They heard that the cyclone had unexpectedly swung back towards Darwin. June came home early from her Territory Government Christmas party and George closed their shop, Fishing & Outdoor World, and headed to their house in Barossa Street, Larrakeyah..

They were sitting “comfortably” in the loungeroom about 10pm when a large wooden beam crashed through the wall.

The couple grabbed a couple of mattresses and their two cats and rushed into the bathroom.

“The noise was deafening, like we were under a plane that was landing,” says June.

They sat in the bath with mattresses over their heads, while June’s Dad clung to the shower taps and her Mum laid on the floor under a mattress. “The roof went about 2am and the rain was slashing in,” says June.

“The noise was deafening. Then one of the walls in the bathroom tore off.” June’s Dad spent the rest of the night clinging to open pipes in the shower recess.

“This continued until 6am when the noise started to die down. Larrakeyah never had the eye of the cyclone.

“As soon as daylight came, we ventured out. Half the house had disappeared with only bedroom walls still intact.

“Our cars had survived under the house with only scratches on the doors, so George and my Dad started out to check on George’s parents, who had a house opposite the old hospital.

“It took them 1.5 hours to navigate their way there with debris and power lines on the roads. Sometimes they had to drive on footpaths and into other yards, but eventually made it, only to discover that they were safe and only louvres in their home had broken.

“But all the houses around them were missing.”

About 15 family members and friends moved into the house – which still stands today and is the Gecko Lodge on Mitchell Street – and pooled food to “carry on”.

The shop, which in those days was on the corner of the Chin Arcade in Cavenagh Street, was undamaged.

“But as soon as we arrived the police took all of our guns, pistols and ammunition to store in the basement of the law courts and for their use.

“Looting had already started. We were advised to sleep at the shop armed in case looters tried to break in.

The police patrolled the city at the time and looters never came to our doors.” Both sets of parents were evacuated or drove out of Darwin. “We had no children and a business, so we knew we had to stay.

“As we did not know what was going to happen to Darwin, we opened our doors to people in need and gave away clothing, camping equipment, small gas stoves – some people had no clothes and no way of living except to camp in cars.

“We gave away thousands of dollars worth of stock but never regretted helping those people, many of whom, along with their families, are our customers today. People do not forget.

“In the days that followed in a city with no power or infrastructure, we remember showering at night under fire hydrants and carting buckets of water so that we could still use the toilets – not to mention free shopping with a garbage bag at Darwin High School, queueing for ice at the Carba Ice Factory and lining up at the old post office to use the free phone to call relatives down south.”

George and June were two of the 750 Territorians who stayed to help rebuild Darwin.

“Gradually friends and other residents came back. As soon as town power and water were on we were able to open for business of sorts and slowly normality returned.

“We are both very proud of the vibrant city that was rebuilt, but 50 years on there are still lessons to be learned for our government and councils.”