Dr Ella Stack, the mayor who steered Darwin through the aftermath of Cyclone Tracy, has died in Canberra aged 94.
A general practitioner and obstetrician, Dr Stack moved to Darwin from New South Wales in the early 1960s and opened one of the city's first private practices.
By 1969, she was a council alderman, and in 1975 was elected Darwin's first female mayor.
But it was on Christmas Day 1974, when Cyclone Tracy made landfall, that her life and the city she went on to lead changed forever.
In an interview with the ABC in 2016 she described running a makeshift clinic out of Darwin High School, home to some of the few major buildings left standing.
"Not only did I look after the people that came in, but also people came and lived here," she said.
"They brought their sodden old mattresses with them ... I used to do a ward round every day and call them the sodden mattress lot."
The cyclone destroyed 90 per cent of Darwin's buildings, including Dr Stack's own home. As mayor, Dr Stack played a key role rebuilding the city, and was instrumental in pressing the federal government to fund the Darwin Reconstruction Commission.
In 1979 she was made Commander of the British Empire for her work on the reconstruction.
In 1980 she resigned as mayor for an unsuccessful run at Northern Territory parliament with the Country Liberal Party.
After leaving her private practice, Dr Stack led a new Aboriginal health division in the Northern Territory Health Department and played a key role in the founding of the Menzies School of Health Research.
In 1989, she acted as the Northern Territory's chief medical officer.
Dr Stack died peacefully at the Canberra Hospital on Friday in the presence of loved ones, according to a statement from her family.
Darwin Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis described her as an "amazing woman" who was dedicated to Darwin.
"Instead of evacuating, like so many… she stayed back," he said.
"That's dedication. That shows her community spirit. That says: 'I'm a doctor, I'm needed here. I'm staying here.'"
