What a weekend at the Road Transport Hall of Fame (RTHF) Festival of Transport with many well-deserved inductees onto the Wall of Fame, as there are every year.
The weekend started off on Thursday night with welcome drinks for those who wanted to start the weekend early, followed by the annual Transport Women Australia Limited (TWAL) breakfast on Friday morning.
What a glorious morning it was with fabulous food, cooked by the amazing volunteers, great company, catching up with old mates and making new ones; and as always, the veteran musician providing music and song.
Then off to the Cummins Cup Truckies’ Race Day, not that the truckies are racing but it’s a great afternoon for everyone with the gorgeous weather and the horse racing.
It’s a wonderful relaxing atmosphere and then on Friday night, a huge BBQ is held in Stuart’s Kitchen just to round off a truly great day.
Saturday has a late start to allow all the visitors to have a good look throughout the museum, to visit the Alice Springs attractions or to recover from Friday night.
The first event of the day is the induction ceremony, although this year was a little different with the Razorback Reunion breakfast hosted by the Hall on Saturday morning.
Unfortunately, only two of the original Razorback alumni were able to be there but it was a great way to honour them both at the breakfast and then at special presentation after the inductee ceremony.
The preparation for the Transport Women Unite Red Ball was going ahead full throttle while all this was in progress and by 6.30pm the Kenworth pavilion was awash with a sea of red, with many of the attendees dressing to the theme and wearing stunning red outfits or red ties, braces, or jewellery.
The night kicked off with a couple of songs and then the presentation to 25 women with the inaugural Dream Maker Awards, these awards are a joint venture by TWAL and the RTHF and are for women working diligently and mostly unrecognised in the background to help others achieve their dreams.
They were nominated by husbands, sons, companies, their employers, and sometimes their own office staff, in recognition of their commitment to the family company, large companies or owner drivers for all they do behind the scenes; most were unaware of their nomination and were humbled and slightly overwhelmed to be recognised for something they say it’s just doing their job or supporting their families.
These women have mostly gone unrecognised in the public arena for all years that I have been working and this award was established to show our appreciation to all our unsung workers.
A full list of winners will be found on the TWAL website transportwomen.com.au/projects and on the RTHF website roadtransporthall.com.
We also chose the Best Dressed Male and Female on the night, these were judged by the Hon Eva Lawler MLA, NT Treasurer; Minister for Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics; Minister for Education; Minister for Territory Development, and the wonderful winners were Miriam Sheppard of IOR and Glen Walker, presented by Eva Lawler and Jacquelene Brotherton, the gift cards for the winners were donated by the RTHF and TWAL.
As with all new events there are ways to make the next years’ event better, but we are already looking forward to planning the Transport Women Unite Red Ball and Dream Maker Awards 2024. We hope to see you all there.
In the meantime, we have plenty of events for TWAL, please check out the TWAL website and our social media and get your applications in for the Driving the Difference Scholarships.
The website is transportwomen.com.au, email chair@transportwomen.com.au, or phone 0417422319.