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Speaker 1: Now this week we are certainly focusing and continuing our

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Speaker 1: coverage to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Cyclone Tracy and

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Speaker 1: my next guest was twenty one and working as a

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Speaker 1: sailor when the system struck Darwin on Christmas Day. His

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Speaker 1: name is Keith Pratt and he joins me in the studio.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to.

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Speaker 2: You, Keith, Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for coming into the studio. Tab a

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Speaker 1: chat with me this morning. Now. I think you told

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Speaker 1: me we see each other at different running events, and

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Speaker 1: you also umpire the footy, don't you.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's correct.

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Speaker 1: Keep yourself busy and very fit by the sounds of it, Keith.

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Speaker 2: I'd like to be fitter, but I've just had about

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Speaker 2: with Kansas. I'm recovering from that and trying to get

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Speaker 2: fit again.

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Speaker 1: Good on you. Good on you that you're looking yourself

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Speaker 1: looking after yourself in that way. Mate. Now, tell me

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Speaker 1: paint a bit of a picture for us of what

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Speaker 1: life was like here in Darwin for you in nineteen

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Speaker 1: seventy four.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so nineteen seventy four. I got married in July

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Speaker 2: up here, I was a young sailor. I was a

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Speaker 2: shift worker at the eleven mile transmitting station and my

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Speaker 2: then wife worked at the receiving station at NAVKOMSA Darwin

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Speaker 2: Naval Communications Station, Darwin which is now deb Defense Establishment Barramap.

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Speaker 2: So we had a house on board which was right

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Speaker 2: next to the boozer, which was very handy. And yeah,

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Speaker 2: we were just twenty one year olds then what wanted

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Speaker 2: to do. And you know, you never locked your car.

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Speaker 2: You left your keys on the on the sunscreen, so

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Speaker 2: if people need to move your car, they good. No

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Speaker 2: one ever thought of knocking stuff off. It was an

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Speaker 2: unreal place to live in because I was a daring

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Speaker 2: native anyway, I grew up in Darwn, so I just

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Speaker 2: trusted everyone.

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Speaker 1: Yep. And so what was what was it like for

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Speaker 1: you on Christmas Eve? Talk me through where you were

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Speaker 1: and what you were doing on Christmas Eve.

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Speaker 2: So Christmas Eve was it was going to be our

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Speaker 2: last morning watch. So I was, as I said, a

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Speaker 2: shift shift, a watchkeeper, sorry, a shift worker. So we

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Speaker 2: did two nights, two days and two mornings, and then

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Speaker 2: we had three days off. So we were just coming

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Speaker 2: up to that We're going to have a Christmas lunch

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Speaker 2: at my place and the family been dropping stuff around

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Speaker 2: in my place. So I had two fridges that were

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Speaker 2: full of food and one fridge that was full of

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Speaker 2: beer and stuff everywhere, and we were getting ready for that,

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Speaker 2: so we went shopping. We bought a floor rug from

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Speaker 2: Norman Ross on the Norman Ross My God, and yeah,

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Speaker 2: we put that down on the floor. Then we had

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Speaker 2: a bit of a snooze because we had to start

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Speaker 2: work late. About nine o'clock. I got up and I thought, gee,

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Speaker 2: this storm's just not stopping. So I rang up the

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Speaker 2: bloke here was my boss at the time, but named

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Speaker 2: Mick Tickner. I said, mate, do you want to go

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Speaker 2: out early tonight because the people were leaving. I've got families,

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Speaker 2: so let's go out early, relieve them, then get home

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Speaker 2: to their families and we'll sit out the storm at work.

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Speaker 2: So he said, yeah, good idea. So I went and

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Speaker 2: picked him up and stopped at the barman and bought

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Speaker 2: a slab, as you do, and it was VB. Stubby's.

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Speaker 2: I was drinking in those days, and then we went

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Speaker 2: out to the transmitting station. We leave the guys out

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Speaker 2: there at I think it was nine thirty or thereabouts

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Speaker 2: instead of twelve o'clock, so I let them go home

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Speaker 2: early and settle in with their families. So about I

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Speaker 2: guess eleven o'clock it started to get really really bad,

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Speaker 2: and there was I think eight houses ate maybe ten

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Speaker 2: houses out at the transmitting station, and all the people

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Speaker 2: lived in them started to come into the transmitting station

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Speaker 2: because it was a more solid building right than theirs.

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Speaker 2: It was a two story or two and a half story,

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Speaker 2: had a mazzanine level, so they all started to come

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Speaker 2: over there. And we were going about our job, which

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Speaker 2: was providing communication access for ships at sea.

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Speaker 1: And.

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Speaker 2: Then things started to get wet. The roof started to leak,

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Speaker 2: and we thought, wow, this storm's really bad. And my boss,

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Speaker 2: a black named Skull morse P the officer Greenie or

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Speaker 2: electrician yep. He said, come on, we'll go down to

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Speaker 2: the diesel shed, which is cyclone proof, and we'll shelter

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Speaker 2: there just in case.

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Speaker 1: So all of you went down there, No.

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Speaker 2: Mike and Ice where we were, because we were at

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Speaker 2: work so we had a job to do. Then probably

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Speaker 2: about twelve thirty I walked out and the top floor

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Speaker 2: was gone, The mezzanine level was just gone. There were

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Speaker 2: no transmitters up there, and that's why I went out

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Speaker 2: because the transmitter had dropped out, so I quickly changed

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Speaker 2: transmitters to a different one and I went back and

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Speaker 2: I said to Mick, we got trouble, a big storm

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Speaker 2: coming and yeah, I didn't realize just how big it

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Speaker 2: was at that stay. So in our control room that

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Speaker 2: started to leak and we were watching the water come down.

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Speaker 2: I said, mate, this is not good. And then I

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Speaker 2: went out to change another transmitter dropped out and we

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Speaker 2: were getting a telex from Onshore in Canberra tell us

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Speaker 2: that we were losing transmitters. So I went out to

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Speaker 2: change another one and the wall one wall of the

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Speaker 2: building was gone. I said, Mick, we need to go,

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Speaker 2: and he said, all right, mate, send a telex to

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Speaker 2: Canbra tell them where you know we're gone. So I

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Speaker 2: sent a telex and it said roof gone. So we

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Speaker 2: and then we had a little skate patch, probably about

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Speaker 2: six hundred square in the end of the control room.

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Speaker 2: We climbed out that you couldn't get out the other way.

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Speaker 2: All the transmitters were playing up against the wall of

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Speaker 2: the control room, which was probably about the size of this.

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Speaker 2: So we went down the stairs and the wind was

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Speaker 2: fairly howling by then. You can imagine we went down

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Speaker 2: to the diesel shep and we got in there and

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Speaker 2: we shut the door, and my car was parked just outside.

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Speaker 2: I thought, oh, that'll protect us a little bit. It

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Speaker 2: was in front of the door. And yeah, so we

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Speaker 2: settled in there in the car. No, no, in the shed,

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Speaker 2: my goodness, in the shed. He was about tall, maybe tall,

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Speaker 2: fourteen of us in this diesel shed, which was back

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Speaker 2: up power for the establishment that were working at And

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Speaker 2: then yeah, look, I'm not sure the timings of anything now,

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Speaker 2: but probably about one thirty ish, off went the roof.

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Speaker 2: So suddenly we were exposed to the elements and it

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Speaker 2: was pouring rain as you can imagine, just non stop rain.

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Speaker 2: So we thought, all right, the roof's gone. And there

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Speaker 2: was a bar going around the deep big diesel generator

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Speaker 2: in the middle of the room. There was this handrail

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Speaker 2: going around it. So most of us had our arms

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Speaker 2: hooked in there and just locking our arms in, just

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Speaker 2: try not to just trying not to blow away because

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Speaker 2: it was in that room. There was a sort of

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Speaker 2: a whirlpool thing going because the roof were gone, so

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Speaker 2: the wind was coming in, going around and then back out.

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Speaker 1: Keith, what was like how strong. Did that wind feel?

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Speaker 2: I'll get to that. So yeah, that's all right. We

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Speaker 2: weathered that and then it suddenly went really quiet. Wow,

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Speaker 2: what's this It's over? Thank God for that. So we

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Speaker 2: went outside and there was nothing, not a sound, and

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Speaker 2: you could have heard a pin drop in the car

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Speaker 2: park it was that quiet. So we started to walk

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Speaker 2: across the building, which there was nothing left. The top

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Speaker 2: floor was just gone, all our transmitters everywhere. And then

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Speaker 2: we could hear this noise and you know where that

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Speaker 2: building is, near the corner of mcmilln's Road and Stuart Highlight.

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Speaker 2: It was coming from Leanna, you know that way, and

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Speaker 2: it sounded like a train. I kid you not. It

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Speaker 2: sounded like a train coming through and it was the

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Speaker 2: wind coming back. I said to we need to go, mate,

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Speaker 2: and I stopped and grabbed the slab of beer out

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Speaker 2: of the car which was still there, and I was

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Speaker 2: opening stubbies with my teeth and handed out so everyone

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Speaker 2: had a looke warm stubby.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, so during the eye you had a lukewarm stubby. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Probably. We had probably about maybe ten fifteen minutes. I

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Speaker 2: lost track of time, you just could not time anything.

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Speaker 2: And my car was sitting there, so I thought, this

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Speaker 2: is wonderful, opened the boot, got the slab out, and

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Speaker 2: people didn't even drink beer, were having this beer and

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Speaker 2: we had no water apart from the rain. A not

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Speaker 2: going to sit there with your mouth open, so you know.

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Speaker 2: Then we for the second half of the cyclone, and

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Speaker 2: it wasn't long into it that that wall blew down.

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Speaker 2: The southern eastern wall of the building went so where

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Speaker 2: no roof and one wall was gone. And at this

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Speaker 2: stage we're hanging on and some people were actually parallel

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Speaker 2: to the ground, just being blown off their feet. Oh

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Speaker 2: my goodness. It was pretty scary, and I thought, God,

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Speaker 2: do I let go or do I hang on? Oneer?

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Speaker 2: Where I end up? With all these stupid things go

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Speaker 2: through your head. I wonder where I'll end up if

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Speaker 2: I let go, And I wonder if it will blame

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Speaker 2: me to safety only stupid thing. Twenty one year old,

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Speaker 2: never been through anything like that before, so probably I

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Speaker 2: don't know. Hay past four it started to ease.

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Speaker 1: Up, So you're talking hours of these time?

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, three three and a half hours or something.

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Speaker 2: We were hanging in that shed, exposed to the weather,

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Speaker 2: all freezing cold, shivering, and then someone said, if you're

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Speaker 2: wet yourself, it'll warm you down. I'll warm you up.

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Speaker 2: So if you're we in your pants, it'll warm up

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Speaker 2: a little bit. And that's the old skin divers. You

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Speaker 2: know that in a wetsuit. So I don't know how

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Speaker 2: many people did that, but I'll put my hand up.

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Speaker 2: I did. I'm not sure how well it worked, but

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Speaker 2: you know, once the rain started to ease off a bit,

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Speaker 2: we thought, all right, is this another one of those

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Speaker 2: calm patches. Let's have another beer. First thought, let's have

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Speaker 2: another beer. So yeah, I had a nickname. Someone said,

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Speaker 2: making you open the beers. I said, you all right,

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Speaker 2: opened a few beers and hand them out, and we're

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Speaker 2: into it. I thought, yeah, wait for this trained noise

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Speaker 2: to start up, and I thought that it comes from

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Speaker 2: the other side. So we went and looked through that

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Speaker 2: hole in the wall to see, you know, if we

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Speaker 2: could hear anything, see if we could see anything, what's

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Speaker 2: going on? And yeah, nothing happened. Nothing was quiet. So

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Speaker 2: we said, you know what looks more secure over in

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Speaker 2: that building. Let's go over there. So the building we

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Speaker 2: just evacuated had a dry patch underneath it, so I thought,

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Speaker 2: let's go over there. And if it comes back, we'll

201
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Speaker 2: take our chances here at least we'll be sheltered a

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Speaker 2: little bit. So we went over there and we waited

203
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Speaker 2: nothing come back, and then probably about nine o'clock we

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Speaker 2: heard a car engine. Thought, wow, what's this And it

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Speaker 2: was one of our short wheelbase land rovers from Koonawarra

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Speaker 2: and come out to see if we were there. No

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Speaker 2: phone lines or anything like that, and all they had

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Speaker 2: was this telex message which also went to the radio station,

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Speaker 2: which wasn't there anymore. But they didn't know how we

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Speaker 2: were if we were even So this is probably four

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Speaker 2: hours of four to five hours after the cyclone actually ended.

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Speaker 2: It took them nearly two hours to get out there.

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Speaker 2: There was just that much wreckage and stuff on the road,

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Speaker 2: So from the eight mile to the eleven mile took

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Speaker 2: them nearly two hours.

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Speaker 1: Holy moly, Keith, What was it like then in the aftermask,

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Speaker 1: you know, like getting out going and having a look

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Speaker 1: around and seeing that damage and seeing exactly how destructive

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Speaker 1: it had been for the rest of the town.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, we didn't get out and about for a while.

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Speaker 2: We got back to Konel worried. About ten thirty another

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Speaker 2: vehicle come out long wheelbase and firry democemus back. But

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Speaker 2: I didn't actually see my wife until ten thirty. I

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Speaker 2: think it was I didn't she didn't know where I was,

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Speaker 2: or she got was a message from the station saying

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Speaker 2: that they had to evacuate because the building has been

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Speaker 2: blown down around there e iss. So that's all she knew.

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Speaker 2: She did know anything about us. Yeah, and that was

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Speaker 2: you know, that's eleven hours after I left home.

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Speaker 1: Unbelievable. Look, we're going to take a really quick break,

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Speaker 1: and when we come back, I want to talk a

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Speaker 1: little bit more about the aftermath and that cleanup. So

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Speaker 1: we'll take a really quick break. If you have just

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Speaker 1: joined us, I am joined in the studio this morning

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Speaker 1: by Keith Pratt, who is indeed a cyclone Tracy survivor,

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Speaker 1: just twenty one when that system hit. You are listening

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Speaker 1: to Mix one oh four point nine. Now, if you

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Speaker 1: have just joined us in the studio with me this morning,

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Speaker 1: we've just been speaking with Keith Pratt, cyclone Tracy survivor,

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Speaker 1: he was twenty one years old, and just hearing his

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Speaker 1: incredible story. Now, Keith, we've spoken through the storm. You've

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Speaker 1: started to tell me a little bit about the aftermath.

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Speaker 1: What was it like in the days after in terms

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Speaker 1: of you know, I sort of realized I wasn't exactly

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Speaker 1: what had gone on, and going through the cleanup of Darwin.

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Speaker 2: Well, we didn't have much time to think about that.

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Speaker 2: The first thing we had to do when we got

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Speaker 2: back to kernel Warra was pick up all the scrap metal,

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Speaker 2: all the roofing roofing iron and put in the tennis

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Speaker 2: courts because there was always a concern that the winds

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Speaker 2: were going to come back and start blowing that roofing

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Speaker 2: iron around again. So we just spent all night doing that.

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Speaker 2: Going through the cyclone, we spent the next day cleaning

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Speaker 2: up at Kernewira and then one of the obser has

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Speaker 2: come up to me and he said, your family lives

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Speaker 2: in Darn, don't they. I said yeah, at Nightcliff, he said, mate,

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Speaker 2: we're going to give you a car. You need to

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Speaker 2: go out and check on them, because you know good

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Speaker 2: to us if you're focusing on them. I was electrician

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Speaker 2: in the Navy, or radio technician better term, so they

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Speaker 2: gave me a FOLLEL drive and I went out to

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Speaker 2: Nightcliff where my mum and dad and younger brother were,

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Speaker 2: and I finally got out there and it was just

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Speaker 2: a mess. It took so long to get anywhere because

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Speaker 2: you had to sort of map a rude out or

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Speaker 2: walk at first. Loggoing through a flooded river, you had

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Speaker 2: to walk at first and make sure you get through.

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Speaker 2: Even in the full drive, I go along bag It Road,

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Speaker 2: it was just tin everywhere, Tin and white goods, fridges,

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Speaker 2: washing machines, all that sort of thing, just on the

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Speaker 2: road and you had to go around them and light

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Speaker 2: poles down, a lot of wires down. But I don't

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Speaker 2: think there's any power going through the wires at that stage. Keith.

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Speaker 1: When you look at Darwin now and when you look

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Speaker 1: at the way in which the city has been able

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Speaker 1: to rebuild, you know like it? Do you think it's

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Speaker 1: a real testament to the people of the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: that you can go through something like that and then

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Speaker 1: you know, I rebuild to the point that we have.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, I like the old Darm better than the

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Speaker 2: new Darn. I have to be honest. I like all

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Speaker 2: the high rise stuff. You know, it used to be

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Speaker 2: a country town and it was a place where you

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Speaker 2: knew everyone, you trusted everyone, and we've got this influx

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Speaker 2: of Southerners that we needed to rebuild, but some of

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Speaker 2: them didn't go back like they were supposed to. They

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Speaker 2: hung around, and you know, they've made us. We were

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Speaker 2: a multi cultural place before that, and now we've become

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Speaker 2: Maori cultural in that we've included the Southern States in

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Speaker 2: our population. So you know, we don't care about race, color,

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Speaker 2: creed or where you actually live down South. You always

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Speaker 2: welcome here. And look, it's a great place. I still

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Speaker 2: live here. You know, I'm seventy one now, I've lived

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Speaker 2: here all my life. My children grew up here, they

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Speaker 2: still live here. My grandchildren are here, so I'm not

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Speaker 2: going anywhere soon, and neither are my kids by the

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Speaker 2: sound of you know. I've got three kids, two boys,

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Speaker 2: one girl. The two oldest ones are married with families.

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Speaker 2: My young blokes twenty one. I'm not quite sure what

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Speaker 2: he wants to do with his life just yet, but

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Speaker 2: I don't think he's going to go too far either.

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Speaker 2: His mother's a Darwin Native. That's probably not the right

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Speaker 2: term to you. She's indigenous, but she comes from Darwin,

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Speaker 2: a Darwin local, and she's born on Bathost Island. But

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Speaker 2: her family have been here for all of her life

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Speaker 2: as well, so not going anywhere soon. Love the place.

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Speaker 2: And we go south once a year for a footy game,

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Speaker 2: and the quicker we get out of where we're gone

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Speaker 2: that the better. It's too cold, too rushed enough for it,

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Speaker 2: too crowded. Yeah, I don't like it. So we come

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Speaker 2: back as soon as we can.

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Speaker 1: Well, And the Northern Territory is lucky to have you,

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Speaker 1: you know, I think it's wonderful to have our long

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Speaker 1: term Darwin residents. And for me, the thing that I'm

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Speaker 1: really loving about sort of, you know, even though it's

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Speaker 1: a tough time, I think for all of the Cyclone

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Speaker 1: Tracy survivors, I can you know, I can hear it

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Speaker 1: in people's voices, I can see it in people's faces

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Speaker 1: as I speak to survivors. But the thing that is

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Speaker 1: really nice for me, and I think for anybody that

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Speaker 1: maybe didn't grow up here, is to get that history

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Speaker 1: from long term Darwin residents and also to just kind

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Speaker 1: of have a better understanding as well of how resilient

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Speaker 1: this place is. So we're going to be speaking to

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Speaker 1: quite a large number of Cyclone Tracy survivors throughout this week,

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Speaker 1: and I think it's a really important thing to do.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, you know, we need to know what the history

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Speaker 2: of somewhere is to learn from it. And also those

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Speaker 2: stories are really good. I listen to your station all

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Speaker 2: the time when I can when I'm at home, and

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Speaker 2: I enjoy the stories. I get a bit turi over

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Speaker 2: some of them, and they're really quite heartbreaking, some of

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Speaker 2: the stories that come out of Cyclone Tracy. I have

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Speaker 2: no intention of going down to the museum and looking

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Speaker 2: at that stuff. I just can't do it. Yeah, I've tried.

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Speaker 2: I get a bit jumpy when big storms come, particularly

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Speaker 2: the ones, and I guess I've got every right to

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Speaker 2: do that. I don't go outside much when there's a storm,

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Speaker 2: and I just want to stay somewhere that I know

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Speaker 2: is solid. And you know that's fifty years later and

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Speaker 2: I still am concerned about the wind. But one thing

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Speaker 2: I never leave you is that sound.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and after hearing your story, Keith, I can understand

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Speaker 1: why you'd still be concerned about the wind, mate, I

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Speaker 1: would be too. Thank you so much for joining me

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Speaker 1: this morning and telling me your story. I know it's

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Speaker 1: not an easy thing for you or any of our

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Speaker 1: Cyclone Tracy survivors to do, but like I say, I

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Speaker 1: really appreciate it. I know that our listeners do as well, mate,

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Speaker 1: So thank

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Speaker 2: You, thank you very much, Katie, thank you