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50 years on: Santa never made it into Darwin, but Christian journo Ramon Williams did

Ramon Williams Darwin 1974

Jon Guyer, Senior Minister at Panania Anglican Church, interviewed Ramon Williams, the grandmaster of Christian journalism, on his lightning trip to Darwin, a city ravaged by Cyclone Tracy.

“On 1974 Christmas Day, we had a young lady [visitor] from Darwin. [Ramon’s wife] Dorothy’s brother had a children’s home in Darwin, and this was one of his daughters. And she was with us for Christmas Day, and she said, ‘Uncle Ramon, dad’s not answering the phone.” Then news started coming through – a cyclone has hit Darwin, Cyclone Tracy, and it’s headed on Christmas Day.
“So, I phoned the RAF Air Force out at Richmond Air Base. I said, ‘Is there any way of getting into Darwin?’ They said, ‘Yes, we’ve got a Hercules going tomorrow morning, six o’clock from Richmond. Be out there with your own food, water, clothing, and your camera. We don’t have room for anything.’ So, I picked the biggest camera case I could find. I put the four cameras around the neck and filled the camera case with food and stuff for the children’s home.
“Six o’clock in the morning off to Darwin. The Salvation Army had already started work at the airport. They loaned me a car. I went around to every church in Darwin, photographed them, and took notes.

I’d been in Darwin six months before. 

“I’d seen the houses up on stilts, and Nungalinya college, the Baptist church, the Anglican Cathedral. [At a catherdral,] the only thing left was the front door, and everything else was evaporated. As I saw around the church, I found leaves from trees embedded into window glass. I dunno how: – I’ve never seen it since. But there it was.

“One of the Bush Church Aid, BCA pastors I knew personally, and I tracked him down. What had happened to the BCA church? It had been wiped off the face of the earth. 

I said, ‘Well, what about you and the manse?’ He said he had cowered in the centre of his home, which is on stilts. The whole house was blown away around him. He was sand-blasted with the force of the wind in the cyclone. He was red from head to toe, but he had his little cross on his shorts, and that’s all he had left. He had no other clothing.
“I’ll never forget one family. It might’ve been a Solomon Islands American family. There was a piece of four by two that came through their front door and the photograph shows this timber speared through it. And I pointed to it and said, ‘Well, how do you feel about that? That’s going to wreck everything.’ And the husband, a missionary, said, ‘Look, although we’ve got nothing, we know my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory. It’s found in Philippians 4:19.’

“I shared some of these stories at a conference once, and there was a young man who heard of my life of faith, trusting the Lord for everything. It sounds ridiculous, but it works. And he was so challenged. He surrendered his life simply by saying, ‘Lord, forgive me for what I’ve done. Forgive me for not loving you. Please take over my life. Guide me, become my Lord and Saviour.'”

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