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I'm looking forward to this doco. I wasn't yet born when it happened but it's become part of my folklore living up here. I'm also on the lookout for a photo of Port Darwin Motors in the aftermath as my Series 3 trayback was new on/in the forecourt/showroom that night.
Dan.
69 2A 88" pet4 (still in disguise), 68 2B FC pet6 (still resting quietly), 74 S3 109" pet4, plus 31 other parts/project cars.
I was there .. 19 at the time .. being Chrissy eve and enjoying ourselves we went for drive to Porkies Spare Ribs for munchies as it was building up. I was driving, used my mates fathers Nissian Patrol (his parents were in Adelaide), with us wearing our motor cycle helmets. Porkies was open as was the servo, one of the guys jumped out and the wind took him off his feet and rolled him into the fence. At that point we knew it was serious. Backed up the Patrol and we dragged him in .. Porkies shut then so no munchies :mad::mad:
The drive back to Stuart Park down the highway was quite frightening with sheets of corrugated iron whistling by. Once we got to the lee of the hill it was fine, for then .. power went on and off and then off and she just kept building up. Once the eye passed over it then hit us full force, windows and glass rained in on us and we spent the rest of a very long night in the bathroom and toilets. I sat in the bath, motor cycle helmet on expecting to not last the night. You can never be prepared for the noise, the wind, the breaking of timber, the roof lifting up and down .. parts ripping off, other houses parts slamming into yours, absolutely terrifying. When dawn came we thought that we maybe the only ones to survive. Outside was devastation, we seemed to be the only house with a bit still standing, end of our house was gone, lounge gone .. . i was surprised when I saw somebody else. We rescued a family next door that the walls had collapsed on .. I stayed on helping in an evacuation centre for a while and then drove south in the Nissan with a large trailer taking tools and our bikes to Adelaide. Hit a herd of beef but she limped on with the bull bar bent back on to the bonnet and eventually broke down north of Alice. A story in its own right.
Local Darwin cops were awesome, the imported ones were a mixed bag.. had a local cop drop into our centre (a school), he was visibly shaken and warned us that some of the southern cops had gone rogue, open shooting at looters. Civilisation as we know it can break down very quickly.
I worked for a Project Manager in Govt and he died, girl I went out with her father lost both his legs from corrugated iron and somehow survived with tourniquets stemming the blood flow. Its the mental problems that affected so many that people don't read about. I went thru pretty unscathed, a mate didn't and sought help for many years after breakdowns. For a long time whenever there was a big storm it would bring back the memories and I couldn't sleep. I have a brother still living there, nice place to visit but I will never live there again.
Our whole family went through cyclone Tracy. I was only 5 so old enough to remember it but probably not old enough to know how lucky we where compared to some others. It was dads Land Rover that saved us because the house got destroyed pretty well. We are currently sitting at Sydney airport to fly to Darwin for a few days for a short holiday.
Interesting read rosco8, been here 2 months and still waiting for the wet!, cool place and so much less cluttered than sydney.
Was a good documentary, certainly brought back some memories, and great to sit with my youngest (25) and explain things to him. Disappointed not to see my father in clips who was Director of Local Govt for the NT at the time, and was responsible under Stretton for Transport, which included the evacuation. I remember him becoming quite sick after it settled down as he had no sleep for something like 10 days.
The annoying factor in the documentary was that younger looking aboriginal who says that this was part of punishment for the whites not treating them well. Please !!!! We had a lot of close misses and our number was up with this one. And how the aboriginals saw the signs of animals moving and left the area. What I remember is half the Bagot reserve guys leaving the Rapid Creek pub blind drunk the next morning. Sure saw the signs and sheltered down under the bar !!!! Myth versus reality.
The ex Coppers account was excellent, the fact that most of us didn't believe the low death toll is spot on. I still argue with my father on the numbers. I reckon complete families were just wiped out and were just pieces in the wreckage. When you drove around and saw how many areas were completely wiped, you had to ask, how could anyone survive ?? The fact so many did is a miracle.
The street poles were railway lines and bent like twigs, there wasn't a single leaf left on any tree where we were, but each tree had strips of corrugated iron wrapped in them. The shooting of family pets left behind, we did some of that and it still upsets me. Where we were there was large parrot in a cage, he survived but every feather had been stripped from his body. I had around 100 LP albums which I put in a cupboard to protect them, they survived still nicely stacked on top of one another, wet but with leaves implanted in around 25% of them.
Met a guy who was on the 2nd story of a flat. It just blew the guts out of the flat, rolled him into the yard, over a fence and pinned him into the neighbours fence. He was graveled rashed head to foot. A fellow up the road had build a cyclone proof house and said it was riding well, until he saw the end bedroom of the house across the road heading his way. They, family of 4 and the family dog, went into the bathroom and all sat in the bath. Then the roof, and walls disappeared around them, then the bath started to move across the floor towards the edge, somehow they crawled and got down the stairs and sheltered under the house.
Darwin is a nice city but as the meteorologist said in the documentary, it can happen again. The power of nature.