The May Gibbs.

One of the great things about human beings is that each individual can act completely radiationally and yet the sum of those individual rational decisions can be ridiculous.

Which brings us to the tale of the May Gibbs.  Your correspondent wrote about this saga quite a few years ago.  While in Sydney recently I happened to take a ride on the famous boat and this has prompted me to bring you an update.

Quite a few years ago, the Sydney Transit Authority was purchasing some new ferries for Sydney harbour.  The relevant minister decided to hold an online public poll to choose the name of one of the new ferries.  Members of the public could suggest names and then vote for their favourite suggestion.

At the conclusion of the public poll, the minister announced that ‘Ferry McFerryface’ had won and the name was duly painted on the boat.  The maritime workers union claimed it insulted their professionalism and they refused to crew the vessel for quite some time before eventually relenting. 

You might have thought that that would be the end of the saga.  However, a minor political scandal subsequently erupted when it came to light that ‘Ferry McFerryface’ had not actually won the public poll.  The public had in fact voted overwhelmingly for ‘Boaty McBoatface’  The minister had decided that, because Boaty McBoatface was already the name of a British ship named after a similar public pole in the UK a few years previously, he would select another popular choice; namely Ferry McFerryface.  The minister had not explained this publicly.  There were accusations that he had not only deceived the people of NSW but also mislead the NSW parliament.  Tough questions were asked in the parliament about why the vessel had not been named Boaty McBoatface.

Clearly regretting his decision to ask the public for their opinion in the first place, the minister made an executive decision to rename ‘Ferry McFerryface’ the ‘May Gibbs’.  This is the name that the boat retains today.