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

Help on the horizon – In the aftermath

Support from South Australia – The Dirty Dozen

As told by
Notes from Lee Francis, qualified Ambulance Officer and rescue operative - member of the Emergency Operations Group (EOG) with SA Police.

We had all received a phone call to see if we were available to go as soon as the next day. The selection criteria was based on the fact that very little was known about what we were going to and it was based therefore on selecting those who had experience in being able to completely look after themselves in an austere environment. Most of us were ex military service members, 5 were ex Australian Army, 2 were ex RAN, while the others brought other skills to the job.

We had all received a phone call to see if we were available to go as soon as the next day. The selection criteria was based on the fact that very little was known about what we were going to and it was based therefore on selecting those who had experience in being able to completely look after themselves in an austere environment. Most of us were ex military service members, 5 were ex Australian Army, 2 were ex RAN, while the others brought other skills to the job.

We were all Ambulance Officers - the concept of a paramedic did not emerge until about 1987-ish when medico-legal changes allowed a greater scope of clinical practice. Paramedics were, essentially, a TV version of military medics and as times and the law changed, the scope of practice extended to include civilians.

We called ourselves The Dirty Dozen from the 1967 movie which had 12 convicts trained as commandos for, essentially, a suicide mission. It’s a bit of ambulance dark humour which not everybody understands. The term Storm Trooper came from, I think, the local Darwin ambulance crews. I think this is because we moved in and they were moved out to be with their families after the cyclone – at that time all, and indeed as likely the last call for ‘women and children first’ they were, essentially forcibly evacuated out of Darwin – about 30,000 of them and mainly to the southern capital cities. You needed to hold a permit to remain in the area (I’ve got mine somewhere) or you were moved by NTPOL to the airport and on to the next plane out. There were no services of any description – no fresh water, no food, no sewers, no electricity, no phones, nothing.
So, at that time, we were selected based on our ability to survive under austere conditions as almost nothing was known about the event as communication in all forms had been lost. To that end, St John (ADL) selected a small group who mostly had military service of some sort (and therefore presumably) were able to respond appropriately with little or no support. I clearly recall my fiancée (now wife) asking as we assembled at the ADL airport, how long we might be away. She was advised “for the duration” as nothing was really known; we were to be married (and did) on 08 March 1974.

The formation

  • Officer in Charge was Peter GEBERT (Andrew Thomas’ equivalent) but now deceased
  • 2IC Don DeGIGLIO a qualified ambulance officer and communications specialist
  • Mechanic was John POHL – also a qualified volunteer ambulance officer but a highly skilled mechanic (John later became a paramedic with SAAS until his retirement.
  • Ray BENZIE – qualified ambulance officer and ex Navy mediceter SIMMS – qualified ambulance officer and rescue operative – member of the Emergency Operations Group (EOG) with SA Police.
  • Lee FRANCIS – qualified ambulance officer and rescue operative – member of the Emergency Operations Group (EOG) with SA Police
  • Mike HORSMAN – qualified ambulance officer an ex Army medic
    Malcolm PASCOE – qualified ambulance officer and ex Navy medicTeerse (Charlie) STAL – qualified ambulance officer and ex Army medic
  • Peter SIMMS – qualified ambulance officer and rescue operative – member of the Emergency Operations Group (EOG) with SA Police
  • Teerse (Charlie) STAL – qualified ambulance officer and an ex Army medic
  • Graham STEWART – qualified ambulance officer and ex Navy medic
  • John BURTON – qualified ambulance officer and ex Queensland Ambulance Service [sic] but now deceased
  • Bob CAMPBELL – qualified ambulance officer and ex Army medic but now deceased

So what did we do?

In the beginning we were met at the Darwin Airport by armed NT Police wanting to know who we were, and what we were doing.  We had arrived on an empty aircraft being used for evacuation only and so we were something of a surprise to them.

  • We moved by bus to the station on Ross Smith Avenue, Parap and made it our home.  This meant removing broken glass and other rubbish, repairing windows, sweeping out water and other general repairs to make it habitable.
  • we established a 2 crew capability at all hours to cover all jobs which arose
  • we established a communications network with NSW Police who were stationed at Casuarina (we were “Golf Oscar” and they were “Casuarina”)
  • we started work at the adjacent pharmacy (which had been flattened by Cyclone Tracy) and secured any and all goods which might be of use in the future – dental, sanitary and all other medical and baby products and moved them to a secure place under a high school which was guarded by the police.  We continued with this task at every medical/ nursing/ pharmaceutical facility to prevent loss of goods due to continuing rain.
  • we joined police with building search & rescue/ clearance tasks
  • we rebuilt the St John radio tower (in the backyard of Ross Smith Avenue property) – we believe this was later pulled down
  • we continued with all normal and routine ambulance tasks
  • Peter GEBERT and Don DeGIGLIO met with Major General Stretton working through the bigger picture stuff while we continued with daily (and nightly) tasks

We (the Dirty Dozen) returned home gradually over a period of about three months as locals returned and St John ADL sent up a series of about 15-ish members in dribs and drabs to fill the shortfall.  A number stayed on and made that move in their careers as St John ADL assisted St John NT take over the service on a 24 hour basis on the same model as ADL.

And now?

I previously mentioned that Peter GEBERT, Bob CAMPBELL and John BURTON died – now well more than 10 years ago.

  • John POHL studied and became a paramedic but has now retired
  • Ray BENZIE was the Centre Officer in Charge at Elizabeth Station in the ADL metropolitan area but is now well retired
  • Don DeGIGLIO went on to become OC SAAS State Communications and then a series of specialist projects until he retired
  • Mike HORSMAN went on the become a Training Officer and then Centre Officer in Charge at Barmera in the SA Riverland but now retired
  • Malcolm PASCOE went on to become an EOG operative and then worked in SAAS State Communications as a supervisor until he retired
  • Peter SIMMS transferred to the NT Ambulance Service but left after a few years to work with Correctional Services.  Peter Simm still works with Corrections in SA
  • Graham STEWART went on to become a supervisor in SAAS State Communications until he retired
  • Teerse STAL stayed on in the NT for many years and then became the Secretary for St John Ambulance in Victoria.  Teerse (Charlie) retired and now lives in country Victoria.
  • Lee FRANCIS went on to become OC SAAS Special Operations retiring 2014 after 42 years in the job but now running an Emergency Management consultancy. 

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