Polly Woodside

The Polly Woodside is a historic museum ship that is now part of the Melbourne Maritime Museum. The iron sailing ship was built in Belfast in 1885 and originally served as a cargo sailer in worldwide tramp shipping. After running aground in New Zealand in 1903, it was renamed and put to work in the timber trade. The ship was damaged in World War I, and after further hardships and another grounding in the 1920s, it was converted into a mastless hulk and used as a coal lighter in Melbourne. After World War II, the ship faced the threat of being scuttled, but a group of enthusiasts saved it from being broken up. Comprehensive restoration and re-rigging began in 1974, so that by 1977 the ship was once again serving as a museum exhibit, and in 1978 it regained its original name. In 1988 it became the first cargo ship to receive the World Ship Trust Medal. Today the Polly Woodside lies in Duke's Dry Dock, where, because of a later bridge built over the Yarra River, it can no longer leave its berth, but it can still be visited as an important historic monument to seafaring.