Our daughter was just 10 weeks old when Tracy came to visit us in Jingili. We spent those dark hours with our neighbours, huddled in their hallway in a sort-of tent we made from mattresses: four adults, a 12-year-old, a 10-week-old, and a rather large labrador (the cat wasn't seen until the next day...) Obviously, it was truly terrifying, and it was a long time before we could talk of the experience without that little catch in the voice. And I guess I would never say that I was glad to have had the experience - it would be a strange person who felt that way - but for me the legacy was, in the end, a positive one. I came to realise that possessions are just things, things that can be snatched away in a moment. It is the safety of your loved ones that really matters, and the memories you share, and I know there are friends and relatives everywhere who would envy me, because Tracy left my little family intact. Like many, many others, we lost nearly everything we owned, but also like many, many others, we realised that those 'things' we owned were really of little consequence.My once 10-week-old is now 40, and has returned to live in Darwin with her husband - I just hope their house is a little better constructed than the ones we all lived in in 1974!,
Notes
This story was made as part of the ABC Open and Northern Territory Library Cyclone Tracy storytelling workshop program.,