Cyclone tracey volunteers 1974

[chambezio]

With Christmas on our door step and the recent hurricane in America my mind started to reflect on Cyclone Tracey that hit Darwin on Christmas Day 1974. I was a young (20 Year old) Carpenter 1year out of my time. I can remember watching the news reports days before it hit. It drew a lot of interest with the Dept Meteorology because of its size and its changes of coarse. On Christmas Eve it was thought that Darwin would only get some wind as it went south west down the coast. Well that night it swung to the east and went right through the centre of Darwin it self.

Communications were knocked out of coarse and it wasn't until mid morning of Christmas Day that a short telephone message got out. General Alan Stretton was called upon to get a Herc loaded with essential medical supplies and teams of medical staff to go and see what needed to be done.

He couldn't comprehend the scale of damage Tracey had done. She was the worst Cyclone to ever hit a capital city at the time. Gen Stretton ordered the evacuation of the town leaving able bodied men to start the mammoth job of getting Darwin moving again.

The Building Unions were called upon to get volunteer tradesmen to go for 2 weeks assisting in making good dwellings for people to move back into. I was one of those volunteers.450 men from all over Australia answered the call. We were broken up into work parties of 6 blokes. We were billeted in the high schools around Darwin. I ended up at Night Cliff. The schools was pretty well intact and they fed us out of the Domestic Science rooms and we slept in the class rooms

We arrived at 2.30am to a town that had only a few lights on across town. The next moring we were allocated a ute and we went off to work. I could not comprehend the totalness of the devistation. It was every where. We found that there may have been 3 hoses reduced to rubble with the forth one needing half a dozen sheets of iron.

Any way we were there for 2 weeks and did what we could.

I was wondering if in the Forum there are some members of that volunteer group who went to Darwin in early 1971

[Mulgabill]

Good for you Chambezio and all the other volunteers

Although I was not effected, your post brings back memories and the hardship it caused the Darwin community. You would not believe it today

[artme]

Good on you and all the other vol;unters Chambezio!

My youngest brother, an electrical fitter, went up for a fortnight. He
still talks about the devastation!

He also gave blood. Because he had such a high heamaglobin (sp?)
count he was called on for donation several time in a short period.

[chambezio]

Just an addition to my story.....during the war my mother joined the Land Army. As a 21 year old girl she left home and work in NSW and even went to Biloela picking cotton by hand. Her stories of what they got up to were part of the fabric that made up my back ground.

When Katrina went through the bottom bit of the US and the big blow called Yazi there was an interview on the radio with a minister (but I can't remember his name or what he was representing) who was speaking about insurance claims and how they would impact our policy premiums here. He mentioned that there were a number of people who are still waiting for their insurance companies to pay up on claims for Tracey. the companies seem to more than glad to take your money but are quite reluctant when they have to shell out.

I have read a few books about Tracey from different points of view. Alan Strettons book The Furious Days (Collins) is very interesting because his view is from the government. He was criticized by some but he had strict guide lines to follow. His aim right from the beginning was to get the town moving by getting the towns folk to take the initiative. When he authorised the evacuation of non essential people, from my view point, it had to be made! There was not enough shelter and amenities for everyone. Our job, in total made 400 or so houses able for habitation. Another good read is "Tracey The Storm That Wiped Out Darwin On Chritmas Day" by Gary McKay (A&U)
It was said at the time by the locals that they had never seen so much work done in such a short time. Remember it was the height of summer, and we had come from the south (I was living in Sydney at the time), you could manage about 20 minutes to half an hour before you had to seek shade and a drink. The work group, that I was in, had a fellow from western NSW, one from Newcastle an Architectural Uni Student and another couple I just can't recall.

In 1993, we took a trip up there. We went out to Nightcliff to the High School. You know it was a new place! I couldn't remember anything really. Luckily I had my diary to refer to. The biggest problem I had was that when we we there, straight after Tracy, there were NO leaves on the trees so you could see for some distance. After I realised that, I was able to find the houses that we worked on.

It was a great experience for a twenty year old, but I couldn't imagine what it must have been like for the locals that had to endure 6-8 hours of the cyclonic winds and heavy rain. One place we were working on was at the end of a street that hadn't been cleared of debris. 2 X 3 metre bucket front end loaders and a tractor bachhoe arrived and started pushing all the stuff into a pile at the end of the street. That noise was unreal and lasted may be 10 minutes. To hear such a sound for hours would have been terrifying on that night

[chambezio]

Arthur
Thanks for the message. When we flew in to Darwin at 2.30am There was only the odd light in a blanket of darkness. They estimated it take many months of work to get the electrical supply up and running. The evening we left the odd light had changed to quite a carpet.
As I said I was living in Sydney at the time and I am sure I saw county council vehicles from Cairns Rockhampton and Sydney.

The power poles they used were made of 2 steel channels about 200mm X 75mm with a wall thickness of 6mm, welded together to form a very slender "A". The bottom maybe about 500mm wide. They were blown flat and then blown to 90*. Just incredible the strength of wind.

Did he go at the same time I did- end of the first week in January?

[rod1949]

Me and my wife left a week before and were in Adelaide for xmas. Eventually we got back to Darwin. Being a Forman Chippy I was put in charge of a 22 man contingent (many of whom I was an apprentice too a few years before) from Adelaide (Commonwealth Department of Works) to do a repair and makesafe of many houses. We left darwin in 1989 for Perth.

[crowie]

I was on leave in my home port of Brisbane when we received a telegram to say "report to HMAS Moreton" for possible deployment to Darwin.
I was never sent & returned to Melbourne were HMAS Yarra was in Williamtown docket for refit.
A good number of mates from Stalwart & a mob from the patrol boats were sent for the cleanup.
Cheers, crowie

[chambezio]

rod 1949
Its interesting what things are in ones mind that are unlocked by a few sentences. We were put into "Work Parties" (for the want of a better name) and our "boss" was an absolute gent. He was from Adelaide Public Works. I will have to dig out my diary and see if I recorded his name. I just remember him as a grey haired older man and that he was one of nature's gentlemen. One day he commented that he was a bit preoccupied because his wife or daughter had to tow a horse in trailer to some do back in Adelaide. He had done all the trailering up till then

crowie
The Navy were among the earliest responders to help. The had the unenviable job of going through debris house by house searching (I suppose for bodies) freezers and fridges to remove any food that would have gone rotten in the tropical heat. The Naval ships as well as civilian ones were moored to become "floating motels" for those who didn't have any where else to go

This tread is a real trip down memory lane for me. Thanks for your contributions

[Christos]

I was very young and would not have noticed this on the news. It was many years later that I can recall a documentary or news article on Tracey.

I am glad you started this thread it is an interesting read.

[bench1holio]

I was on leave in my home port of Brisbane when we received a telegram to say "report to HMAS Moreton" for possible deployment to Darwin.
I was never sent & returned to Melbourne were HMAS Yarra was in Williamtown docket for refit.
A good number of mates from Stalwart & a mob from the patrol boats were sent for the cleanup.
Cheers, crowie

my father was a shipwright on the stalwart and went to help clean up and rebuild.

[RETIRED]

Because of circumstances I was in Darwin on Christmas Eve when it got blown away. The noise was horrific.

3 of us sheltered in the bathroom with mattresses and watched as the whole house disintegrated around us.

I may have been one of the blokes driving the front end loader as that is what I did for nearly a month before heading back to Melbourne.

I still get jittery in high winds.

[chambezio]

Because of circumstances I was in Darwin on Christmas Eve when it got blown away. The noise was horrific.

3 of us sheltered in the bathroom with mattresses and watched as the whole house disintegrated around us.

I may have been one of the blokes driving the front end loader as that is what I did for nearly a month before heading back to Melbourne.

I still get jittery in high winds.

The 2 loaders were supposed to have been commandeered from Waugh & Josephs yard. They were rubber tyred articulated ones with railway line weld to the bucket increasing their ability to move/pickup corrugated iron as well as what ever else was in the streets. The 2 big fellas and the back hoe tractor would start next to each other so they were abreast of the roadway and then "march" down the road together. Then a convoy of trucks would take the stuff away. A dog that survived the night was said to have shook violently when he heard the noise of the 3 machines pushing the rubbish down the road.

Any locals that didn't leave town were very hospitable to us. These folks had bugger all but were so keen for us to have a beer with them even though their house was trashed. (Ausy Spirit?)

[dj_pnevans]

I was only 3 when Tracy hit Darwin I would like to thank every one who helped out to rebuild Darwin.
Thank you David