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Deborah Knight - 25th Anniversary of the 911 Attacks · Lisa & Russell

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: When the third plane struck the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: on the morning of September 11, 2001, Aussie journalist Deborah
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Knight was travelling with then Prime Minister John Howard as
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: part of the Australian press pack. They were in Washington.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: They were literally a couple of kilometres away, I believe.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: And Deb's with us now. Deb, good morning.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: It's hard. Good morning.
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  Speaker 1: Hard to believe.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: I was about to say, it is hard to believe
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: that it feels like yesterday in many ways.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: For those of our vintage, it feels like yesterday.
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  Speaker 2: It really does. It was a moment that changed the
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: world and it is one of those moments that I
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  Speaker 2: think all of us remember where we were when we
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: first not only learnt the news but for Australians late
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  Speaker 2: at night watching the news as it was happening, seeing
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: the unthinkable unfolding.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, it was hard to believe because at first you
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: thought this is a terrible accident, a plane has hit,
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  Speaker 1: you know, one of the towers and then we watched
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: the second plane and just the dawning of you realising
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  Speaker 1: that America's under attack.
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  Speaker 2: It was hard to comprehend. And that was the thinking
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  Speaker 2: initially from those of us who were on the ground
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  Speaker 2: in the US when the first plane went into the
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  Speaker 2: Twin Towers in New York, which, you know, we were
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  Speaker 2: seeing that news come through. And initially, I just thought
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  Speaker 2: it was and that that was one of the tourist planes,
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  Speaker 2: just a terrible accident that had happened, which do frequent
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  Speaker 2: and did frequent the area. Then when the news continued
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  Speaker 2: to escalate and we saw that second plane go in,
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  Speaker 2: it was just unbelievable. And, yes, I was travelling with
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  Speaker 2: Prime Minister John Howard. I was a very young journalist.
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  Speaker 2: It was my first overseas trip as a journalist and
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: we were in Australia a hotel in Washington and John
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Howard was at the podium delivering a press conference and
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: behind him was a window with the curtains drawn behind him.
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  Speaker 2: It was quite a small window to ensure that no
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  Speaker 2: light was coming in for the cameras. But if the
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: curtains had have been open, we would have seen the
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  Speaker 2: Pentagon behind him when the plane came into the Pentagon.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: I remember that.
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  Speaker 2: So we were close. But then Washington went into lockdown
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  Speaker 2: and we were evacuated with the prime minister. And it
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  Speaker 2: was that sense of what is going to happen next.
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  Speaker 3: I was working back at the radio station that night.
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  Speaker 3: And I remember that I know obviously it happened at
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  Speaker 3: a quarter to nine hour time. The first I heard
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  Speaker 3: about it was in the nine o'clock news. There was
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  Speaker 3: a lot of confusion. There was a lot of contradiction.
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  Speaker 3: There was lots of different angles. Was the initial impact
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  Speaker 3: there just one of confusion for everybody?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was absolute confusion. It was just this can't
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  Speaker 2: be real. This can't be happening. The press conference ended
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: and then we were sort of waiting for instruction on
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: what to occur next for us as the press pack
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: in Washington, D.C. And I was sort of watching the
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: TV screens alongside Americans who lived there and they were
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  Speaker 2: in tears because... They knew the sense of what had
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: occurred in New York and then Pennsylvania, the plane going down,
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: and then in Washington. It was absolute confusion, chaos, uncertainty,
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  Speaker 2: and fear.
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  Speaker 3: That's the thing I remember from that day, too, was
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  Speaker 3: it was just one story after another was coming through
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  Speaker 3: because there were four separate events. And everybody was just,
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  Speaker 3: when's the fifth coming? When's the sixth?
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  Speaker 1: Yes, I remember them thinking Chicago, Sears Tower, all that,
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  Speaker 1: you know, what else is a target?
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  Speaker 2: It's terrifying. We were hearing reports of bombs on subways.
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  Speaker 2: There were a lot of, as you say, because of
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: that confusion, there were a lot of differing reports coming
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  Speaker 2: through of what could happen next. And in reality, no
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: one knew what was going to happen next. And so
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  Speaker 2: it was... And I was trying to call back to
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: the newsroom in Australia, in Sydney, because the late news
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  Speaker 2: was on. At the time I was working for Channel
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  Speaker 2: 10 and it was Sandra Sully with the late news,
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  Speaker 2: which I think is the way a lot of people
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  Speaker 2: actually heard the news in Australia. So I called through
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  Speaker 2: with a phone report, but we couldn't get through on
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  Speaker 2: the phone lines originally because the phone lines went down.
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  Speaker 2: I look back and I sort of get confused. I
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: get kind of goose bumpy thinking about that too, about
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  Speaker 2: my headspace. And it was strange. I went into this
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  Speaker 2: as we were being evacuated to Australia House from the
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  Speaker 2: hotel and we had to walk and it was just
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  Speaker 2: there were people on the streets all trying to kind of,
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  Speaker 2: I don't know, leaving work, leaving, going home, trying to
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  Speaker 2: get to safety. Terrifying. Because of that uncertainty. And I
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  Speaker 2: sort of went into this mother hen mode. It was
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  Speaker 2: bizarre because you never know how you're going to respond
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  Speaker 2: in sort of crisis situations. And I'm just sort of
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  Speaker 2: saying to my cameraman, are you okay? Have you spoken
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: to your family? It was really, yeah, you don't know
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  Speaker 2: how you, I just went into this, is everyone okay?
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  Speaker 2: What are we sort of trying to kind of think,
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  Speaker 2: you know, one foot in front of the other. What
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  Speaker 2: are the next steps we need to take? It's a
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  Speaker 2: survival mode, I think.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Deb, were you all taken to the same place or
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  Speaker 1: was John Howard Wistoff somewhere separate to you?
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  Speaker 2: No, we were all evacuated to the same place. We
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: were all taken to Australia House in Washington and we
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: were sort of in lockdown there. And we were wanting
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  Speaker 2: to file our reports, but we were in lockdown as well.
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  Speaker 2: And then John Howard delivered a press conference. I can't
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  Speaker 2: even remember the course of events. It was sort of
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  Speaker 2: such a blur, but we had another briefing from him.
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  Speaker 2: And I remember at one point going to the bathroom,
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  Speaker 2: And Jeanette Howard was in the bathroom as well and
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  Speaker 2: I just sort of said, again, mother hen mode, I
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  Speaker 2: was like, are you okay? You know, and it was just... Yeah,
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: we were all in the one place.
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  Speaker 1: It's the great equaliser, isn't it? Something like that.
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  Speaker 2: It was. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely.
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  Speaker 3: There's a whole generation of people out there who hadn't
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  Speaker 3: been born or who are too young to remember who
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: are well into their adult life now. I mean, how
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  Speaker 3: would you explain to them the absolute magnitude of what
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: happened that day? We all remember it, but I guess
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: as time goes by, some people... either forget or they
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  Speaker 3: just can't grasp the gravitas of that day.
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  Speaker 2: Well, because it was happening live and we were watching
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  Speaker 2: it all unfold in real time, I think that's what
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  Speaker 2: amplified the impact for me at least. And it was
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  Speaker 2: a declaration of instant war and it was a moment that,
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  Speaker 2: you know, in hindsight the world shifted.
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  Speaker 1: Everything changed.
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  Speaker 2: It really did. Everything changed. But it was just because
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  Speaker 2: it was happening, you know, in New York City of
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  Speaker 2: all places, the Twin Towers, which so many people have
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: visited or had visited, and it was just what? Like
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: this is terrorism and, you know, terror attacks had occurred.
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: You know, of course they had occurred in major cities
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: all around the world, but to be targeting the Big
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: Apple in such a horrifying way and Yeah, and the
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  Speaker 2: fact that we did see it all happening in real time,
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  Speaker 2: I think, was sort of just gobsmacking. Unlike anything before.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. The world changed that day. And 25 years
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: down the track, we most certainly will never forget. It's
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  Speaker 1: been fascinating to talk to you, Deb. You were right there.
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  Speaker 1: Probably a bit of history you would have been happy
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  Speaker 1: to not be a part of, but, you know. Incredible.
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  Speaker 2: And to be honest, it changed the course of my
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  Speaker 2: life in many ways, too, because I was a young
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  Speaker 2: reporter and I then ended up being posted to the
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  Speaker 2: US subsequent to the September 11 attacks. And I was
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  Speaker 2: based in the US for three years reporting as the
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: US correspondent.
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  Speaker 3: You were thrust into history.
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  Speaker 2: And so it was fascinating. Yeah. To see the world
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  Speaker 2: change and to watch America change in that way too.
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  Speaker 1: I certainly would have forged a bond that day, so
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  Speaker 1: probably an appropriate posting. Deb, thanks so much for joining us.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you for having me. And, yeah, as you say,
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  Speaker 2: I cannot believe it was 25 years ago.
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  Speaker 3: None of us can.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: No, no. Thanks, Deb.