When Links Seaside resident Marion Millar traveled to Ireland on a cruise she was so blown away by the welcome she and fellow passengers received when they arrived in Cobh.
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Noting the positive impact the greeting had on all the on board the cruise ship she has been looking for an opportunity to do something similar in Wollongong.
When she learned a volunteer program was being organised by IRT and Destination Wollongong for Royal Caribbean’s maiden voyage to Port Kembla on October 30 she was the first to put up her hand.
Mrs Millar arrives back from the USA the same day as Radiance of the Seas sails in but still plans to spend the afternoon showing visitors the city she loves and is so proud of.
Just like the Cobh residents did when she arrived in their port. And she is encouraging others her age to do the same.
“As we docked in Cobh on Australia Day they had a band there that was playing the Australian national anthem and Waltzing Matilda. And all the towns people came out to welcome us with flags everywhere,” she said.
“They had activities on all day and as we were sailing out they were playing Australian songs again and the captain was sounding the horn to all the towns people who gathered all the way out to the point saying goodbye to us. They opened their arms to us. It was just absolutely wonderful.”
But it didn’t stop there. The cruise ship then went to Greenock near Glasgow where they received a similar welcome.
“They piped us in,” Mrs Millar said.
“They also had a big shed there all full of stalls. And they had a free bus that took us on a tour of Greenock. Things like that make you feel really welcome.”
It won’t be the first time Mrs Millar has made visitors to Wollongong feel welcome. In the 1980s when she ran Figtree Motel she would often show visiting guests around her home town.
“We used to put them in our car and do things like take them up to Mount Keira and show them,” she said.
“I think it would be good to put a few buses on just to show people some of our beaches and take them up to Mount Keira lookout and down again for people who don’t want to go on the longer tours.”
Hospitality runs in her family’s blood. She was born at Coledale and her great great grandmother Sarah Broadhead, who died in 1914 at the age of 96, was known as the grand old lady of Illawarra pubs.
The pioneering hotel landlady was the publican at a number of Wollongong establishments such as the Scarborough Hotel, Clifton Inn, Port Kembla Hotel and a little timber inn at Kembla Grange.
“I am proud of Wollongong,” Mrs Millar said.
“I think it is wonderful Wollongong. And I am so happy to know cruise ships are coming. There is so much to see here. I think they should move the cruise ship passenger terminal down here. And I think we should put on a welcome for the passengers on every ships that comes in.“
