 During the final week of December 1978 , an area of atmospheric convection developed over northern Australia and surrounding areas . During 28 December , an area of low pressure developed over the eastern Arnhem Land within this area of atmospheric convection . Over the next day the system moved northwestward toward the Gulf of Carpentaria and developed further , with the first gale force wind associated with the system reported from an automatic weather station on 29 December . The system was subsequently named Peter by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology ( BoM ) after it moved into the Gulf and developed into a Category 1 tropical cyclone on the Australian tropical cyclone intensity scale . After being named , Peter continued to intensify further as it tracked southeastward toward the Cape York Peninsula . 
