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Speaker 1: A bit of a change of pace, because you might

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Speaker 1: recall a few months back we spoke to local comedian

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Speaker 1: Rusty Smith about a performance that he was directing ahead

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Speaker 1: of the fiftieth anniversary of Cyclone Tracy, called the Golden Jubilee.

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Speaker 1: He also flagged that he was going to be working

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Speaker 1: on an event for Cyclone Tracy survivors to share their stories.

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Speaker 1: And now the details have been firmed up and I

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Speaker 1: am pleased to say that he joins me in the

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Speaker 1: studio right now along with filmmaker Gareth Benson. Good morning

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Speaker 1: to you both.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, Good morning listeners.

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Speaker 1: Lovely to have you both in the studio. Now, tell

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Speaker 1: me a little bit more about this event.

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Speaker 3: Well, listen to an extension on from the Golden Jubilee

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Speaker 3: that we did in the Fringe Festival. And because we

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Speaker 3: sold so many tickets, I was getting calls, as I

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Speaker 3: said the time, from hotels in Darwin saying, you know, hey,

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Speaker 3: I want to know what's going on to Cyclone Tracy.

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Speaker 3: Where's the event where they're on? You know, I had

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Speaker 3: all this sort of stuff for what a more information?

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Speaker 3: So we realized that was definitely something that people needed

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Speaker 3: to tell.

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Speaker 2: Get to get it off their chest.

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Speaker 3: So as much as there's commemoratory on the twenty third,

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Speaker 3: we've got a whole stack of survival story. So they're

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Speaker 3: different from the Golden Jubilee stories. The Golden Jubilee at

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Speaker 3: Brown Smart in the Fringe was really about the before

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Speaker 3: and after, you know, before the cyclone, what happened to

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Speaker 3: day and how it affected Darwin. This is the nitty

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Speaker 3: gritty of the night itself. This is right into the

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Speaker 3: wind eye of the still fear. You know, what happened

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Speaker 3: to be how do they survive under the mattress with

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Speaker 3: the louvers smashing on top of them and the cat

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Speaker 3: flew into the tree and the cars are up in

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Speaker 3: the air and all this sort of stuff is what

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Speaker 3: everyone wants to get off their chest.

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Speaker 2: Yes, so we're providing the platform for that.

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Speaker 1: And so Gareth like, how tough is that? You know,

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Speaker 1: when you look at the sheer volume of stories that

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Speaker 1: people have to tell, and then when you you know,

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Speaker 1: you look at what has happened, how tough is it

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Speaker 1: to put all of that together?

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Speaker 4: Look, it is tough because you know, I think it's

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Speaker 4: an event that goes way beyond the territory as well.

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Speaker 4: All Australians were touched by this event, you know, at

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Speaker 4: various stages of their lives, and it's really important that

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Speaker 4: all the Stralians have that opportunity to connect to.

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Speaker 1: The Tracy story and to share it, because.

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Speaker 4: It's not just one of survival, it's one of resilience

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Speaker 4: and hope. We still stand here in a city because

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Speaker 4: the territories decided to state that the powers that be

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Speaker 4: allowed us to rebuild, so it's also a story of

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Speaker 4: hope and revival.

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Speaker 3: A slight touch on the fact that Tiger Brennan and

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Speaker 3: GoF Whitlam had an argument where Tracy will is a

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Speaker 3: famous argument where Goth wanted to level Darwen completely, nothing left,

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Speaker 3: just ground it and then rebuild.

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Speaker 2: It again.

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Speaker 4: And said no, no, this is our home.

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Speaker 1: It's interesting because I can't remember why. But in recent

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Speaker 1: days I've actually spoken about this with with people off

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Speaker 1: air and the fact that the government, you know, we're

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Speaker 1: looking at just leveling Darwin and whether it was going

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Speaker 1: to be a situation where it's like, well, we don't

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Speaker 1: it's too hard, We're not going to rebuild. And you

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Speaker 1: know what you said earlier about that resilience and hope,

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Speaker 1: and you know the people that still live here. You

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Speaker 1: just think to yourself, we have got like the backbone

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Speaker 1: of the Northern Territory is so strong, right, it's incredible

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Speaker 1: when you think about the you know, the territory spirit

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Speaker 1: and the way that it was able to be rebuilt.

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Speaker 4: Yep, absolutely, and we want to honor that. We want

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Speaker 4: to honor the opportunity for all territories to be part

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Speaker 4: of that. In both theatrical as well as a panel.

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Speaker 3: Sta well after the Golden Jubilee, people asking me about

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Speaker 3: the Cyclone storys all over the place, So it's fun.

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Speaker 2: It was ironic because I'm walking down the mall and

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Speaker 2: I hear this. It's Charlie King.

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Speaker 3: And Charlie said, I really want to tell my story.

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Speaker 3: I've never told it. I said, okay, well I'm going

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Speaker 3: to put you on as a key speaker. So he's

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Speaker 3: Charlie King' ting to be one of the speakers, and

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Speaker 3: also Richie and Christine Fijo. Now Richie said, my story

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Speaker 3: is amazing. Christine's even better.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so let's get her on.

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Speaker 1: It's incredible. You know the stories that you do here

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Speaker 1: as well about Cyclone. Tracy and I was saying to

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Speaker 1: you guys, off even you know, I'm at swimming and Julie,

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Speaker 1: one of the other mums, comes up to me and

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Speaker 1: she starts telling me about her experience, you know, with

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Speaker 1: cyclone Tracy. And these are people that I've known for

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Speaker 1: quite some time that you actually don't realize what they've

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Speaker 1: been through. And I think that it would be really

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Speaker 1: difficult for some people to share their stories, but for others,

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Speaker 1: almost a cathartic experience to sort of get it off

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Speaker 1: their checks.

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Speaker 3: Well, I just mentioned earlier than they were very well

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Speaker 3: known territory and I mentioned it to her and she

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Speaker 3: just said, Nope, it traumatizes me, Leave me out of it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it is interesting, but it's just interesting how

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Speaker 1: people process things difficult.

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Speaker 3: And the other thing I'm finding and everyone to wear

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Speaker 3: that any Cyclone Tracy survival will back this up.

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Speaker 2: The minute you.

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Speaker 3: Mentioned Cyclone Tracy, they can instant recall it in a microsecond.

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Speaker 3: It's not like, oh, what happened at school, what happened

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Speaker 3: in the footy game.

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Speaker 2: It's instant. That's from the fear help it will never

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Speaker 2: forget it.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's the yardstick of all Australian natural disasters. In fact,

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Speaker 4: we often compare back to Tracy, and I feel that

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Speaker 4: that is in the time of the fiftieth is a

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Speaker 4: time to reflect and but also move forward.

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Speaker 3: Hope, and so the shout out is for all the

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Speaker 3: people like me that I walked around all these years

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Speaker 3: wanting to tell my story. It's a platform people. There's

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Speaker 3: quite a few dates there get amongst it.

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Speaker 2: Sign up.

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Speaker 4: So it's next Friday is the opening night at the

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Speaker 4: Palmerston Library Community Room. The first performance is at six pm.

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Speaker 4: It's actually coinciding with the last night of the Palmerston

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Speaker 4: Markets and then other dates have just opened up because

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Speaker 4: it looks like it's going to be a sellout. For

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Speaker 4: the opening night on the Saturday and the Sunday again

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Speaker 4: at the Palmerston Community Room, there will be multimedia reimagining

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Speaker 4: of the Cyclone Tracy using AI and some other tools

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Speaker 4: that we as filmmakers are bring.

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Speaker 3: I just want to check it, he said to me,

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Speaker 3: I can get you out of the linen press that

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Speaker 3: you went to cyclone, And this is Gareth out of

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Speaker 3: there and flying around in the cyclone, basically looking at

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Speaker 3: it from above and orazi way.

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Speaker 4: We really hope that this is a stepping stone towards

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Speaker 4: an educational project that we can actually share this story

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Speaker 4: for schools and children so they can remember as well.

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Speaker 4: Comes off the back of other projects that we've done

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Speaker 4: around the bombing of Darwin with Rusty and others, so

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Speaker 4: that we can remember it and we hope that the

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Speaker 4: final performance at the Museum and Art Gallery of the

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Speaker 4: Northern Territory will remain this story can remain so we

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Speaker 4: can actually ensure that it's enshrined in the memory of

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Speaker 4: all territories.

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Speaker 2: So certainly the twenty fourth it's at the museum.

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Speaker 3: We've sort of got ten o'clock to four o'clock all

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Speaker 3: day that we are show sort of rolling, and then

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Speaker 3: at five point thirty the Remembering Cyclone Tracy People've got

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Speaker 3: the show at the Railway Club.

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Speaker 2: So this is Christmas Eve.

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Speaker 1: That's where our season ends.

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Speaker 4: We're starting in Palmerston and working our way into the

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Speaker 4: heart of Darwin.

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Speaker 3: And it really is based on just influx of people

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Speaker 3: contacting me and saying we want to tell our story.

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Speaker 3: So it's a platform come and tell your story, hear

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Speaker 3: your story and support Darwin.

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Speaker 1: I think it's a really important thing to do, such

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Speaker 1: an important thing to do, so to anybody out there listening,

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Speaker 1: this morning. What can they expect when they come along.

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Speaker 2: Well, there are three stages to this story.

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Speaker 4: The night before Christmas. There is then, of course the

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Speaker 4: eye of the storm, and then there is revival and hope.

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Speaker 4: So there's three chapters in each one of them. Rusty

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Speaker 4: as the MC will basically take you through the journey

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Speaker 4: of what it was like as a Tracy survivor, but

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Speaker 4: also hold space for those that wish. Our panelists. We've

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Speaker 4: got four, as Rusty mentioned, Richard Fijo, Christine Fijo and

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Speaker 4: Charlie King for opening night, but there'll be other panelists

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Speaker 4: and other people along this journey so that they can

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Speaker 4: feel that their story is well.

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Speaker 3: We've got most iconic Ury Twins lined up. We're just

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Speaker 3: try and get them the right date and time and

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Speaker 3: matts and so they can be here. The other thing

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Speaker 3: is for all the people that aren't going to be

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Speaker 3: here at Christmas time. You know, that's why the early dates,

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Speaker 3: the Parmesan library and also for the hup you do

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Speaker 3: how it brings in all the rural people, regional and

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Speaker 3: there's a lot.

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Speaker 1: Of people traveling here as well for different commemorations.

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Speaker 2: Do December twenty fourth day will be hectic.

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Speaker 4: I was just with the Rotary Club of Darwin North

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Speaker 4: Jeff Goodridge last night, who was with a number of

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Speaker 4: other and they are planning events around the twenty third.

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Speaker 4: There's going to be a big event out at the showgrounds. Yep,

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Speaker 4: this is our fine. So we're looking forward to engaging

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Speaker 4: with people, visitors to Darwin and at the end of

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Speaker 4: the day, yeah, we're looking forward to holding that platform

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Speaker 4: strong so everyone feels included.

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Speaker 3: It's not about it, so it's a remembering cycle and

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Speaker 3: Tracy people, they're having a commemoration on the twenty third

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Speaker 3: as well, so like get them all out there, provide

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Speaker 3: a lot to platforms, come and tell you stories. And

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Speaker 3: I listened to the stories, you know, the emotion of

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Speaker 3: all Darwin and see how we rebuild it. And we're

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Speaker 3: the ones that stood.

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Speaker 1: Up absolutely absolutely and hats off to you as well

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Speaker 1: for doing that really and making the place what it

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Speaker 1: is today. It's incredible. It is really incredible stuff. Well,

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Speaker 1: thank you boy so much for joining me in the studio.

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Speaker 1: Now tell me if people want a bit more info,

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Speaker 1: is there a website or somewhere where they can go

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Speaker 1: to it?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so we manage put it up on your website one,

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Speaker 3: and then we've got to garriscot a website.

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Speaker 4: Get tickets through Humanitics, so that's they're not for profit

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Speaker 4: platform for the same our tickets. And just this week

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Speaker 4: we've actually released seniors tickets because what we actually acknowledge

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Speaker 4: is that the territory and survivors many are in that category,

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Speaker 4: so we want to make it affordable so everyone to

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Speaker 4: be part of it. They are only ten dollars on

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Speaker 4: the Humanitics site under cyclone stories.

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Speaker 1: Yes, oh good on you. No. I think it's a

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Speaker 1: really good thing to do. And I know that there's

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Speaker 1: plenty of different events being held by different groups, but

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Speaker 1: it's not a competition. It's an opportunity for everybody to

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Speaker 1: get out there, to have their voices heard, to share

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Speaker 1: their story and really to be around each other. I

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Speaker 1: think is probably an important.

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Speaker 2: Thing fellowship also for the other people are putting on shows.

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Speaker 3: We've said, bring you books along and have a book

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Speaker 3: store to sell, bring your t shirts along and sell them.

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Speaker 1: Welcome. Yeah, all wonderful stuff. Lovely to have you both

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Speaker 1: in the studio this morning. I really appreciated Gareth Benson

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Speaker 1: and Rusty. We've spoken to you a few times Rusty.

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Speaker 2: I didn't crack you off as much as last time.

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Speaker 2: He behaved yourself this morning so disappointing.

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Speaker 1: Good on your boat. Thank you so much for your time,