In 1974, the most destructive tropical cyclone recorded in Australia’s history devastated Darwin on Christmas Eve, turning the city into a war zone. This book is a collection of survivor stories.
When I first began putting this book together, I had no idea how gut-wrenchingly sad it would be. While working on the formatting of this book, and reading a few passages here and there, I found myself crying as the words on the page opened old wounds and memories I’d thought long healed and long forgotten. How wrong I was. It was then that I began to realise just how traumatic it must have been, too, for those retelling their stories from that terrible night so long ago.
Some penned stories of innocent lives lost, others of how beloved family pets had been torn from their arms, then shot to prevent the spread of disease. All remembered the demonic sound of the wind as invisible hands snatched loved ones away, while the walls, ceilings and eventually the floorboards vanished from beneath their feet. Many tell of the dystopian, war-like devastation that greeted them as they crawled out from beneath the rubble as the sun rose on that fateful Christmas morning, grateful still to be alive.
How it was that so many survived that brutal, unforgiving night will forever remain a mystery to me, and to the thousands of other souls who survived the night from hell with Tracy. Patti Roberts. Author/Publisher.
Contributing stories from:
Patti Roberts
Andy Stump
Beth Cats
Jan Berry
Ian Philip Cork
Darly & Annette Lehmann
Sue Gullefer
Jan Harris
Deb Hendry
Ian Heron
Kathryn Holden
Diane Hunter
Jilly Limb
Costa Karaolias
Gaby Lancaster
A Letter from Joy
Lesley Davis
Marg Roderick
Mark Saban
Bill McGuinness
Sue McGuinness
Chris Hopkins
Jan Oakhill
Kev Ruwoldt
Chrissy Schubert
Vicki Shean
Joyce Sprunt
Leesa Plester
Wayne Stubbs
Samantha Trott
Tracey Collins
Tim West
Eleanor Graves
Ramon Williams. Photographer
Betty Watcham. Red Cross
