ACE PHOTOGRAPHERS CAPTURED NORTHERN TERRITORY CYCLONE DEVASTATION AND LIFESTYLE

Top  End photographers, Beat   Erismann , left, and  Barry Ledwidge , were present when  the massive  Cyclone Tracy smashed  Darwin on  Christmas  Eve 1974 and their record of the event is captured in the booklet below .

In the case of  Ledwidge ,68, he has  had many rare adventures  , some  hair raising  and  shaving experiences,  in  his career . One such memorable occasion was  the time as a 17 -year- old photographic cadet at the Wagga Wagga Daily Advertiser,  he sat in a  darkened room  in a motel and watched in wonderment the Moon walk  with the editor , Geoff Dixon,  the man destined to become the Qantas chief.   Dixon   later  sent  Barry  to Darwin  with  the Australian News  and  Information Bureau  where  Bazza   became a  famous newspaper  reporter, celebrity , rock sitter ,  official photographer at Charles Darwin University  for 22 years .

Beat, 62, worked at  the Northern Territory News at the time of Cyclone Tracy and became a TV cameraman  freelancing  for Swiss television  for  25 years . He and Bazza have had a long and colourful  relationship.

One of the many unusual shots in the brochure shows Ledwidge sitting on a toilet seat in a ruined building photographing Prime Minister Gough Whitlam holding an open air  press conference .The two photographers are shown celebrating New Year's Eve in the wrecked city  after the  cyclone . The  dramatic  photographs present  a unique view  of  the  natural  disaster .  

 More of Barry's camera  magic is displayed in this booklet produced in connection with an exhibition at the Northern Centre  for Contemporary Art, Darwin .The cover photo is  of Vivienne Paspaley, matriarch of  Paspaley Pearls.