Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now, we absolutely couldn't conclude our Cyclone Tracy coverage for
the fiftieth anniversary without speaking about the important role the
Salvation Army played in the aftermath. Many used to say
at the time that Santa never made it into Darwin
that year, but the Salvos did and they made their
presence felt. My next guest is the Salvation Army's current
(00:24):
Chief Secretary, Colonel Winsome Merit, who was sixteen at the
time of Cyclone Tracy. She is the daughter of Captains
Hilton and Wilgelm Morris, who were the Salvation Army officers
in Darwin in nineteen seventy four, and despite facing their
own loss and trauma, they sprung into action with their
(00:46):
fellow Corps members to provide crisis relief on Christmas Day
and in the weeks and months that followed. Colonel Winsome
Merrit joins me on the line. Now, good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Hello, how are you?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah? Really good? Lovely to have you on the show now,
whin some Firstly, what was it like for you on
Christmas Eve in nineteen seventy four.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Well, I was only sixteen, so I was obviously a teenager.
I just finished year eleven and Christmas Eve. We were
preparing for a normal Christmas day, but aware that cyclone
was on its way, so we'd done the normal preparations.
(01:34):
Around midnight there was quite a bit of anxiety and
in the family the wind was quite strong, but it
was around in my memory and that could obviously be inaccurate.
We lived in Nightcliff, and around two o'clockish the I
(01:56):
passed over, or well a form of your eye. The
exact I didn't exactly pass right over Nightcliff, but there
was a quietening of the wind. It wasn't perfectly still,
as it was in some places where the eye was
particularly overhead, but it was certainly decreasing in the noise
(02:20):
and the intensity of the wind, but just and we
were still in a house that was relatively intact. A
tree had come through one of our bedrooms, but we
just shut the door and foot we'll do with that later.
So around I think around two two thirty, after this
(02:40):
calming had occurred, of course, the wind came back with
as much force or more than what it had left,
and at that point our front door blew open against
its lock. My parents ran to shut it and to
hold up against it. The family law goes that dad.
(03:03):
Mum said to Dad, how long do you think we've
got to do this for? And really, before he got
to even say, how do you think you can? Can
you cope for four hours? Or so? Basically, our house
literally blew up and out and we were all on
the ground floor, and I still don't know how we
(03:23):
heard our dad yelling at us to get into the kitchen,
but we all reacted very very quickly, and fortunately we
all made it safely into the kitchen. A large piece
of masonite followed my brother through the door. He was
the last one in, and actually that piece of masonite
(03:43):
provided additional protection for us, But it would have been
a very different story had my brother kind of not
got in the way or got in the way of
that piece of masonite. So those moments were for me
and I think for most of our family that they
(04:05):
were pretty terrifying. So we had there were six in
my immediate family, and we had two cousins staying with us,
one up for holidays and one who was living with
us anyway. She was a nurse at the hospital, and
we had a dog. So there were seven of us
huddled in a very tight, tight circle in our relatively
(04:27):
small kitchen while my dad hurled up a calm mattress
up against the louvers where the wind was coming to
protect us. So as we all rushed into our kitchen.
My parents obviously people of faith. They they belonged to
(04:47):
the Salvation Army, and us kids were fairly involved in
our local church. And my mum said these words which
actually have shaped my faith and my life really moving forward.
She said, we need to talk to Jesus about this.
I just recall going from being this terrified sixteen year
(05:10):
old to having this amazing sense of peace come over
me in those moments, and you know, the crying, the
terror subsided and actually together as a family, we with
our dog in the middle of this circle because we
(05:30):
were sitting on the floor just praying really initially for ourselves,
but then praying for other people that we knew, and
then you know, as the hours stretched on to praying
for people that we didn't know, but who we were
pretty sure were going to be impacted by by this.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Intense storm, and they certainly were, you know, we were
we know. The aftermath, well, the cyclone was was catastrophic. Yes,
what do you recall in the aftermath and after the
cyclone had passed and your family went out, and well,
(06:14):
you know, I guess you're already so exposed as it was,
but you know, when you started to see what had
happened in the destruction around you.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Yes, so it was still dark when you know, around
six or six point thirty, a neighbor, someone we knew
from just around the corner, came to see how we were.
They were in a bottom unit of a two story block,
(06:44):
so they were relatively safe. So they came and got
the three youngest of us, and I just remember running
from our house to their house. The wind was still
pretty ferocious, even though it was nothing like it had been,
and it was still pouring with rain. It was very
dark obviously because of the clouds and the rain, and
(07:07):
we were just intent on getting from our house to
their house safely as three, you know, teenagers. So of
that initial morning, I don't recall a lot because when
I got there, I actually went to sleep four hours
on their couch. I don't know what my brother and
(07:27):
sister did, but I went into obviously quite a deep sleep.
I don't know if that's response to shock or whatever,
but Anyway, I slept and after I mean my parents
came and got us around the lunchtime, and then, like
the things I remember, it was just mess. It was
just mess. The trees had no leaves, and I mean
(07:52):
we went to catch up with the other Salvation Army
officers in the city to see how they were. I mean,
in the intervening time, I think my cousin, who was
a nurse, had my brother had helped take her into
the hospital so she could do whatever, you know, the
medical staff needed to do. My brother was an electrician.
(08:15):
He was an apprentice electrician with a departner works, so
he very soon was having to work. I think probably
the next day got called up to start doing formal
work there as well. And I think after that first day,
my parents and the walkers who were the other officers
(08:38):
worked out how they would do just an immediate response
as much as they could. My dad painted Salvo on
his car so he'd actually get access to places that
he would need to. So that's the famous car that
we saw at the commemorative event in Arewn just recently,
(09:01):
well a copy of it, I suppose. Yeah, yeah, so
I've seen some I've seen some pictures of our work.
So I know that within two days the Salvation Army
had had two teams of people, I think one lot
from w A and one lot from Queensland. I think
they'd driven up and there were about nine people and
(09:24):
they began to assist the local people in providing immediate
relief that I recall at the airport, I remember giving
out bottles of water to people sitting in the buses
waiting to be evacuated. And as you can imagine, those
(09:45):
busses would have been very hot, they weren't air conditioned.
Families were traumatized, and you know, we were just giving
out bottles of water to at least keep them hydrated.
I remember my at the airport. There was some little space.
My mum and a few other Salvos were working there,
(10:07):
and I imagine there were other agencies as well, trying
to kick in and do what they could in those
early days. I think after about four days we obviously
had way more teams who had come in and I
think we'd provided something like twenty five thousand meals so
(10:29):
very quickly. Local businesses obviously did what they could. I
mean the advantages you could use gas even though you
didn't have electricity.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
When there is no doubt that the Salvation Army did
so much in the aftermath of the cyclone as well
to support people. Were extra officers flown in to assist
and how many were on the ground in terms of
helping in the aftermath.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
I know that a number were flown in for our
emergency services, so even within two days. I can't recall
whether it was on Christmas Day or if it was
on Boxing Day. The Territorial Commander, who was the head
of the Salvation Army in half of Australia at that
point of time, because the Salvation Army was spitten to
(11:22):
two territories, he actually flew into Darwin and hitchhiked from
the old airport to the city Salvation Army site. And
at the time when he arrived and walked up the driveway,
both my parents and the Walkers were there with their family,
(11:43):
so I was there and I remember seeing like both
sets of offices my parents included just being overwhelmed by
the fact that the head of the Salvation Army had
turned up in person in this devastated city, found a
way to get there to see what needed to happen
(12:05):
and how the Salvation Army could help. So because the
head of the Salvation Army got so involved or actually
indicate such strong interest and concern, then resources were able
to flow relatively quickly after that, and officers and lay
(12:26):
volunteers were flown in. They lived in pretty rough conditions,
as you can imagine, for a few weeks, as were
everyone else who was staying in Darwin were also living
in those same conditions, but they got to work just
doing the practical things of what needed to be done,
(12:47):
when finding the resources and cooking.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Yeah, and all the everything that needed that everybody needed
at that point in time. Before I let you go,
I am interested to know. I mean in terms of
the position that you now hold. When you look at,
you know, the work that your parents did, when you
look at the response to cyclone Tracy, how big an
(13:11):
impact do you think that that has had on you?
And you know the path that you've taken.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Well that you know, those four hours in our kitchen
certainly shaped my faith and certainly embedded within me an
understanding of a God who's intimately concerned in the lives
of his people. So I believe that that foundational belief
(13:42):
has certainly shaped who I am today. And have, and
my current role and my work within the Salvation Army
certainly enables me to express that faith in practical ways.
I think the work that the Army did and other agencies,
you know, the whole of Australia responded so magnificently to
(14:05):
this incredibly serious crisis in this devastated city. I think
it demonstrated amazing human compassion, you know, both from the
Army and you know, our emergency services responses have continued
to develop and be incredibly compassionate and professional since that,
(14:26):
you know, since that point more and more so. But
the one overwhelming thing for me as well is the
amazing response that Australians had to the people who were
evacuated or even to the people who stayed, you know,
the provision of resources from around Australia and their compassionate
(14:50):
response has also stuck with me, and I think for me,
it's really it's difficult to talk about cycling, Tracy and
just my experience without recognizing actually how much Australia itself
as a nation responded so magnificently to this significant crisis.
(15:15):
So all of those things helped shape not just my
life but what I would call my ministry and the
way in which I have responded or to respond as
a result of what others have done in the past,
and how I've been a recipient of that too well.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Colonel Winsor Merritt, I really appreciate your time this morning.
Thank you so very much for having a chat with
us and for talking us through your story, but talking
us through the work that the Salvos have done. Thank
you so much for joining us on the show.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Thank you such a pleasure. Katie, glad I could be
with you today.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Thank you bye. Thanks so much.
Now, we absolutely couldn't conclude our Cyclone Tracy coverage for
the fiftieth anniversary without speaking about the important role the
Salvation Army played in the aftermath. Many used to say
at the time that Santa never made it into Darwin
that year, but the Salvos did and they made their
presence felt. My next guest is the Salvation Army's current
(00:24):
Chief Secretary, Colonel Winsome Merit, who was sixteen at the
time of Cyclone Tracy. She is the daughter of Captains
Hilton and Wilgelm Morris, who were the Salvation Army officers
in Darwin in nineteen seventy four, and despite facing their
own loss and trauma, they sprung into action with their
(00:46):
fellow Corps members to provide crisis relief on Christmas Day
and in the weeks and months that followed. Colonel Winsome
Merrit joins me on the line. Now, good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Hello, how are you?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah? Really good? Lovely to have you on the show now,
whin some Firstly, what was it like for you on
Christmas Eve in nineteen seventy four.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Well, I was only sixteen, so I was obviously a teenager.
I just finished year eleven and Christmas Eve. We were
preparing for a normal Christmas day, but aware that cyclone
was on its way, so we'd done the normal preparations.
(01:34):
Around midnight there was quite a bit of anxiety and
in the family the wind was quite strong, but it
was around in my memory and that could obviously be inaccurate.
We lived in Nightcliff, and around two o'clockish the I
(01:56):
passed over, or well a form of your eye. The
exact I didn't exactly pass right over Nightcliff, but there
was a quietening of the wind. It wasn't perfectly still,
as it was in some places where the eye was
particularly overhead, but it was certainly decreasing in the noise
(02:20):
and the intensity of the wind, but just and we
were still in a house that was relatively intact. A
tree had come through one of our bedrooms, but we
just shut the door and foot we'll do with that later.
So around I think around two two thirty, after this
(02:40):
calming had occurred, of course, the wind came back with
as much force or more than what it had left,
and at that point our front door blew open against
its lock. My parents ran to shut it and to
hold up against it. The family law goes that dad.
(03:03):
Mum said to Dad, how long do you think we've
got to do this for? And really, before he got
to even say, how do you think you can? Can
you cope for four hours? Or so? Basically, our house
literally blew up and out and we were all on
the ground floor, and I still don't know how we
(03:23):
heard our dad yelling at us to get into the kitchen,
but we all reacted very very quickly, and fortunately we
all made it safely into the kitchen. A large piece
of masonite followed my brother through the door. He was
the last one in, and actually that piece of masonite
(03:43):
provided additional protection for us, But it would have been
a very different story had my brother kind of not
got in the way or got in the way of
that piece of masonite. So those moments were for me
and I think for most of our family that they
(04:05):
were pretty terrifying. So we had there were six in
my immediate family, and we had two cousins staying with us,
one up for holidays and one who was living with
us anyway. She was a nurse at the hospital, and
we had a dog. So there were seven of us
huddled in a very tight, tight circle in our relatively
(04:27):
small kitchen while my dad hurled up a calm mattress
up against the louvers where the wind was coming to
protect us. So as we all rushed into our kitchen.
My parents obviously people of faith. They they belonged to
(04:47):
the Salvation Army, and us kids were fairly involved in
our local church. And my mum said these words which
actually have shaped my faith and my life really moving forward.
She said, we need to talk to Jesus about this.
I just recall going from being this terrified sixteen year
(05:10):
old to having this amazing sense of peace come over
me in those moments, and you know, the crying, the
terror subsided and actually together as a family, we with
our dog in the middle of this circle because we
(05:30):
were sitting on the floor just praying really initially for ourselves,
but then praying for other people that we knew, and
then you know, as the hours stretched on to praying
for people that we didn't know, but who we were
pretty sure were going to be impacted by by this.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Intense storm, and they certainly were, you know, we were
we know. The aftermath, well, the cyclone was was catastrophic. Yes,
what do you recall in the aftermath and after the
cyclone had passed and your family went out, and well,
(06:14):
you know, I guess you're already so exposed as it was,
but you know, when you started to see what had
happened in the destruction around you.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Yes, so it was still dark when you know, around
six or six point thirty, a neighbor, someone we knew
from just around the corner, came to see how we were.
They were in a bottom unit of a two story block,
(06:44):
so they were relatively safe. So they came and got
the three youngest of us, and I just remember running
from our house to their house. The wind was still
pretty ferocious, even though it was nothing like it had been,
and it was still pouring with rain. It was very
dark obviously because of the clouds and the rain, and
(07:07):
we were just intent on getting from our house to
their house safely as three, you know, teenagers. So of
that initial morning, I don't recall a lot because when
I got there, I actually went to sleep four hours
on their couch. I don't know what my brother and
(07:27):
sister did, but I went into obviously quite a deep sleep.
I don't know if that's response to shock or whatever,
but Anyway, I slept and after I mean my parents
came and got us around the lunchtime, and then, like
the things I remember, it was just mess. It was
just mess. The trees had no leaves, and I mean
(07:52):
we went to catch up with the other Salvation Army
officers in the city to see how they were. I mean,
in the intervening time, I think my cousin, who was
a nurse, had my brother had helped take her into
the hospital so she could do whatever, you know, the
medical staff needed to do. My brother was an electrician.
(08:15):
He was an apprentice electrician with a departner works, so
he very soon was having to work. I think probably
the next day got called up to start doing formal
work there as well. And I think after that first day,
my parents and the walkers who were the other officers
(08:38):
worked out how they would do just an immediate response
as much as they could. My dad painted Salvo on
his car so he'd actually get access to places that
he would need to. So that's the famous car that
we saw at the commemorative event in Arewn just recently,
(09:01):
well a copy of it, I suppose. Yeah, yeah, so
I've seen some I've seen some pictures of our work.
So I know that within two days the Salvation Army
had had two teams of people, I think one lot
from w A and one lot from Queensland. I think
they'd driven up and there were about nine people and
(09:24):
they began to assist the local people in providing immediate
relief that I recall at the airport, I remember giving
out bottles of water to people sitting in the buses
waiting to be evacuated. And as you can imagine, those
(09:45):
busses would have been very hot, they weren't air conditioned.
Families were traumatized, and you know, we were just giving
out bottles of water to at least keep them hydrated.
I remember my at the airport. There was some little space.
My mum and a few other Salvos were working there,
(10:07):
and I imagine there were other agencies as well, trying
to kick in and do what they could in those
early days. I think after about four days we obviously
had way more teams who had come in and I
think we'd provided something like twenty five thousand meals so
(10:29):
very quickly. Local businesses obviously did what they could. I
mean the advantages you could use gas even though you
didn't have electricity.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
When there is no doubt that the Salvation Army did
so much in the aftermath of the cyclone as well
to support people. Were extra officers flown in to assist
and how many were on the ground in terms of
helping in the aftermath.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
I know that a number were flown in for our
emergency services, so even within two days. I can't recall
whether it was on Christmas Day or if it was
on Boxing Day. The Territorial Commander, who was the head
of the Salvation Army in half of Australia at that
point of time, because the Salvation Army was spitten to
(11:22):
two territories, he actually flew into Darwin and hitchhiked from
the old airport to the city Salvation Army site. And
at the time when he arrived and walked up the driveway,
both my parents and the Walkers were there with their family,
(11:43):
so I was there and I remember seeing like both
sets of offices my parents included just being overwhelmed by
the fact that the head of the Salvation Army had
turned up in person in this devastated city, found a
way to get there to see what needed to happen
(12:05):
and how the Salvation Army could help. So because the
head of the Salvation Army got so involved or actually
indicate such strong interest and concern, then resources were able
to flow relatively quickly after that, and officers and lay
(12:26):
volunteers were flown in. They lived in pretty rough conditions,
as you can imagine, for a few weeks, as were
everyone else who was staying in Darwin were also living
in those same conditions, but they got to work just
doing the practical things of what needed to be done,
(12:47):
when finding the resources and cooking.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Yeah, and all the everything that needed that everybody needed
at that point in time. Before I let you go,
I am interested to know. I mean in terms of
the position that you now hold. When you look at,
you know, the work that your parents did, when you
look at the response to cyclone Tracy, how big an
(13:11):
impact do you think that that has had on you?
And you know the path that you've taken.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Well that you know, those four hours in our kitchen
certainly shaped my faith and certainly embedded within me an
understanding of a God who's intimately concerned in the lives
of his people. So I believe that that foundational belief
(13:42):
has certainly shaped who I am today. And have, and
my current role and my work within the Salvation Army
certainly enables me to express that faith in practical ways.
I think the work that the Army did and other agencies,
you know, the whole of Australia responded so magnificently to
(14:05):
this incredibly serious crisis in this devastated city. I think
it demonstrated amazing human compassion, you know, both from the
Army and you know, our emergency services responses have continued
to develop and be incredibly compassionate and professional since that,
(14:26):
you know, since that point more and more so. But
the one overwhelming thing for me as well is the
amazing response that Australians had to the people who were
evacuated or even to the people who stayed, you know,
the provision of resources from around Australia and their compassionate
(14:50):
response has also stuck with me, and I think for me,
it's really it's difficult to talk about cycling, Tracy and
just my experience without recognizing actually how much Australia itself
as a nation responded so magnificently to this significant crisis.
(15:15):
So all of those things helped shape not just my
life but what I would call my ministry and the
way in which I have responded or to respond as
a result of what others have done in the past,
and how I've been a recipient of that too well.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Colonel Winsor Merritt, I really appreciate your time this morning.
Thank you so very much for having a chat with
us and for talking us through your story, but talking
us through the work that the Salvos have done. Thank
you so much for joining us on the show.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Thank you such a pleasure. Katie, glad I could be
with you today.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Thank you bye. Thanks so much.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.