Peter Copland on Cyclone Tracy (continued)

A few days into the New Year and one or two banks opened for a few hours each day. I joined the queue for some cash; all mine had gone to Sydney with the family. One customer a couple ahead was actually depositing money, in itself strange, as was the amount. From a guess, five thousand dollars, which was roughly confirmed by the teller. The customer owned a small, basically undamaged shop on the southern side of town and was selling things at a profit, like $5 for half a loaf of bread. Naturally, when the free food became available she was able to restock the shop, but I like to think that they may have come to a bit of a sticky end.

Turning now to a personal Tracy win and loss. Would often load up the Suzuki in the evening with rubbish from around the house and dump it in the dump just past the radar on the way to work. Not big loads, but a lot over a week. Did this on the last day before going south on leave in the second half of January. Could not resist picking up a new cutlery set, (still in packing), in the dump and left it at the radar. Retuned with my wife some weeks later and back to work. Another load to the dump, however, the dump had been closed on the day I went on leave. Spotted a knife on the ground, it was to complete the set still at the radar. And my loss was a couple of stamp albums left in the safety of the radar storeroom before Tracy which I picked up after returning from Sydney. Water from the cable ducts must have flooded the store room as well as the transmitter room. The result was a thousand dollars worth of now mouldy mint stamps.

Early in 1975 there was a great amount of assistance from other Regions and Head Office. I do not think the assisting visitors would have enjoyed themselves too much; hot and wet, and not too much to do after work. On one occasion I even had one Reg Carter from Training School helping us drag a Gipsy Major aero engine out of a swamp rubbish dump. This engine was rebuilt much later by the technical college for the Aviation Museum.

Bureau of Meteorology