As far north Queensland mops up after the flooding and mayhem largely resulting from unpreparedness in the wake of Cyclone Jasper, anyone who has lived there would know it has nothing to do with ‘catastrophic climate change’ despite the usual alarmist headlines.

Cyclones are not a new phenomenon, and Jasper couldn’t hold a candle to Cyclone Althea which caused three deaths when it devastated Townsville and some other northern centres on Christmas Eve, 1971.

As a kid growing up in Stuart, a bush village near Townsville, cyclones were just another chapter in life’s adventures – unless one actually hit your house.

Let’s take a trip...