Polly Woodside

[john sefton]

The Polly Woodside was launched in 1885 in Belfast, Ireland by Workman Clark & Co Ltd - one of the largest of the British shipbuilders. The owner was William Woodside, a Belfast ship owner, and the ship was given his wife Marian’s nickname, Polly.

Between 1885 and 1904 the ship made 17 trips to all parts of the world, including South and North America, Africa and Australia, and rounded the infamous Cape Horn 16 times.

In 1904 she was sold to a New Zealand firm and renamed ‘Rona’ and operated mainly between Australia and New Zealand.Eventually the increased competition provided by steamships meant that the ship had the mast and yards removed and was towed to Melbourne to be used as a coal lighter.

In 1943 the Rona was temporarily requisitioned by the Royal Australian Navy and towed to New Guinea waters for use as a refueling barge for naval ships.

After the Second World War, the ship was towed back to Melbourne, and for the next 20 years was again used for supplying coal to other ships.
Her restoration

The survival of the Polly Woodside is in part due to her having been noticed by the US sailing ship enthusiast, Kark Kortum, during a visit to Melbourne in 1946. In 1961 he aroused the interest of E Graeme Robertson, a Councillor of the National Trust with a particular interest in and great knowledge of wrought and cast iron, who was mainly responsible for saving the ship.

By 1968, Rona was the last square-rigged, deep water, commercial sailing ship still afloat in Australasia. In that year the then owner, Howard Smith Industries, sold it to the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) for one cent, for restoration under her original name.

Extensive and meticulous research was undertaken and from 1972-78 the Polly Woodside was restored: not to sail again, but to be a museum ship where visitors could discover and understand both the technical aspects of a nineteenth century sailing ship and the experience of life aboard for the crew.Much of the work of restoring the ship was done by a dedicated band of volunteers, many of whom are still involved with the continued hard work of keeping Polly ‘ship shape’.
For more that forty years Polly has been a much loved source of joy to the hundreds of thousands of visitors who have climbed aboard to experience life about a true ‘Cape Horner’.

In 2007, the ship was added to the Victorian Heritage Register and now enjoys the highest level of State heritage protection.
http://www.pollywoodside.com.au/about_polly_woodside

Ausrtalia SG1846 Ireland SG1219

[D. v. Nieuwenhuijzen]

Iron Barque, Gt:678, Nt:674 L.hull:58.58m. Lbpp:56.85m. B:9.19m. Draft:4.27m.