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Speaker 1: A new exhibitions opened at the Northern Territory Library to

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Speaker 1: commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Cyclone Tracy. The free exhibition,

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Speaker 1: called One Family's Story Remembering Cyclone Tracy, features never seen

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Speaker 1: before photos and it's open to the public until December

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Speaker 1: twenty four. It offers a glimpse into the experiences of

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Speaker 1: the Fitzsimon's family during Cyclone Tracy, from enjoying Christmas Eve

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Speaker 1: festivities to the chaos and destruction of what remains one

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Speaker 1: of the worst weather events in Australia's history. Now joining

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Speaker 1: me on the line to tell us a little bit

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Speaker 1: more is survivor Joan Fitzsimmons. Good morning to you, Joan,

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Speaker 1: Good morning, Kathan. Thank you so much for your time. Now, Joan,

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Speaker 1: can you take me back to those Christmas Eve festivities

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Speaker 1: before the cyclone hit.

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Speaker 2: Yes, our girls for playing with some blow up toys

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Speaker 2: and sewing in front of the Prist tree, and the

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Speaker 2: presence were around the Christmas Tree and are having fun

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Speaker 2: and so much so that they didn't want to go

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Speaker 2: to bed on Christmas Eve, so they were pretty late.

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Speaker 2: And then when the lights went out where everybody actually

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Speaker 2: went to bed, So we were all in our night attire,

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Speaker 2: and then our bedroom windows broke, so we hopped out

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Speaker 2: and tried to find light. We found a lantern that

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Speaker 2: we were going to go camping on Boxing Day to Colban,

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Speaker 2: and my parents were up there with us for Christmas,

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Speaker 2: so yeah, and then we so this is still Christmas Eves,

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Speaker 2: of course, and we went into the lounge with our

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Speaker 2: lights and found that the windows were bulging so much.

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Speaker 2: We didn't believe that glass could bend so much, as

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Speaker 2: water was coming in around the outside of the windows.

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Speaker 2: So it fixed windows those ones, and so we thought,

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Speaker 2: oh wow, this is not too good. So we went

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Speaker 2: up and decided to take the children downstairs to the

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Speaker 2: room which were cleared for our parents. Down there, my

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Speaker 2: parents and we gathered up the presence, popped them into

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Speaker 2: the wardrobe in the Riss's room, our eldest daughter, and

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Speaker 2: got the other two girls out of their room, and

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Speaker 2: just after that the room sort of exploded and the

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Speaker 2: last broke, and it was quite noisy. So that was

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Speaker 2: the beginning of our Christmas Eve.

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Speaker 1: Yes, Johan, I mean, I can't even begin to imagine

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Speaker 1: how frightening that must have been for your little family.

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Speaker 1: And it sounds like you know, without much warning as well.

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Speaker 2: Well, we initially know saying there between two sets of

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Speaker 2: Irelands coming in and it was only at the last

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Speaker 2: minute really that we realized it was coming straight for Darwin.

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Speaker 2: And my husband had experienced a cycle and the Gold

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Speaker 2: Coast in nineteen fifty one and it was more or

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Speaker 2: less a fun event, so he wasn't too worried. So

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Speaker 2: because of Filma and that, we weren't really worried at

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Speaker 2: the time.

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Speaker 1: And so then what unfolded during this and in the aftermath.

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Speaker 2: Well, we went downstairs into that room, the bedroom that

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Speaker 2: we had for my parents, and you couldn't see anything

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Speaker 2: except during the lightning flashes, so we were sort of

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Speaker 2: trying to get and see what was happening outside. We

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Speaker 2: had this feeling out, we're going to look silly in

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Speaker 2: the morning when our house is being destroyed or at

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Speaker 2: miss damage, and we thought we'd be embarrassed. But actually, John,

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Speaker 2: you know what happened. And one stage after the eye

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Speaker 2: we saw that our part of our roof was coming

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Speaker 2: down the front stairs, so that wasn't a really good feeling.

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Speaker 2: But then of course the water started coming through the

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Speaker 2: floorboards down into the room that we were in and

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Speaker 2: the children fortunately were still asleep. They were so dead

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Speaker 2: to out of they being young and having gone to

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Speaker 2: bed late, they were just stayed asleep, thank goodness. So

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Speaker 2: they suffered psychological effects at all.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, gee, where's that is? I mean, that's it's quite incredible, really.

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Speaker 2: Yes, Well, the water was accumulating on the floor and

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Speaker 2: coming down through the ceiling. So we moved the beds

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Speaker 2: that our parents were in the fold up once to

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Speaker 2: try to get underneath where the panels on the roof

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Speaker 2: the ceiling panels were so that they didn't get as

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Speaker 2: much water on them. But we're all cold and sheivering.

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Speaker 2: We were very cold, and you could feel the pressure

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Speaker 2: on your ears as well.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a.

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Speaker 2: Little bit like going down in the old style aeroplanes

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Speaker 2: or driving up a mountain. That pressure on your ears

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Speaker 2: and it was variable.

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Speaker 1: And John, I understand then your dad was a keen

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Speaker 1: photographer whose images are now obviously being showcased in the exhibition.

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Speaker 1: I imagine it would have been hard to look back

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Speaker 1: at those photos. But tell us a little bit more

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Speaker 1: about the photographs that he took.

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Speaker 2: Well, yes, he was a keen which a lot of him.

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Speaker 2: He was about fifteen and came to Australia under the

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Speaker 2: big brother scheme from the UK. But yes he was

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Speaker 2: very keen. Sometimes the kids got a bit tired of

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Speaker 2: being photographed, but anyway it worked out quite well in

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Speaker 2: the Longtern. The week before Christmas he went around and

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Speaker 2: photographed all the old buildings in town, the old Dad

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Speaker 2: quarters of city Hall, the church, all those women and

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Speaker 2: Brown's mark. And then the day on Christmas Eve he

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Speaker 2: took a photograph of our house and of the clouds

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Speaker 2: behind it, and he also took just a plain photograph

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Speaker 2: of the tloubs of Tracy building up. And then the

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Speaker 2: next morning he went out and fortunately because under there

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Speaker 2: and he had his camera gear in a waterproof container

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Speaker 2: and all out year was lost. Of course he went

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Speaker 2: and photographed the half the morning after, so we had

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Speaker 2: the before and after Christmas Eve. It's mistake.

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Speaker 1: Wow. In the exhibition, Joan, what is it like for

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Speaker 1: you looking back at all of those photos.

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Speaker 2: It's actually bringing back a lot of memories that I'd forgotten.

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Speaker 2: The details, all the details would of get lost in time.

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Speaker 2: And there's still a lot that I can't remember, the

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Speaker 2: detail of how why we lost the light and other

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Speaker 2: details that just have escaped. I don't think what it

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Speaker 2: was any of them.

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Speaker 1: Now, in terms of the exhibition now being on display,

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Speaker 1: what do you hope that people take away from that exhibition.

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Speaker 2: I hope that there's resilience and I hope that it

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Speaker 2: was a turning point. But there's always tomorrow, and we've

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Speaker 2: had a very good life. We moved to Kai in February.

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Speaker 2: We had intended seeing but our three girls were evacuated

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Speaker 2: with my parents on the twenty ninth of December, and

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Speaker 2: it was great having them there because my husband was

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Speaker 2: an anthist and he had to leave it. He left

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Speaker 2: at six thirty that Christmas morning to go into the hospital.

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Speaker 2: So I was there with the three girls, but my

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Speaker 2: parents were there to help me, so that's great.

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Speaker 1: Well, look, I think it sounds as though it's going

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Speaker 1: to be quite an incredible exhibition. It obviously, as I

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Speaker 1: understand it began yesterday. I've no doubt that there will

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Speaker 1: be a lot of people attend and go and have

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Speaker 1: a look at those photographs and you know, a big

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Speaker 1: thank you to your family for sharing them.

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Speaker 2: I think we'll bring back a lot of memories for

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Speaker 2: those who went through the cyclone, and it might stimulate

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Speaker 2: the memories for them here that they had also put aside.

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Speaker 1: Well, John, I really think.

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Speaker 2: If they have done a very good job. I think

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Speaker 2: of translating the slides into framed photographs. The condition is

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Speaker 2: very well presented, I think.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, look, I really appreciate your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for having a chat with us, and

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Speaker 1: I have no doubt that there will be plenty of

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Speaker 1: people heading along to to go and see the exhibition.

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Speaker 2: I hope, so I think it's worth it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I reckon, Well, I'll definitely go and have a look. Joan,

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Speaker 1: thank you so much for having a chat this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you.

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Speaker 1: Bye now,