ST JOHN AND CYCLONE TRACY - 50 years of St John as the Ambulance provider in the Northern Territory

ST JOHN AND CYCLONE TRACY - 50 years of St John as the Ambulance provider in the Northern Territory

Rod Bramley
St John Volunteer ― Transport Officer

With the Superintendent away St John Volunteer Transport Officer Rod Bramley was the emergency contact, a role he took seriously. When a call came through from Emergency Services, he knocked off his day job as a mechanic at the Motor Vehicle Registry and headed to the ambulance centre to make preparations and enact the Emergency Disaster Plan. By 6pm, volunteer crews arrived, some with their families, including Rod’s wife Lorna and their five-year-old son Philip.

Photo: Rod Bramley (left), Alan Bromwich, Phil Langdon with the Bromwich

Rod Bramley, Alan Bromwich, Phil Langdon with the Bromwich Cup

I had received a call earlier that day that the cyclone could be a nasty one, so I arrived at the station at 10am to make preparations,” Rod recalled. “That was a Wednesday, and we didn’t arrive home until four days later.

With preparations made as best they could by midnight there was 7.5cm of water flowing through the ambulance bay on the ground and rain and wind was pelting the upper floor lourve windows.

Then the first call came through for help – someone nearby in Freer Street, Fannie Bay. Instructions were given over the phone as the crew waited for a lull in the intense conditions raging outside, then the power failed.

Pat who was on duty in communications came out to tell us about the call, and lucky she did because the desk she had been sitting at moments before was suddenly hit with an air conditioner blown clear out of the wall. Her coming to tell us about that call saved her life.”

We boarded the hole up with a St John blanket as best we could.

Unable to properly fix the wall, the decision was made to move from upstairs to the crew room on the ground floor before the winds picked up again. They gathered supplies including communications equipment, water, gas, stove and lights and lined up as a group ready to move down the stairs towards the crew room.

In their words
Other St John Volunteer hero stories
Pat King

Pat King, Radio Operator
In her story Pat describes horrific sounds, constant rain and wind, banding together with the crew on duty and their families and narrowly avoiding an air-conditioned as it blown across the watch room upstairs.

Grant Keetly, Core Staff Officer (Cadets)
Grant Keetley who had come on duty as Officer in Charge with his family at midnight led the way.

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