13 years old survivor
The night of Christmas Eve where we spent opening Christmas presents as a family’s traditional Christmas Eve, I received my first ‘Watch’, so excited and cannot wait to put on the following day. I was 13yo at that time. We went to sleep with the rain continuously pondering.
I woke up ar the middle of the night and found my parents rolling the square carpet from the lounge and carefully placing on top of the furniture, even though the louvre windows were closed, somehow the water was coming through the louvre windows , rain and wind was stronger than ever, howling with a horrendous sound.
I followed my Dad, so I was behind when he opened their bedroom door and all we saw was an empty floor board with no walls and furniture, my dad quickly gathered everyone in the girls room, put 2 single beds together and furniture around, as soon as my dad said to go underneath the beds, everything collapses around us, we were hanging on the grids of the beds and we were spinning around, my mother in a loud voice to ‘ pray pray’, I remembering praying to God to help us live and I will do everything in return, hahaha I was only 13 yo. 😩
Some time through the night, we could hear ‘sirens’ and thought the fire brigade is doing a rescue but only found out later through my dad who was a meteorologist, he suspected pockets of tornadoes (see report in the parliament with his submission) Part of the submission were he observed the extent of damage of Cyclone Tracy including all trees were completely stripped off, grass were stripped off, steels were twisted and bent.
Soon, we could see miles of devastation as we obviously the walls have already collapsed and we were at the edge of a floorboard from an elevated house. We suffered all night as we were soaking wet with wind blowing on us causing shivers and experiencing hypothermia. Then comes the dawn where people walking around trying to help survivors – one by one we were carried out from the side board of the house.
We all walked to Moil Primary school, recalling tin garbage bins were being filled with water and then boiled – people walking around with wet nighties but didn’t care as we survived this ordeal which is the main thing.
Eventually somehow we ended up in Nakara primary school and on the way, I witnessed police holding guns in the vicinity of the Casuarina petrol station.
The army took over town, clear the roads and mainly set up in some schools. They set up
portable toilets, cooking facilities, registered tables, etc – the whole set up was like a ‘war camp’, people were lining up for food, we also had jabs and we were sleeping on floors for few nights before our names were called out on a radio.
This part you’re not gonna like – while we at the schools, we were told not to leave area but kids will be kids wondering what’s outside and it’s devastation. I then witnessed a car ute with two men walking each he side of the Ute carrying a rifle and shooting all animals on sight including dogs and cats roaming around the streets as Darwin was declared a ‘state of Emergency’.
When our family were called through the radio, we then hop in the jammed bus straight to the airport. The priorities were as I learnt were 1st the injured, 2nd the babies and elderly, 3rd families with young children.
The airport was full of people without bags and carriages, the long line of people simply had to board the plane, children were made to sit on laps of parents and floors. It was jammed packed inside the aircraft and it wasn’t about comfort but obviously to crammed as much people on board to get people out of Darwin as soon as and as much as possible.
We were evacuated in Melbourne and we were called ‘the Darwin refugees’.
And as for my first Watch at the age of 13- it’s only a memory now of that exciting moment putting it under the Christmas tree on the night of the Christmas eve. I was hoping to wear it on that fateful Christmas Day but of course it never happened.