More than two years after a public vote to name the city’s new ferries, Transport NSW announced in November last year that Ferry McFerryface would, officially, hit the harbour. But according to The Sydney Morning Herald it was all a sham.
It has been reported that the NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance overruled the public vote and named the vessel Ferry McFerryface because he thought the name was funny and would appeal to children. According to documents obtained by Channel Nine Ferry McFerryface received only 182 of the 15,000 votes.
The ferry has been renamed after treasured children’s author and illustrator May Gibbs. She is best known for creating the gumnut babies, characters who appear in her classic books for children such as The Tales of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie.
May Gibbs will join the other sensibly named ferries in the harbour including Catherine Hamlin, Fred Hollows and Victor Chang.
Stephanie Vigilante 
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