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Speaker 1: We have indeed been continuing to shine a light on

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Speaker 1: the survivor stories from Cyclone Tracy ahead of the fiftieth

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Speaker 1: anniversary on Christmas Day. And my next guest is a

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Speaker 1: beautiful Territorian who I know, who sheltered under the kitchen

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Speaker 1: dining table with her kids who were aged two and

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Speaker 1: four when the destruction of Tracy took hold. Haleima Darth

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Speaker 1: joins me on the line.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Haleima.

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Speaker 3: Good morning, honey. How are you.

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Speaker 2: I'm good.

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Speaker 1: It's lovely to have you on the show. Thank you

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Speaker 1: so much for joining me this morning.

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Speaker 2: Haleima.

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Speaker 1: Tell me a little bit about what your plans were

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Speaker 1: for Christmas Eve back in nineteen seventy four.

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Speaker 3: Well, Christmas Eve, I was still running around getting little

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Speaker 3: bits of pieces ready for the children have gone to bed,

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Speaker 3: so you know, we do all these things after they've

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Speaker 3: gone to bed. But oh, I know about it. Eleven

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Speaker 3: o'clock the wind started ripping out and that's when maybe

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Speaker 3: take notice, I bet it did.

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Speaker 2: Where were where? And so what happened next?

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Speaker 3: Well, we're in Paul Circuit, Alaa and the back of

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Speaker 3: our probably looked looked over Lakeside Drive and I went

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Speaker 3: and looked at the glass doors, and I heard someone

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Speaker 3: going along Lakeside Drive with one of those speakers they

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Speaker 3: have at sports days, saying the side is imminent, Stay indoors.

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Speaker 3: And that's the first I knew of it, because I

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Speaker 3: didn't have the radio and I had the TV or

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Speaker 3: no checking to see if there was any warnings. No

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Speaker 3: warnings came up, so I thought, well, it can't be

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Speaker 3: too bad. And the David said to me, he said

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Speaker 3: he wanted to go to sleep, and I was keeping

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Speaker 3: in wait, so come and go to bed. And the

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Speaker 3: wind was too strong, so I went over and laid

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Speaker 3: on the bottom of the girl's bed, which was the

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Speaker 3: side where the wind was coming from. And David must

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Speaker 3: have felt guilty, so he said, you want to bring

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Speaker 3: the girl both to our room. I said, year, you.

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Speaker 2: Were saying that on Christmas Eve.

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Speaker 1: You know that that you'd started to sort of hear

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Speaker 1: that things were, You know that it was getting a

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Speaker 1: bit wild outside.

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Speaker 2: When did you become aware?

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Speaker 1: I suppose I know the guy was walking down the

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Speaker 1: street as well with one of those other big megaphones.

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Speaker 4: I guess you called her he was he was driving

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Speaker 4: down the pH driving down Lakeside Drive, just letting everybody know,

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Speaker 4: because well, i'd still it was very wild by then,

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Speaker 4: the wind was really whipping up by them. So so

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Speaker 4: that's when we bought the girls over to our room.

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Speaker 4: And then we got the table and put it in

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Speaker 4: try and cut it short, and the table the table

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Speaker 4: kept lifting up, and David held it down one side

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Speaker 4: and I held one hand and one hand around the girls.

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Speaker 4: I'd actually forgotten about the table lifting off the top

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Speaker 4: of us, and the covers split and ralph Our glass

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Speaker 4: doors went like Ralph's Harris's warble board. Oh my goodness,

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Speaker 4: it was so amazing.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Soma, for our listeners, how many children do you

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Speaker 1: have and how what were they doing at this point

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Speaker 1: in time?

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Speaker 4: Well, I had two girls with Craig. My son wasn't

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Speaker 4: he wasn't born then, and I had two year old

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Speaker 4: and a four year old hanging onto them on both

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Speaker 4: of my legs, and I was singing sat a school

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Speaker 4: something to them in their ears so they wouldn't be frightened.

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Speaker 4: But my legs were shaking underneath and so uncontrollably.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it must have been.

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Speaker 1: It must have been so incredibly frightening for you. What

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Speaker 1: was it like, you know, like you know in terms

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Speaker 1: of the what the impact that that wind was having.

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Speaker 1: And then when the eye of the storm came across,

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Speaker 1: did things sort of calm right down?

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Speaker 2: Or what happened next?

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Speaker 4: They did? They did it. It was eerie calm. It

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Speaker 4: was eerie calm. I don't know exactly how long. But

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Speaker 4: David said, this will be the eye and it'll turn

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Speaker 4: around and come the other way and maybe stronger. So

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Speaker 4: he the laundry door had fallen in, so he got

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Speaker 4: that and propped it up to try and stop a

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Speaker 4: bit of the wind from us. And it did work.

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Speaker 4: But the cupboards, the cupboards actually split, and I was

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Speaker 4: sitting right near where my back was near where the

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Speaker 4: cupboards had split, and at one stage I thought my

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Speaker 4: whole head was going to explode, and I thought, oh,

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Speaker 4: this must be I thought in my mind, this must

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Speaker 4: be like it is in the plane when they say

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Speaker 4: they get all that pressure.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, oh my goodness.

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Speaker 1: And so then the rest of the rest of the

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Speaker 1: cyclone obviously passed over the house. How did the house

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Speaker 1: fare and how did you guys go in the aftermath?

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Speaker 4: Well, the house, the house all fell down except the

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Speaker 4: front door, where there was some brick wall, and the

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Speaker 4: back wall there was still a bit of brick. And

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Speaker 4: then when we got out, of course, it was raining

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Speaker 4: and we had nowhere to go, and the streets were

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Speaker 4: all covered in tin. So eventually we went down the

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Speaker 4: street to a neighbor's high house and stayed there for

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Speaker 4: a short while, and my brother and his friend came

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Speaker 4: out looking for us and couldn't find us, so he left.

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Speaker 4: But eventually we got into Where did we go? I

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Speaker 4: have no relection. I don't know whether we went to

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Speaker 4: my mother's house or we went to the church house,

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Speaker 4: because the church house was vacant, so we eventually got

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Speaker 4: a room in there just for thankfully.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, and Helena, I understand earlier on the day

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Speaker 1: you'd actually been sewing. What happened to your sewing machine.

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Speaker 4: I'd left it on the other side of the house

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Speaker 4: where it was all blowing, and it wasn't in its case,

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Speaker 4: and it was an owner and I bought it with

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Speaker 4: some money that my dad had left me and David.

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Speaker 4: I said, oh, no, my machine there, And David said,

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Speaker 4: would you like to need to go and get it?

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Speaker 4: And I said yes please. But afterwards I thought, oh,

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Speaker 4: I saose doors bload, they'll cut into pieces, but they didn't.

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Speaker 4: He got back and I still have my machine work?

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Speaker 4: Are you serious?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 4: Right?

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Speaker 2: So have you still got it? Now?

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Speaker 3: I do? I value that.

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Speaker 2: That's so incredible. That is so incredible, Helena.

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Speaker 1: What's it like for you now as as we head

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Speaker 1: into the fiftieth commemorations and we head into, you know,

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Speaker 1: to this milestone this year, you know, is it a

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Speaker 1: sad time for you or is it a time that

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Speaker 1: you you sit back and reflect?

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Speaker 2: How do you feel?

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Speaker 4: It's sad for the people that we know we lost?

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Speaker 4: And it's it's a bit eerie because I feel this

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Speaker 4: year it's a bit like the scone. Right. Every every

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Speaker 4: year they've said, oh it's just like cycling Tracy Weather,

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Speaker 4: but this year it is more like the cyclone. And

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Speaker 4: maybe it's because I'm getting old too, but you know,

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Speaker 4: you just get a bit nervous.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: But you know, you say old, I think experienced, Talima.

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Speaker 1: I think we've got to listen to our experience.

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Speaker 2: Territorious.

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Speaker 4: I didn't have a radio, yeah, and I didn't have

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Speaker 4: a torture. I had a lantern, but you did not

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Speaker 4: need it because the lightning was so intense and so continuous.

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Speaker 4: You did not need, and you didn't need to see

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Speaker 4: what was going on. Yeah, the noise was enough.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Healima before I let you go.

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Speaker 1: You know, I feel like the town really everybody rallied

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Speaker 1: together as well at that time and supported each other.

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Speaker 2: Is that what it felt like when you were living

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Speaker 2: in Darwin?

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Speaker 4: Absolutely fantastic. It was so wonderful, and you know, a

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Speaker 4: lot of the people left. I did get a house

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Speaker 4: in Bachelor. I was very lucky because I didn't want

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Speaker 4: to keep the girls here, but I didn't want to

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Speaker 4: I didn't want to leave either. But everyone was so

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Speaker 4: grateful for being alive and being looked after, and it

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Speaker 4: was it was just really wonderful. You know, everyone was

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Speaker 4: so happy to see each other and they all thank

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Speaker 4: the Lord for looking after them. They really did. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: because you know there was a higher power that looked

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Speaker 4: after us.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Well yeah, more.

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Speaker 4: People did with the devastation.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, when you look back, I mean, for me, looking

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Speaker 1: at photos and one of our one of our other beautiful,

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Speaker 1: beautiful cyclone Tracy survivors who joined us a little earlier

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Speaker 1: in the week Freedom had brought in a number of

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Speaker 1: photos and shown me, you know, the devastation and and

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Speaker 1: you're really. It does make you think we, you know,

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Speaker 1: we were very lucky not to lose more time.

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Speaker 2: Territorious.

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Speaker 4: Extremely When I got out from underneath the table, David said,

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Speaker 4: you're not going to believe what you see. I could

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Speaker 4: see the whole of Rapid Creek and it looked like

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Speaker 4: it'd been a bomb blast, and all it was was

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Speaker 4: stumps everywhere, and no green leaves on any trees.

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Speaker 2: No, just all gone.

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Speaker 4: It's all gone. Someone as someone told me that. A

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Speaker 4: man said there was lots of green leaves, and I thought, ah,

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Speaker 4: but he said on the wall, yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, not on the trees anymore.

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Speaker 1: Well, Helena, I really appreciate you having a chat with

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Speaker 1: me this morning. I am going to have to leave

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Speaker 1: it there. We've got a full deck of Cyclone Tracy

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Speaker 1: survivors to catch up with today.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so.

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Speaker 4: Much, Lovely, have a wonderful day.

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Speaker 2: You two. Thank you.

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Speaker 1: If I don't see you before Christmas, have a lovely Christmas.

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Speaker 1: Look after yourself.

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Speaker 4: You two, don't thank you