00:00Stepping back in time to the year of one of Australia's worst natural disasters.
00:07It's not often museum staff will let visitors touch the exhibits, let alone take a seat.
00:13But today is an exception.
00:15It's 50 years since Cyclone Tracy happened so we're getting a fabulous refresh.
00:19So it's going to be all new exhibitions, much more interactive.
00:22The museum's long-standing exhibition to be closed for several months
00:26ahead of this Christmas's 50th anniversary of the devastating Darwin cyclone.
00:31A lot of things are under wraps but in December, early December, we'll be reopening
00:36so we're really looking forward to people interacting with the new spaces.
00:39Hundreds of visitors today coming to see the reminders of a city left annihilated
00:44on Christmas morning 74, including some of those who lived through that unforgettable night.
00:50Mum had all our photos in a bank vault, thank God, so we didn't lose our photos
00:55but coming and seeing it, because we were evacuated of course, weren't here for about eight weeks
01:01so we didn't get to see much of the cleanup.
01:04But yeah, seeing it all, it's very emotional.
01:07Cyclone Tracy has made such a mark on the lives of so many people and it has on mine
01:12and so having it here as a gentle reminder of that period is really important to me.
01:19This grandfather visiting the museum today, telling the story of when he had to shelter
01:24his young family in the toilet block of a local caravan park.
01:28The roof came off of the ablution block and the walls started to come in
01:34and all we could do was just huddle and hope for the best.
01:39Hey, would you like to come have a photo? Come and sit down on that couch.
01:43Bye all, peace and love.
01:45The Cyclone Tracy exhibition has been the pride of the museum's collection for 30 years now
01:50and for survivors of that terrible morning, a stirring memorial.
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