ABC Radio should be acknowledged for the vital role that it played in relaying the information from the Bureau of Meteorology and helping residents of Darwin to track Cyclone Tracy on home maps on 24 Dec. 1974. On that increasingly rainy and windy Christmas Eve, ABC announcer, Bob Roberts and his capable crew were very busy entertaining and informing most Darwinians of the progress and path of Cyclone Tracy. They kept us informed until the transmitter, or something like that, succumbed to the windy conditions and the ABC was "off the air".
In the meantime, Bob's wife, Sally and their children, Miranda and Polly, were sheltering under their typical Darwin house as it was being blown apart above them. They survived, but the house was later bulldozed and the dozer-twisted, steel floor beams were gathered up to be a "sculpture" outside Casuarina High School.,
Notes
This story was made as part of the ABC Open and Northern Territory Library Cyclone Tracy storytelling workshop program.,