On Christmas Eve 1974, a small but intense tropical storm named Cyclone Tracy smashed into the northern Australian capital city of Darwin, Northern Territory (NT). Over Christmas Eve and into the early hours of Christmas Day, Cyclone Tracy inflicted deadly destructive winds that destroyed most of Darwin and its surrounding suburbs, taking the lives of 66 people and injuring hundreds – many very seriously.

My mum, a registered nurse, was working at (then) Darwin Hospital and living by herself in suburban Darwin at the time of Cyclone Tracy.

Between 1971 to 1974, my mum had: emigrated to Australia from the United Kingdom, started working in Australia as a nurse, met my father, got married, had me, separated, started raising me on her own, and then survived one of Australia’s biggest peacetime natural disasters.

On the eve of the 50th anniversary, APMG presents, ‘Me… My mum… and a cyclone named Tracy’, a real-life survivor’s account of this historical and significant Australian event.