Wujal Wujal is a beautiful aboriginal community based within a ring of mountains in Bloomfield. It is a peaceful community with a history of security and safety. It is a no alcohol zone and the people here live quietly and happily with their family and friends. It’s a close-knit carefree existence. Cooktown Council looks after the town, which is serviced by the Medical Centre, the Aged Care Centre, a kindergarten, a library, a community Hall, an Arts Centre and one shop and a petrol bowser. The next town, Ayton is 10 minutes away and has two shops, one in Ayton and the other up the road five minutes from Wujal. This shop also sells petrol.
I was working at Wujal first at the Aged Care as cook, and then at the Wujal Wujal Cafe, soon to open for the Community. First, I lived in my campervan and parked at the Caravan Park at the Sports ground, then I was given a house above the town between the town and the Arts Centre and cafe. Ahead of me was the Community Garden and the river. It was idyllic and beautiful.
Then we heard that there was a cyclone coming. Anxiously we watched the news and worried because Cyclone Jasper was heading in our direction. Sometimes it was below us towards Townsville and Innisfail, and sometimes it was further north towards Cooktown and Cape York. We watched and waited for the cyclone. Then on Tuesday the 12th December, I had cooked a Christmas lunch for Wujal Wujal Councilors after their final meeting for 2023, and delivered the lunch to be told, I had to close everything and go into my house at Midday. I cleaned up the café and went home about 2pm. I spoke to Bill next door, and he told me to secure my windows for big winds and to move everything that was outside inside.
I moved the outdoor furniture inside and Bill helped me move the tables and a huge piece of timber behind my car which I moved into the carport as far in as I could. He told me to put a rug in my toilet and if the noise was too bad to sleep in the toilet. I had trouble closing the windows securely and had to prop them with a piece of timber and cutlery hoping the winds would not blow in the windows. This is my first cyclone, and I am very scared and apprehensive. I was especially nervous about my bedroom window which I could not secure too well.
That night, 13 December, I read on Facebook that we were in the center of the cyclone. I was using my mobile phone for what was happening. It was raining heavily and stormy but no more than any other storm I had experienced, and there was wind but not strong. I sat at the window and watched the trees and the rain. It was quite still. It was still raining heavily and steadily, and when the rain stopped, I walked to the café over two trickles of water running down the hill, walking through the water. It was raining heavily all day. It would rain for 2 hours, then stop for about 30 minutes, and start raining again. It was when it stopped that I would walk to the café to charge up my mobile and power bank and eat something. Today, Wednesday 13th, I made a huge pot of vegetable and ham soup using the ham from the Christmas dinner, and called Kiley when it was ready to say a nourishing soup was here for everyone.
Kiley came and collected the soup. She told me a crocodile had been sighted and that I was to be careful walking near the water. I told her I would pack some soup for Bill and walk back. Micah came, and I gave him some soup too and they left me in the café and went away. I packed the soup for Bill, and it was still pouring with rain very heavily, and water was starting to ride up to the café. I took the umbrella and my laptop and started walking. The water was now too high over the first drain that I had to cross. I walked back and over to the grass thinking I could get over that way, but water was now coming quite fast from the river and as I walked back the water followed me at an alarming pace. I walked back quickly to the café and sent a message to Kiley saying I was stuck at the Café and couldn’t get over the water. That was about 4pm.
I waited inside… I kept looking outside but it was far too wet and now the water was almost in the parking area. I called my cousin in Cairns, and he said I should sleep on the counter, or a table and we joked like that. I was very scared…then I saw lights and knew a car was coming. Thinking it was Kiley coming for me, I quickly packed the computer, put it up high, took my phone, Bills dinner and umbrella and went outside to meet the car. It came down the road and I ran to it. There were two men inside who looked at me. I opened the door and started going inside. “Take me home”, I said, “the water is coming, and I cannot walk over.” They said they were going to the arts center, but I wanted to go home, so they closed the door and turned the car around. It was not easy going back as already the water was high. I saw the guys looking at each other as they went uphill and went over what was now a fast-flowing creek further up the hill. When we came to my street, they said will you be Ok. Yes, I answered and got out, and they drove off towards the town. This was Roland and I think the driver was Clyde or Claude. They would have been flooded in if they went to town. I walked up in heavy rain and gave Bill his dinner and went inside.
I checked the windows, had my medications…and waited for the storm . On Tuesday at around 3pm, Bethne from Cooktown, my landlady called. They were watching the news and knew there was going to be a cyclone coming directly at Wujal and they ordered me to get in my car and drive back to Cooktown. Had I left then, I would have been safe and got to Cooktown, but because I was cook, and in the café, I felt that if the cyclone hit and there were casualties. I would be able to feed them as the café had meat, bread, vegetables and butter. So, I stayed.
I stayed with the mobile until it ran out, and then I went to sleep with heavy rain outside. I must have fallen asleep for the next thing I think I hear banging on the door. Sleepily I got up and went to the front door. I saw a light going around the corner and I called out. Then a lady was there wet and muddy, and she was quite distraught. “Come Quick” She said, “we will drown”
I looked outside and saw the water almost at the verandah and it was moving quite fast and lapping. I had already experienced this fast-moving water at the cafe, so went back inside and put on shorts and a t-shirt, while the aborigines were all yelling at me to hurry or we would all drown. I grabbed the camera and my phone and as I was leaving the lady took my wet runners off the outside stand. I followed the others. There were two ladies, Bill and about 3 children waiting for me. All were wet through and muddy. Someone took my bag and I put the umbrella up and holding onto a lady I followed them in blackness along the side of the houses and then up a hillside to the safe house which was Kiley’s House. It was now exactly 2.27 am, and Bill and I were evacuated by these people in the pouring rain.
Inside the house the back verandah was all full of evacuated residents. Many elderly and many children all sitting along the edges. I said, “Am I losing everything?’ and the lady opposite said “We all have lost everything. Our houses are all under water”
I stood there and waited. The inside room was also full of people. Then Bill came in and said something about a credit card and I realized all my cards and ID were still in the house. I went up to Bill and told him this and asked if he would walk me back to the house. He said he would when the rain eased as it was still raining heavily. I must have been stressed as Bill then said, “Ok Let’s go” and taking a torch from a man there and my umbrella we started back down the hill in pouring rain for me to get my id and cards.
We finally got back to my house and Bill said he would check his and I went inside and found my handbag and cards and then went looking for Bill. He was standing outside his place looking at the water and he was excited. “The water is going down” he yelled and pointed “Look.” He was right, the water that had been on our verandah was now about a foot down, but it was down. It wasn’t lapping anymore it was just there and Bill said it was going down. We stood there watching the water go down. My camera and phone were back at the safe house, so I was unable to record this, but believe me, Bill and I were so excited to watch the water going down when we had been expecting to drown. I kept whining about my camera, but it was still pouring with rain and Bill said he would go back and get my camera when the rain ceased or stopped. It didn’t stop. And soon it was 5am and it was getting light…so Bill went back up in the rain with the torch and returned with my wet camera bag and phone which was no use as it had run out of power and Wi-Fi. I started taking the first photos, but it was still dark with little light. The water was now beyond the gate. I took photos of Bill at the waterline and at the water’s edge.
I went inside and had a sleep. Soon Bill was knocking at my door. “You have to come and see this” he said. I followed him outside and saw the water ahead and we walked to the side, and the house next to me was still under water so was the Mayor’s house opposite, and the cafe couldn’t be seen as it was under water too as was the Community Garden Shed.
I went back inside while Bill went walking. Later he was back. “You must come and see the cafe “, he said and made me follow him in the rain with my camera. We walked up high over the running water and went to the cafe. It was now out of the water, but it was totally destroyed.
The Arts Centre was a total wreck. The office was a scrunched-up pile of debris at the back, the power lines were full of debris like curtains and all the trees around were uprooted and down. A tree had fallen across the top of the Arts Centre. We looked at the generator and how all that was destroyed, then he smelt gas and said we had to go back and report the gas leaking. So I followed him out and back up the hill and back to my house taking photos all the time and hiding my camera under my shirt as it was still pouring with rain.
Next Day…. 15 December
My mobile is now flat and I cannot go to the Café to charge it anymore. I am using the power bank very carefully. I thought of trying the van to charge the phone, but it would not work. Then I raised the roof and broke open the opening to the gas cylinder, turned it on and we were able to have a hot coffee using the coffee sachets I had in the house. Bill started cleaning out his freezer as without power, it would not work. He gave the food he found inside to his family with kids and cleaned this out. Then I saw other people walking below and decided to follow them to see the bridge and community garden.
The road is heavy with mud. I am able to walk down to the main road and along the Community Garden as far as the bridge.. The community garden shed is now clear of water, and the road is edged with debris. The power lines above are a curtain of water debris. I cannot walk to the left as the road is all muddy. I walk right towards the bridge…
There are two girls walking to the bridge with a dog and I follow them for security. I take off my shoes as its very muddy underfoot and also unstable, and carefully I pick my way over to see the bridge and the road to the bridge and Cape Tribulation. It is not easy going as its very soft and slippery and water logged.
I walk past and up to the Arts Centre and the café. This is really a huge mess. The tree of Knowledge still stands on the corner, and the huge tree next to the Toilet block is still standing. The trees beside the river, and between the river and the Arts Centre are all gone, and the river is swollen and rushing along at a furious pace. The road next to the Arts Centre is totally damaged and it looks like we have a swimming pool there where the road used to be.
It is a scene of total devastation. Trees are down and there is a tree on the roof of the Arts Centre. All the paintings and Art have gone and there is nothing there but broken-down rubbish and storm debris. It is a scene of desolation and disaster. I walk on further down the road and look back at the Centre. There are landslides along the banks and hills on the right and suddenly I feel uncomfortable and want to walk back. My eyes still fill with tears as I look at the damage 
I walk back and See Bill still cleaning his freezer. Someone is helping him move it back under cover. Then I see Perry walking up the path and I walk to them to find out what is going on. I am told I have to take a bag and go to the evacuation center as Army helicopters are coming to evacuate us all. I ask how I get there and am told to walk like everybody else. I go into the house and collect the bag I have already packed and take a blue freezer bag and put my shoes and handbag into it and a few other things. I know we cannot take too much, and I would have to carry it myself too… And putting my camera bag on my shoulder I close the door and start walking down the road. It is heavy with mud and soon my boots have sunk into the mud to my ankles, and I am having to carry the bags as I cannot drag them along. I cross over to the green nature strip, but it’s waterlogged too, and I am sinking here as well. Then Lawrence is at the Police station, and he sees me, and Bless his soul…he walks over and takes my bags. We still have to walk across the road, and up alongside the Police station uphill to the Men’s Shed where everyone waits. I collapse onto the step and try to get comfortable on concrete.
Station Cook 
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