A fully female crew sailed down River Derwent in ‘Lady Nelson’ in celebration of International Women’s Day

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A crew of 10 women and 30 female passengers have sailed down Hobart’s River Derwent on the tall-ship ‘Lady Nelson’ in a very Tasmanian celebration of international women’s day. The ship is a replica of the original brig, which transported the first European settlers to Van Dieman’s land.

Transcript

00:00Sent off with style. These women are making their own history. Setting sail on Tasmania's

00:07replica tall ship, the Lady Nelson, with an all-female crew for the first time.

00:12It's been a long time coming, so it really feels like there's been some tears already,

00:16there might be more.

00:17I've been dreaming of this since I was a teenager and I even had the concept of, oh,

00:21I could be captain one day.

00:23The crew of 10 women are all volunteers, aged between 16 and 70.

00:28We all see pirate ships and everything and think that it's so far-fetched, but it's

00:33like right here in Tasmania, like in my hometown, and just being able to learn everything is

00:38just truly amazing.

00:41After joining the crew four years ago, 70-year-old Claire was inspired to retrain as an engineer.

00:48I wanted to know that I could get myself home if I needed to, and because I showed

00:52an interest, then they went, oh, well you could become an engineer on the boat, so that's

00:58what happened.

00:59The ship is a replica of the original Lady Nelson brig, which brought the first European

01:04settlers to Tasmania.

01:06The Lady Nelson has a rich female history. The boat's historian estimates between 15

01:13to 20 per cent of modern Tasmanian women may have had an ancestor who travelled on the

01:17original vessel.

01:19Today's passengers and crew look a little different.

01:22It's a very different role these days because we are actually in charge and we're part of

01:27the committees, we're part of the organisation, we're equal as opposed to back then.

01:32They never thought that this would have been an opportunity.

01:35The sail on International Women's Day is a tribute to the women of Tasmania.

01:40International Women's Day is a tribute to women's contribution to maritime history,

01:45and aims to inspire future female sailors.

01:48A lot of people see boats as men's business. It's not men's business.

01:54I mean, way back, way back there were female pirates, so why not have all women crew?

02:01A celebration of women who are steering the ship of the maritime world.

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