00:00As many Australians celebrate Christmas, hundreds of people in Darwin attended a memorial event
00:08to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Cyclone Tracy. Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin, flattening
00:15the region and traumatising many people who were there at the time. More than or at least
00:2166 people died in Cyclone Tracy, some who were crushed in their homes and others who
00:28were on our Darwin shores. The memorial event was a bittersweet one. There were stories
00:35being shared, moments of tears and grief, but also some lighter moments where people
00:41remembered the times of recovery and resilience and the way that people really just worked
00:46with what they had. You know, there were stories of after the cyclone of people using shovels
00:51to stir pots of stew and firefighters having to wear thongs, not having their full gear
00:57on. So there were moments of laughter and joy. And of course, it would be amiss to not
01:01mention that at this event, Anthony Albanese, our Prime Minister, attended and said a few
01:07words. We'll hear from him now.
01:09We think of their families for whom every Christmas means revisiting that grief. And
01:18we remember all the survivors, so many of whom honour us with their presence here this
01:22morning. People who spent those days after Christmas as part of the biggest peacetime
01:28evacuation in Australian history. And people who still carry the pain and trauma of those
01:35days, because in the words of one, Tracy doesn't go away.
01:42At this memorial event, we also saw the unveiling of a monument. It was called Five Decades,
01:48Five Flowers Forever Remembered. Those flowers were frangipanis, which are an icon of Darwin.
01:54They're said to symbolise the beauty of Darwin, but also its resilience and its strength.
02:00We could see at the memorial event that people were looking around on these flower statues,
02:05these frangipani monuments to see the names of loved ones who were lost in Cyclone Tracy.
02:12They were people who didn't know each other, but were embracing and sharing tears together
02:16because they had that shared experience of having lost someone they loved dearly in Cyclone Tracy.
02:22I lived in Darwin for 43 years and we left a little while ago, seven years ago.
02:28And I've been back a couple of times, but today was different.
02:33The whole atmosphere was different because of the reason we were here.
02:38The event, which took place in East Point, just a couple of kilometres behind me,
02:43was very well attended and I think really resonated with the survivors.
02:47It represented their feelings of trauma and difficulty that they had at the time,
02:54and it really brought together this sense of community.
02:57During it, Anthony Albanese said,
02:59there's no other place that a PM should be than here in Darwin.
03:03And I think it's fair to say that that not only resonated with the attendees of that event,
03:08but it resonates with the sentiment of the Darwinian people
03:12as they commemorate a very difficult but important event.
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