June 26, 1924 Tsunami: Macquarie Island, Australia
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake began at Macquarie Island, Australia on June 26, 1924 at 01:37:34 UTC. Its effects were recorded at 1 place.
Where the waves reached
The source (white) and every runup with a place, colored by the water height recorded there. A ring is a runup NCEI marks doubtful.
- Under 1 m
- 1 to 3 m
- 3 to 10 m
- 10 to 30 m
- 30 m and more
- Height not recorded
Travel times
How long the first wave took to reach each part of the ocean, one line for each hour up to 24, estimated from the source and the depth of the sea.
The travel times are computed in your browser, which needs JavaScript.
- 1 to 4 hours
- 5 to 6 hours
- 7 to 14 hours
- 15 hours and more
Computed in your browser the way NOAA’s own travel time maps are: the wave travels at the square root of gravity times the depth, over NOAA’s ETOPO1 depths averaged to a 10 arc-minute grid. Checked against NOAA NCEI’s maps for 21 tsunamis over the first 24 hours, these lines fall within 10 minutes of NCEI’s at half the points compared and within 52 minutes at 9 in 10. They give when the first wave could arrive, not how high it is; bays, harbors and island chains finer than the grid can see it later. Not for use in a warning: see tsunami.gov.
The tsunami
- Date
- June 26, 1924, 01:37:34 UTC
- Source
- Macquarie Island, Australia
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 7.8
- Runups recorded
- 1
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Probable tsunami
- Source location
- 56.000° S, 157.500° E
The toll
The record gives no deaths, injuries or damage for this tsunami.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
June 26, 1924, 01:37:34 UTC, 56 S, 157.5 E, magnitude 7.8 MS. An earthquake, with its source in the region of the island of Macquarie, generated a tsunami which was recorded on a tide gauge in Sydney. (reference #415)
The Horsham Times ,Friday 11 July 1924, Page 8: “TIDAL WAVE. Travelling at the rate of 464 miles an hour, a tidal wave, raised by an earthquake near Macquarie Island, reached Sydney in less than four hours on Tuesday. Macquarie Island is the seat of the recent big earthquake. It is 1740 miles from Sydney. ……. The first wave from the Macquarie earthquake was noticed on 26th June, at 8.30 p.m., in Sydney, and a slow succession of these tiny waves went on till 4 a.m.” (reference #14306)
Every runup
Nearest the source first. Heights are above sea level at the time; a tide gauge reads half the wave’s full height.
| Where | Country | Km from source | Water height, m | Inland, m | Measured by | First wave, UTC | Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney | Australia | 2,508 | 0.1 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | day 26, 05:30 |
More
Every tsunami in 1924The 1900sTsunamis of AustraliaThe earthquakeThis day in weather historyAlerts in force
Sources
Tsunami events and runups from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI tsunami event 1543.