TRACY…. DARWIN…. CHRISTMAS….’74
It started with a warning
As one the week before
A cyclone was arriving
And trouble was in store
We filled the bath with water
Took pictures off the wall
Put blankets in the bathroom
But Selma did not call
The wind was just a whisper
Somewhere way off shore
So when they told us this time
To do what we had done
Another cyclone coming
And this would be the one
We carried on with wrapping
Our presents for the tree
The children were excited
Sang Christmas songs with glee
The breeze began to ruffle waves
Time for the gods of Thor
Then we began to wonder Was it actually true?
A cyclone really coming?
Fears for the worst soon grew
The Eve of Christmas crumbled
The city began to believe
Shops became empty
Homes reached with relief
The wind became much windier
Time to knock on the door
In restaurants normally crowded
Customers were few
Voices from the radio
Were warnings of what was due
The rain continued to dampen
The spirit of Christmas cheer
Fairy lights frighteningly shivered
The storm growing ever near
The gusts were guests unwanted
More difficult to ignore
The streets were left for the litter
Scurrying on the ground
Empty parks and empty swings
Swirling round and round
Aborigines were worried
Though why they could not say
They followed age old instincts
Most quietly slipped away
The wind worked at the windows
Teasing and testing for flaws
Doors were locked to the danger
We followed the radios guide
Worked out where the wind was
Opened windows on the other side
Santa watched from the heavens
Then sent his sleigh away
This was no place for reindeer
To fight the oncoming fray
The wind stopped pretending
Arrived with a rush and a roar
And then the noise; the noise, the noise
A cacophony of sounds
An awful audible onslaught
Mother Nature knew no bounds
The Ride of the Valkyries
Met the Rites of Spring
The sonorous sound of the bass notes
The screech of the tearing tin
The wind shook the houses
To their very, fragile core
The sirens early warnings
Had seemed unnecessarily loud
But the great black noise on the outside
Covered us like a shroud
Suddenly walls were wavering
The louvres like a sail
Now it seemed more serious
Children started to wail
The wind was wilfully wanton
Destroying, demolishing more
Then suddenly the silence
Fooled some into thinking, at last
But the lull was just an illusion
Tracy was only half passed
What was left still standing
Was attacked from the other side
The change in the winds direction
Made it harder and harder to hide
The wind now grumbled like gunfire
Of a foregone world at war
Houses started to crumble
We cowed where cover seemed strong
Covered children with our bodies
Our fears with a silent song
And so it went on; and on, and on Would the wind never cease?
Would the world ever seem sane again?
Would sleep bring some peace?
The wind was longer and stronger
As through the town it tore
Then slowly, slowly it eased away
The rain rattled less and less
Parents breathed sweet sighs of relief
Most had passed the storm’s test
Then dawn eased in from the east
A gradual, reluctant light
Peering out from where we had hid
To a shocking, frightening sight
The wind grew less in its night time quest
Though it seemed to long for more
The city slowly came to life
To a life forever changed
Treasures trashed and houses smashed
In a night when the world seemed deranged
Everyone had a tale to tell
At least, those who had survived
71, when the night was done
Had their future cruelly denied
The wind wished to stay and greet the growing day
In its calamitous corridor
A haven of hope was the hospital
Battered but up for the game
A surgeon directed staff who appeared
A Pom with a Polish name
Carers plied skills wherever the need
As casualties came in a flood
A hippy mopped the muddy red floor
Looking green from the sight of the blood
The wind waited watchfully, just above ground
The crushed city still a draw
Most everyone helped each other
But some just helped themselves
The majority saved just what was theirs
A few stole stuff from the shelves
Some just jumped in their cars
Family crowded in the back
Gathered together food and fuel
Headed off south, down the track
The wind was slowly tiring
Not nearly as strong as before
It took a while for the world outside
To hear of that terrible night
Messages sent to those down south
Please help us in our plight
They still enjoyed their Christmas
In homes far away not near
The cries over the airwaves
Fell on many an untuned ear
The wind sighed satisfactorily
At the carnage on the floor
Then as the news was understood
Australia gathered alms
Holidays were put on hold
As Aussies answered alarms
Gough came back from overseas While Stretton was feet on the ground Where to take the refugees?
30,000 spots to be found
The wind began to veer away
New territories to explore
Offers of planes were accepted
From countries with some near at hand
A fire truck with a radio
Helped the first to land
The bigger the better as planes took off
Some passengers still in shock
Safer places had been found
To grieve and to take stock
The wind heads back from where it came
Where to then, not sure
As aid arrived to give relief
Exhausted workers were stood down
Time to take a welcome rest
Let others help those in the town
Whether to stay, or whether to go
What more could we endure Would Darwin ever be rebuilt?
No one could say for sure
The wind is pleased it has become
A part of Aussie folklore
Eventually a plan was made
To replace what had been destroyed
Safer structures to survive
New ways to be employed
So a Phoenix has appeared
With buildings big and bold
A safe place to spend a Christmas At least, that’s what we are told.
And the wind is just a whisper
Somewhere way off shore
Hugh Lake 2018 hughlake@yahoo.co.uk