Cyclone Fina presented a significant test of disaster preparedness, response, and recovery systems across the Tiwi Islands, exposing both strengths and persistent gaps in current emergency management arrangements for remote Indigenous communities. This report documents and analyses planning, sheltering, evacuation, and recovery processes undertaken before, during, and after Cyclone Fina, with a focus on community-led decision-making, cultural safety, and local governance.

Drawing on observations from local government, ranger groups, emergency services, and community organisations, the report highlights the critical role of Indigenous leadership, kinship networks, and place-based knowledge in enabling timely preparedness actions, informal evacuation decisions, and adaptive sheltering practices. While formal cyclone planning frameworks provided an essential foundation, their effectiveness was closely tied to local actors' flexibility in interpreting warnings, mobilising community resources, and responding to rapidly changing conditions.

Post-cyclone recovery efforts revealed both resilience and systemic constraints, including challenges related to housing damage, infrastructure vulnerability, supply chains, and the pace of external recovery assistance. Importantly, recovery was not experienced as a discrete phase, but as an ongoing process intertwined with cultural obligations, land management responsibilities, and long-standing socio-economic inequities.

The report argues that Cyclone Fina underscores the need for disaster governance models that move beyond consultation toward genuine Indigenous authority in planning, response, and recovery. Lessons from the Tiwi Islands demonstrate how Indigenous-led, culturally grounded disaster management can strengthen community safety, continuity, and resilience in the face of intensifying climate-driven hazards.