This study characterizes changes to the ocean structure and ocean thermal energy budget produced by tropical cyclones (TCs) over the North West Shelf of Australia using a 20-year composite of cyclone data (1996-2016) created from Bluelink ReANalysis data (BRAN). Part 1 focuses on the general effects of the passage of a TC over the region and the effects of the location in respect to the shelf edge. Cold temperature anomalies develop at the ocean surface beneath the TC core in response to strong mixing and deep upwelling driven by surface divergence and Ekman pumping. In the TC outer circulation, surface cold anomalies also develop. However, warm temperature anomalies appear in the subsurface below the mixed layer due to wind-driven mixing across the mixed layer. In the month following the passage of the TC, the surface cold temperature anomalies recover relatively quickly due to air-sea fluxes, while the subsurface warm anomalies take longer to recover. Over the shelf, stronger cold anomalies develop at the surface, and the TC direction of motion can further impact the development of currents. TCs that move perpendicular to the shelf edge drive stronger vertical currents in a wide region around the track and stronger SST anomalies and TCs that move parallel to the coast drive colder temperature anomalies at depth and stronger upward currents beneath the track. The presence of the shelf can affect the development of downwelling currents along the coast for TCs that are further offshore but move parallel to the coast.