Sarah Witty (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ahoy, Deputy Speaker! At North Wharf in Docklands, I saw volunteers bring a 122-year-old ship back to life: the Alma Doepel, a three-mast tall ship built in 1903. This ship has served our nation. She carried goods on our coast and worked as an army supply ship to Papua New Guinea.

Today, a skilled team and many local volunteers are bringing her back to life. More than 100,000 volunteer hours have gone into this work so far. This is a huge gift of time and craft. When Alma sails again, she will become a youth training ship. It's a program which will build grit, teamwork and confidence.

Also in Docklands is the topsail schooner Enterprize, a 27-metre all-timber working replica of the 1830 ship that carried the first European settlers to Melbourne. Enterprize is sailed by volunteers and runs sail training and public sails across the bay. I thank her crew and supporters for keeping these skills alive.

I thank Bill Reid for the kind invite and for his work, and I thank every volunteer—older hands passing on skills and new faces learning them. This is Melbourne at its best—community, history and hope in one project. I encourage people to check them out online and support their inspiring work. Alma Doepel shows what we can do when we back our volunteers—

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Longman has the call.