After being proclaimed on 20 April 1970 as an Act of Queensland Parliament, the University College of Townsville became "James Cook University of North Queensland" on 29 April 1970. The official opening of the university was conducted by Queen Elizabeth II. The namesake is British sea captain James Cook, who is best known for being the first European to explore the eastern coast of Australia. A year after JCU's proclamation, Cyclone Althea struck the Townsville region. This, together with the destruction caused by Cyclone Tracy in Darwin 1974, prompted the establishment of a cyclone research facility. The Cyclone Testing Station started out as a small project of Professor Hugh Trollope and began its operations on 1 November 1977 as "James Cook Cyclone Structural Testing Station". The Cyclone Testing Station operates as a self funded unit of the College of Science, Technology and Engineering, and serves as an advising member to the Australian Standards committee in areas of structural design, specifically wind actions.