This is the true story of Trish Mullis who experienced cyclone Tracy first hand.
“I was 8 years old when cyclone Tracy hit Darwin on Christmas Eve 1974. My family and I lived on the RAAF Base in Cooradilla Street. I remember my mother waking me and my sister up late that night. When I put my feet on the floor there was water already mid way up my calves. For the first part of the cyclone we hid in our kitchen, I remember at one stage my mother let my brother, sister and I open 1 Christmas present each, at the time I just thought how lucky I was getting to open a present early. It wasn’t until years later I realised Mum let us open that present in case we died during the cyclone.
The roof of our house blew off and it was getting wetter and wetter no matter where we hid, but we had to manage. As the eye of the cyclone went over it became deathly quiet and still, we all went out into the street to see what was happening. Our neighbours from across the street said for us to come into their house as it had sustained virtually no damage in the first part of the cyclone. Mum, my sister and I did go to shelter in the neighbour’s home, my father and brother stayed in our house as we had a dog and Dad didn’t want to “inconvenience” the neighbours – what a 70’s sentiment! The calm was over and the wind and rain began to hit again, in my neighbour’ house we were all in the small bathroom. There were the 2 adult neighbours, my Mum, my teenage sister and myself. Being the smallest I got to lie down in the bathtub to try and sleep, I don’t remember getting much sleep. Some time later the wind calmed down a bit and we all went into the lounge room, my Mum went over to the wall of louvered window’s to try and see across the road to our house as she was worried about my brother and Dad. Our neighbour told Mum she should come away from the windows. She did manage to see a small light over at our house, so she walked back to where we were waiting near the hallway entrance. Just as she had walked about ½ ways across the lounge room, every louver in those window frames blew in and shattered. If Mum hadn’t moved when she did, I doubt she would have survived the night. We spent the rest of the night in the bathroom; I remember either being in the bathtub or on my mum’s lap. The next morning we went out to discover what damage there was. Our house had lost it’s roof, ceiling and most of the kitchen.
The house behinds our next door neighbours had been totally destroyed, all that was left was the concrete pillions, some floor boards, the metal stair railings and a few steps. Our neighbour told us how he had heard a woman screaming for help during the cyclone, looked out and saw her holding her baby in one arm and had the other arm around the top of the stair railing. He managed to get up to her to rescue her and her baby; they spent the rest of the cyclone with our next door neighbours.
My mother, brother, sister and I were evacuated on Boxing day, Dad had to stay in Darwin for a further 6 months to help with the clean up. Mum decided we would go to Brisbane as my eldest sister already lived there with her husband and children. I remember walking up into the Hercules plane and sitting in the webbing cradle like seats. It was very loud, uncomfortable and crowded. We had a stopover in Mount Isa where the lovely people from Red Cross were giving out blankets and food. I was given a red tartan patterned blanket that I kept for years.
We didn’t return to Darwin until July 1978 when Dad was posted back to Darwin. I’ve lived here ever since and even though cyclones scare me, I don’t think I’d want to live anywhere else.”
“I was 8 years old when cyclone Tracy hit Darwin on Christmas Eve 1974. My family and I lived on the RAAF Base in Cooradilla Street.
I remember my mother waking me and my sister up late that night. When I put my feet on the floor there was water already mid way up my calves. For the first part of the cyclone we hid in our kitchen, I remember at one stage my mother let my brother, sister and I open 1 Christmas present each, at the time I just thought how lucky I was getting to open a present early. It wasn’t until years later I realised Mum let us open that present in case we died during the cyclone.
The roof of our house blew off and it was getting wetter and wetter no matter where we hid, but we had to manage. As the eye of the cyclone went over it became deathly quiet and still, we all went out into the street to see what was happening. Our neighbours from across the street said for us to come into their house as it had sustained virtually no damage in the first part of the cyclone. Mum, my sister and I did go to shelter in the neighbour’s home, my father and brother stayed in our house as we had a dog and Dad didn’t want to “inconvenience” the neighbours – what a 70’s sentiment!
The calm was over and the wind and rain began to hit again, in my neighbour’ house we were all in the small bathroom. There were the 2 adult neighbours, my Mum, my teenage sister and myself. Being the smallest I got to lie down in the bathtub to try and sleep, I don’t remember getting much sleep. Some time later the wind calmed down a bit and we all went into the lounge room, my Mum went over to the wall of louvered window’s to try and see across the road to our house as she was worried about my brother and Dad. Our neighbour told Mum she should come away from the windows. She did manage to see a small light over at our house, so she walked back to where we were waiting near the hallway entrance. Just as she had walked about ½ ways across the lounge room, every louver in those window frames blew in and shattered. If Mum hadn’t moved when she did, I doubt she would have survived the night. We spent the rest of the night in the bathroom; I remember either being in the bathtub or on my mum’s lap.
The next morning we went out to discover what damage there was. Our house had lost it’s roof, ceiling and most of the kitchen.
The house behinds our next door neighbours had been totally destroyed, all that was left was the concrete pillions, some floor boards, the metal stair railings and a few steps. Our neighbour told us how he had heard a woman screaming for help during the cyclone, looked out and saw her holding her baby in one arm and had the other arm around the top of the stair railing. He managed to get up to her to rescue her and her baby; they spent the rest of the cyclone with our next door neighbours.
My mother, brother, sister and I were evacuated on Boxing day, Dad had to stay in Darwin for a further 6 months to help with the clean up. Mum decided we would go to Brisbane as my eldest sister already lived there with her husband and children. I remember walking up into the Hercules plane and sitting in the webbing cradle like seats. It was very loud, uncomfortable and crowded. We had a stopover in Mount Isa where the lovely people from Red Cross were giving out blankets and food. I was given a red tartan patterned blanket that I kept for years.
We didn’t return to Darwin until July 1978 when Dad was posted back to Darwin. I’ve lived here ever since and even though cyclones scare me, I don’t think I’d want to live anywhere else.”
Sourced from: http://www.territorystories.nt.gov.au/handle/10070/176326