A ship is born

The Mungarr Mungarr ladies were guests
at the recent launching of the new ship
Warramungu at Williamstown docks.
Becky McAuliffe was there ...

Seventeen of us women made the trip to Melbourne for the launch of the new Warramunga. We stayed with James and his wife Rose at Kangaroo Grounds and on Saturday morning we were up at 6 am because the bus was coming to pick us up at seven.
After a tour through Melbourne we headed for Williamstown docks via the Westgate bridge. Of course they didn't tell us until we were half way across how the bridge had once fallen down! On arrival we had a quick tour of the place with the help of a Lieutenant Goddard who then escorted us to morning tea and then off we went down to the slipway where the ship was waiting to be launched.
After half an hour or so of speeches, the women got to dance. It was a bit squashy when we danced because we were put on a small stage sort of thing and so the routine had to be shortened a bit. Apart from that, everything went really well. The dignitaries and guests all applauded and lots of people came up to us to talk and take photos. The crew of the ship then let out one big loud "Thankyou" to the women for coming all the way from Tennant Creek to be at the launch.
Mrs Joy Willis then cut the ribbon and the customary bottle of champagne hit the ship and it went down into the water. Everyone was cheering and clapping and we all gave three cheers for the 'Warramunga' and headed off to the reception. There was lots of food to eat there, from snacks to the real flashy food.
At the reception Dianne Stokes presented the Navy with her painting depicting the ship and the Mungarr Mungarr women, showing the trip from Tennant to Melbourne and home again. She gave a fabulous speech, a very good one. We heard "Oohs" and "Ahs" from the people when she opened up the painting and then they all clapped.
After that we just relaxed - they had models there of the 'Arunta', the old 'HMAS Warramungu' and other ships on the table. We just sat around and chatted to all the people. We had one lady come up to us and someone put on the music of the old ladies singing - Gina was teaching her how to dance, it was good. I think we all got tipsy on 'Warramunga' champagne, that was its name. I think they're going to send up a crate for all the people who missed out on the day.
We left at around 2 pm as we had another very early start the next day for the trip home.
Thanks very much to James and Rose, where we stayed, who provided us with blankets and food - it was very kind of them to let us stay.