I Was Actually There

Black Saturday Bushfires. Sunday 7 February 2009. I Was Actually There collects personal stories from survivors, first responders and community members who faced the catastrophe.

How did it feel to watch from the 92nd floor of the World Trade Center, as the first 9/11 plane hit the building opposite?

It was a move that shocked the nation. Fifty years ago, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was dismissed by the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr. The government was dissolved and an election called.

On a hot December Sunday, racial tensions boiled over at Sydney's Cronulla beach. The fuse had been lit a week earlier by an altercation between off-duty lifesavers and men described by police as "of middle eastern appearance".

When nightclub singer Fairlie Arrow disappeared from her Gold Coast home in 1991, the tabloid media went to town. Arrow was reported as abducted by "an obsessed fan". Spoiler alert. It was all a hoax.

The 1998 Sydney to Hobart race was a moment when nature asserted its dominance with terrifying force. Six lives were lost, five yachts sank and hundreds of sailors were pulled into a brutal fight for survival.