December 24, 1974. Living in Jingili near Rapid Creek.
I was on maternity leave from the Attorney-General’s Department, approximately eight and a half months pregnant with my first child. Around 11:30 am, I attended a Christmas party at the Civic Centre. Before leaving home, I filled the bath, secured any outside items, and taped the louvres. After the party, I took a friend home, dropping him off on Bagot Road near the air force base. I never saw him again.
I continued home and prepared to go to a Christmas party at 7 pm with my husband, Tony, at a friend’s house in Nightcliff. During the party, around 9 pm, the power went out, and a green glow was seen from the balcony. Candles were lit, and supper was served. However, seeing as I was under doctor’s orders to rest and avoid excitement, we left around midnight.
On the way home, we noticed bits of trees scattered on the road and very windy conditions. Once home, we went to bed and had the wireless on, but suddenly, it stopped transmitting. At that point, my husband put a single mattress in the passage so we had a room on each side of us.
The big ghost gum from the water gardens fell and brought the power lines down in front of our house. Then most of the roof came off. The ceiling moved, and dirt and grit fell in on us. I screamed, which our neighbours heard, and they moved to the bathroom with their two children; it was the only room left in their home. The end wall of our house was threatening to cave in, and most of the louvres were now broken.
Tony did an excellent job of keeping me calm, but when the eye of the cyclone passed, the floorboards vibrated off the cement pylons. At that moment, you are prepared to die.
Morning came, revealing complete devastation. The airport was visible from our home. I managed to leave on a bus, I think on December 27, heading to the airport. In tears, holding our personal papers in a plastic bag and wearing the clothes on my back, I was taken to an old DC-3. The small aircraft area was full of upside-down, broken planes.
We took off and landed at Tindal Base. We were given toiletries and queued to use the phone, but there wasn’t enough time to tell loved ones we were alive before we were off again. Over the Devil’s Marbles, the right engine of the plane was struck by lightning. We lost altitude and it felt like we were dropping back to earth. The skill of the pilots managed to control the plane. I heard them say to put the landing gear down to slow the descent, as I was sitting in the first row on the plane.
Twenty-one years later, I met the pilot of that plane, who told me that if we had not been in the DC-3, we would not be here today.
We finally arrived in Alice Springs, using up all the fuel before landing around 1 am. An ambulance took me and another pregnant woman to the Alice Springs Hospital. We were okay and then taken to a children’s home for the rest of the night.
I’m grateful for my survival and the care I received. My tale has more to it, but this is an outline of that time.