Another natural disaster has impacted on editor/publisher/journalist/political activist, Pete Steedman, his colourful, action-packed life subject of an ongoing series in Little Darwin . Cyclone Tracy brought Steedman to Darwin from Melbourne when he and John Ball ran the Darwin Newsletter , a newspaper for residents scattered throughout the nation after the disaster.
Wild Melbourne weather this Christmas day damaged Steedman’s house in leafy Hurstbridge. It was bombarded by hailstones as big as cricket balls which smashed the solar panels, water came through the roof and down the chimney. Floodwaters swept down the hills sending mud coursing through his property , some of which cascaded into the garage and underground archives room with its invaluable files . His son, Sam, drilled a hole through the studio floor to let the water out . Thousands of dollars of new landscaping and gravel for the driveway has ended up in lower paddocks, blocking the natural drainage . Hurstbridge was cut off from the outside world when the train line washed away at Eltham , the entire line declared unstable . Pete bought the house from renowned playwright , David Williamson, who wrote the classic Don’s Party.
