph|round=5|order=out|abbr=on|sortable=on}} || bgcolor=#{{storm colour|A3}}|{{convert|965|hPa|inHg|abbr=on|sigfig=4|sortable=on}} || Northern Territory, Queensland || Extensive || {{sort|0|None}} ||{{cite web|title=Tropical Cyclone Flora |publisher=Australian Bureau of Meteorology |archive-date=8 October 2012 |url-status=live|url=http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/nt/Flora.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008125051/http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/nt/Flora.shtml |access-date=6 December 2018 }}
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| Dinah || {{Sort|19670122|22–31 January 1967}} || bgcolor=#{{storm colour|A4}}|{{sort|5|Category 4 severe tropical cyclone}} || bgcolor=#{{storm colour|A4}}|{{convert|90|kn|km/h mph|round=5|order=out|abbr=on|sortable=on}} || bgcolor=#{{storm colour|A4}}|{{convert|945|hPa|inHg|abbr=on|sigfig=4|sortable=on}} || Queensland || Severe || None ||{{cite web|title=Historical Tropical Cyclone Impacts Along The East Coast |publisher=Australian Bureau of Meteorology |author=Brisbane Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre |access-date=25 December 2014 |url=http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/history/eastern.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008124628/http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/history/eastern.shtml |archive-date=8 October 2012 |url-status=dead }}{{wbr}}{{cite report|url=http://www.bom.gov.au/qld/flood/fld_history/floodsum_1960.shtml |title=Queensland Flood Summary 1960 - 1969 |publisher=Australian Bureau of Meteorology |access-date=25 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415042123/http://www.bom.gov.au/hydro/flood/qld/fld_history/floodsum_1960.shtml |archive-date=15 April 2012 |date=November 2010 |url-status=live }}
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! 3 names !! 7 January 1964 – 31 January 1967 !! !! {{convert|90|kn|km/h mph|round=5|order=out|abbr=on|sortable=on}} !! {{convert|945|hPa|inHg|abbr=on|sigfig=4|sortable=on}} !! !! Severe !! None !! {{#tag:ref|Reference for the names retired between 1963 and 2020.{{RA V Tropical cyclone operational plan}}|group="nb"|name="Retired Names Ref"}}
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