Malevolence of Natural Forces

Cyclones. When they hit, you know it.

Thankfully I’ve never been through a bad one yet, even though I live in Darwin which is pretty much famous for them. I think I could have been through a slightly bad one when I was younger though, I have faint memories of being rugged up in the spare room between both my parents, although I was too old to be sleeping in bed with them, but still too young to really know what was going on. I remember a very loud storm, and the door downstairs (that leads to the laundry and the pool table room) blowing off and it was just all very…scary. There’s no other word for it. It wasn’t to the point of being petrifying (as Tracy would have been, I’m sure), it was just plain scary. Dad went downstairs to see what happened when the door blew off, and I remember mum being scared that he was going outside. Probably the only time I’ve ever seen her scared.

Cyclone Tracy was the worst to ever hit Darwin, and it fascinates me. I read any book written about it I can get my hands on, and many people I know went though it. Most are able to tell me all about what they remember, and the stories I’ve heard are horrible. Fascinating, but horrible. A guy who owns the Aviation Club now used to be a jockey, and he was down at the race track looking after things (packing up, tying down things and looking after the horses, etc) when the cyclone hit. It hit at 4am, so why he was still there at such a time is beyond me, but the whole town was unsettled that night. He saw star pickets go clean through horses, and spent the cyclone hidden in a car with two work mates. During the eye of the storm they went to try and subdue as many horses as they could, they got separated and one of his friends had to hide in a 44 gallon drum when the wind came back suddenly.

A teacher I had in primary school said her father walked out during the eye of Cyclone Tracy, and then got picked up by the winds as they came back. Her mum grabbed her dad, but nearly got swept away. A brother got hold of their mum, and then was caught by a brother or sister, on and on until they were all a chain, blowing in the breeze.

But I’ve never believed that story. She was a horrible teacher as well (couldn’t actually teach really) and tried to change my name since she said it had ‘stupid spelling’. She’s not a teacher anymore, but she actually works on the same floor of the building I now work in. We both work for the Government, but in different sections thankfully. I pretended I didn’t recognise her (or really remember her) when we ran into each other again for the first time and she screeched about how happy she was to see me again.

My job with the Government is in Records Management, and when a Cyclone Watch starts we aren’t able to work. The rules are that as soon as a watch is forecast all confidential and TRIM files need to be locked away in the compactuses in the middle of the building and sent into lockdown. Last year, in March or so Cyclone Ingrid got a bit too close to Darwin for comfort, and I spent a bit more than a week or so at work collecting files from around the building and locking them away. Easiest money I’ve ever earned. Since my father works at the airport I was able to access a weather map (which the Traffic Control tower uses) that helped us a lot. It kept the fear down a little. The Bureau Of Meteorology was in constant contact with the Government, and we workers were sent an email with updated reports every few hours or so, but everyone in my area watched what happened through the weather map I had access since it was constant and reassured us that we knew all there was to know.

Cyclones control so much of Darwin’s lifestyle.

Everyone has lists and rules prepared of what they have to do, what they will do and what they have to take. My family knows which folders (full of forms and certificates) to take, that we have to pack the computers into their carry bags, prepare the animals along with a suitcase of clothes and pack them all into the car. Our plan is to just head on down the track. Our house mainly survived Cyclone Tracy, so we’re pretty sure our house would be okay, (compared to others) which gives us one less worry. Neither of my parents were in Darwin when Cyclone Tracy hit, we just live off the fear of the others who are still here who did.

We don’t want to go to a shelter, because our two pets are important to us, and we spoil them too much to lose them now. A dingo and an Oriental Siamese cat. Luckiest animals in the world to have such delusional owners.

Also, Dad loves his cars too much to let them be smashed up.

What would we take? I wouldn’t take much. Most of what I love and depends on is saved on or is a part of my computer. Everything else is just books which can always be found again and bought. When you’re faced with death, material objects are easier to pass up in a second. Guess I’m lucky I hate watching TV so I’m not about to try and take my TV with me when (hopefully if) we ever had to leave town in a hurry.

Everyone’s used to the question in school (the kind which are used in ‘Get to Know You’ games) of ‘What would you take with you if a cyclone came and you had to evacuate and/or go to a shelter? Remember, you can only take what would fit in a beer carton.’

Yep, cyclones and beer. That’s Darwin in a nutshell.