On the fateful morning of August 6, 1945, Tetsuko, a 16-year-old from Kure, Japan, planned to watch a movie with a friend. After missing a train, they faced a lengthy wait for the next one. While amusing themselves on the platform, they noticed a blinding ray of light, prompting Tetsuko to exclaim in confusion. Unbeknownst to them, Hiroshima, their intended destination, had been struck by an atomic bomb, leading to immense devastation.
As they observed a massive white cloud forming in the distance, they boarded the next train to Hiroshima. However, the journey was abruptly halted just three stops away, and the train was turned around—at that moment, the full scope of the tragedy had yet to unfold across Japan. It wasn’t until later that the world would learn of the catastrophic impact of the bombing, which claimed an estimated 140,000 lives and obliterated the city.
After realising they could not proceed to Hiroshima, Tetsuko and her companion began their walk back to Kure. They eventually managed to hitch a ride on a Navy vehicle. Reuniting with her family, Tetsuko discovered that her parents had feared she had perished in the bomb’s aftermath.
Post-war, Tetsuko found work as a maid for General Horace Robertson, head of the British Occupation Force in Japan, where she met her future husband, Australian corporal Ray McKenzie. The couple relocated to Australia in 1953, and due to the difficulty Australians had in pronouncing her name, she became affectionately known as Tess.
Now, at 96 years old, Tess resides in Melbourne, reflecting on the harrowing events of her youth and the journey that led her to a new life far from her homeland.