A comparison of the Qantas 747-438 'City of Adelaide' (call sign VH-OJE) with Devitt and Moore’s 'City of Adelaide'. Clipper ships were the 747s of the 1860s. Devitt and Moore’s best time to Adelaide was 77 days but the trip once took 105 days. Qantas can carry passengers…

Clipper ships in the Port River in 1884 as seen looking south from Cruickshanks Corner near the present location of the Birkenhead Bridge.

Matilda Methuen arrived at Port Adelaide in 1864 on the maiden voyage of the 'City of Adelaide'. She had travelled to South Australia expressly to marry her cousin Peter Waite. Exactly two weeks later, on the 21st November, the couple were married at the Woodville home of Robert…

As the working proprietor, Henry Martin was the driving force in establishing the Blinman mine. Henry Martin took a quarter share in the City of Adelaide seeing an excellent chance to exercise a level of control over the use of a ship and its freight charges.

The Honourable Sir John Cox Bray, KCMG, JP - the first native-born Premier of South Australia. The earliest of the diaries kept by a passenger on the City of Adelaide was kept by Sarah Ann, his sister, during the maiden voyage. Sarah was travelling with her parents and…

Joseph Nancarow aged 38, with three of his daughters - Jane (13), Edie (6) and Myrtle (4) - shortly after the death of his first wife. In the 1860s, the decline of mining in Cornwall left many miners unemployed. Many Cornishmen like Joseph Nancarrow migrated to South Australia…

The clipper proudly bore upon her stern the coat of arms for the City of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, the city she was built to serve and after which she was named.

Henry Cruickshank Fletcher (1820-1912) was born Henry Cruickshank Flett at Strathness on the Orkney Islands in Scotland. Fletcher’s Slip was an important asset to the people of South Australia. It was the site of the first slipway, enabling full repairs and maintenance of the local ships and ships…

Having been married only a few weeks earlier, George 26 and Annie Wilcox 24 boarded the brand-new ship in August 1864 to sail for South Australia and to set up home in Gawler. Arguably, there were no passengers who can be more closely identified with the City of…

(Later Sir) Tom Cockburn-Campbell was a 19 years old youth when he migrated to Australia in the saloon of the City of Adelaide on her maiden voyage in 1864. After a brief stop-over in Adelaide, he made his way on towards Queensland by coastal vessel.

The clipper proudly bore upon her stern the coat of arms for the City of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, the city she was built to serve and after which she was named.

"We are sorry at having to report that, driven by the severe westerly gale, which lasted during Sunday night, Messrs. Devitt and Moore’s register liner, the fine favourite ship 'City of Adelaide' has gone ashore on Kirkaldy Beach, between Henley Beach and Semaphore."

When Archdeacon Woodcock travelled on the City of Adelaide from London to arrive home at North Adelaide in October 1866, he was completing a return trip to England prescribed by his panel of three doctors. In the 19th century era when the clipper was making her trips to…

City of Adelaide at Port Augusta c1883. "Much rivalry there was too between the ships, as to which should get her hatches battened down first, complete her crew and clear away for the February wool sales. And men in those days were not always easy to procure, for…

City of Adelaide at Port Augusta c1883. "There one could see at times quite a clump of pretty little clippers lying in the stream between the mangrove-clad shores, waiting for the camel trains to come in from Pekina and Coonatto and Mount Remarkable.

Welcome

Welcome to the website for the splendid clipper ship City of Adelaide.

'City of Adelaide'

The City of Adelaide and Cutty Sark are the last two composite clippers that survive in the world today. The Cutty Sark is famous for carrying tea from China and wool from Sydney, Australia, to Britain. The City of Adelaide is famous for being specially designed as a passenger ship and is nearly six years older than the Cutty Sark. The City of Adelaide would also carry imported trade goods into South Australia as well as carry South Australian exports such as copper, wool and grain to Britain on the return voyages.

Over a quarter of a century the City of Adelaide carried emigrants from, in particular, England, Scotland, Germany and Ireland to South Australia. Today, approximately one in five South Australians are descended from one of her passengers. As the only surviving sailing ship built to give regular passenger and cargo service between Europe and Australia, the City of Adelaide represents a whole foundation era of Australian economic and social history. It is difficult to imagine a more vital icon of the making of modern Australia, and of the relationship between Britain and the Australian colonies.

We wish to bring the City of Adelaide back to South Australia and display her as part of a heritage, sense of place, sense of time, experiential, not-for-profit Seaport Village in Port Adelaide.

Significance to South Australia

In the 1800s, thousands of European migrants made the long and arduous voyage to Australia. They all came by sea, many to establish a new life. It was a trade involving hundreds of ships from convict transports to gold rush clippers. Despite its pivotal role in the development of the country, the only significant remaining heritage of this trade is the City of Adelaide.

The City of Adelaide was purpose built to serve the passenger trade and for nearly a quarter of a century from 1864 played an important role in the development of the colony of South Australia. She carried all classes of passengers from the rich to the poor, from people 'of substance', to government assisted emigrants. Her first class cabins were considered to be the finest of the sailing ship era. Today their descendents living in South Australia number in the hundreds of thousands.

On annual outward voyages she would bring migrants from places such as Cornwall, Scotland, Ireland and Germany as well as goods necessary for the generation of income needed for the colony’s development and survival. On return voyages to London, she would carry to market the produce of South Australia - including copper and wool. She made more visits to the fledgling colony than any other vessel before or since.

Port Adelaide Tourist Potential

Port Adelaide has great tourist potential. It is steeped in maritime history and much of its 19th century charm survives today.

Yet the Port does not have a national profile and is not on international tourist itineraries. The reason is not hard to see. The Port simply does not have a major drawcard which potential visitors can associate with.

From San Francisco to Portsmouth, the presence of a large heritage vessel provides a focus, an international identity around which a heritage site can be promoted.

The location of the ‘City of Adelaide’ at heritage rich Port Adelaide would provide that drawcard and the critical mass to help the Port become a major Australian heritage attraction.

We are Volunteers

All members of the Clipper Ship 'City of Adelaide' Limited are 100% volunteers and do not receive any remuneration in any way, in any form, at any time. They are dedicated community members who donate their own time, own materials and own money to support the clipper. Thus 100% of your support will go directly towards the efforts to save the historic clipper ship City of Adelaide.

1/4 Million Descendants

For 23 years the City of Adelaide brought large numbers of British and German migrants to the fledgling colony of South Australia. It is calculated that today approximately a quarter of a million South Australians, or one in five, can trace an ancestor that migrated, or was a passenger, on the City of Adelaide.

Are you one?

SA 175th Jubilee

Many wonderful ideas came from the audience at the Public Meeting for the City of Adelaide held at Semaphore, South Australia, on 20 November, 2007.

In particular, one audience idea gained strong interest from the attending crowd. This was to develop a City of Adelaide Seaport village as a 175th Jubilee project to commemorate the birthday of the state of South Australia in 2011.

As 2011 also marks the 100th birthday celebrations of the Royal Australian Navy, the maritime synergies would provide leverage to attract visitors to South Australia.

The aim would be to have the official opening of the seaport museum in 2011.

Australian Petitions

Two petitions are provided:

The first is a Federal petition to the Australian Senate and is intended for all Australian citizens, Australian residents, or Australian expats.
The second is a State petition to the House of Assembly in the South Australian Parliament. This petition is intended for Residents of South Australia, and South Australians living interstate or overseas and still on the Electoral Roll and eligible to vote in South Australia.

World Heritage

'City of Adelaide' at Port Augusta, South Australia, c1880

The City of Adelaide is:

one of only two surviving sailing ships to carry emigrants from the British Isles to any destination in the world - the other is the Edwin Fox.
the only surviving sailing ship that gave regular service between Europe and Australia.
is the only survivor of the timber trade from North America to UK.
one of only two surviving composite clipper ships in the world - the Cutty Sark is the other.
is the world’s oldest clipper ship being nearly six years older than the Cutty Sark.

Heritage Seaport Village

A heritage Seaport village is different to a conventional maritime museum. It is an experiential education activity where a colonial seaport is recreated so that the visitor can step back in time. In the Australian context, it is the maritime equivalent of Sovereign Hill in Ballarat.

A heritage Seaport village located in Port Adelaide with the historic 1864 clipper ship ‘City of Adelaide’ as its prime exhibit – the ‘flagship’ – would be the ideal focal interpretative centre for Port Adelaide’s history. By combining the ’City of Adelaide’ with the likes of ‘Nelcebee’, ‘Falie’ and ‘Yelta’, we have the makings of a great attraction such as Mystic Seaport in the USA.

THE CITY OF ADELAIDE
by Joe Earl
Forgotten on a slipway at Irvine near the Clyde,
Lays a legend of a sailing ship, her timbers grey and dried,
Older than the Cutty Sark she’ll soon be lost forever,
Unless there is the funding with pretty strong endeavour.