Ceremony to Mark Start of Works - 27 June 2011
Ceremony to Mark Start of Works to Transport City of Adelaide to Australia
Media Release
27 June 2011
The project to return the world's oldest clipper ship, the 'City of Adelaide', to Port Adelaide took a major step forward today as the first physical works commenced. A ceremony at Gillman, near Port Adelaide, heralded the start of construction of a giant 100 tonne steel cradle that will support the clipper during its transport from Scotland to Australia.
The event was marked with a bottle of champagne cracked over the first part of the cradle by Pam Whittle, the great-granddaughter of the clipper's first captain, David Bruce, and Marion Wells, the great-granddaughter of Matilda Methuen who migrated on the maiden voyage of the 'City of Adelaide' to marry Peter Waite - one of South Australia's greatest philanthropists.
The effort to build the cradle is being jointly donated by over fifteen engineering firms around Adelaide and rural South Australia. The ceremony occurred at the premises of one of the firms, Samaras Structural Engineers who are donating both labour and materials to the project.
George Samaras, the General Manager of Samaras Structural Engineers, Creagh O'Connor, the Chairman of the City of Adelaide Preservation Trust, and a group of supporters from the Trust, other donors, and the media also attended the ceremony.
Mr. O'Connor said, "We are encouraged by the support being provided, and we are very pleased with the ever increasing number of companies offering money or in-kind support. It is great to see competing engineering firms join forces to help secure the 'City of Adelaide'. It is a wonderful good news story."
Mr. Samaras said, "My family, like most South Australian families, migrated to South Australia some time ago, and being able to contribute to a project to save the last sailing migrant ship to South Australia is very appealing and something I wanted to do. South Australia has been good to my family, and it feels good being able to give something back to the South Australian community in this way."
Adelaide firms Aztec Analysis and Bown Contracting and Drafting have designed the cradle so that it can be built over multiple South Australian sites, and then shipped to Glasgow in shipping containers for assembly underneath the ‘City of Adelaide’. The clipper and cradle will then be rolled onto a barge for transfer to a deep port, where it will be transferred onto an ocean-going ship for the voyage to Australia.
Background
The 'City of Adelaide' and the 'Cutty Sark' are the world’s last two surviving clipper ships. Built in 1864, the 'City of Adelaide' is the elder of the two clippers. It made annual runs for a quarter-century from London to South Australia carrying thousands of UK and European migrants. In Australia today, a quarter of a million living descendants can trace their origins to passengers that sailed on the 'City of Adelaide'.
The 'City of Adelaide' currently sits on a slipway in Scotland and its owners, the Scottish Maritime Museum, are being evicted from the site. With few options, they called for tenders to demolish the ship. The City of Adelaide Preservation Trust lodged a bid to 'demolish' the ship by taking it to Australia in one piece. Late last year the Scottish Government announced that the Australian solution was the preferred bidder.
While much funding has already been secured, community support and further donations are being encouraged through the Trust's web site www.cityofadelaide.org.au.
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http://cityofadelaide.org.au/our-news/our-news-articles/79-2011-news/669-ceremony-to-mark-start-of-works-27-june-2011.html#sigProGalleriacb77018ae2
Legend
From left to right, then top to bottom, the details of the above images are as follows:
- A welder from Samaras Structural Engineers welding on the first component of the transportation cradle. Behind is a 350 tonne mobile crane from the large Samaras fleet. Photo by Peter Christopher.
- VIP Pam Whittle taking a swing at the cradle component with a bottle of champagne; watched by VIP Marion Wells and Piper Des Ross. Photo by Mike Piper of Piper Films.
- Smash! the bottle disintegrates. Photo by Mike Piper of Piper Films.
- City of Adelaide Preservation Trust Chairman, Creagh O'Connor, makes speech with cradle designer and engineer Mark Gilbert of Aztec Analysis. Photo by Peter Christopher.
- Laser-survey silhouette of 'City of Adelaide' on cradle. Cradle design by Aztec Analysis; cradle detail design and graphic by Steve Bown.
- The transportation cradle. The first component bult by Samaras is one of the pink bilge supports seen in the graphic. Cradle design by Aztec Analysis; cradle detail design and graphic by Steve Bown.
- Laser survey results for whole hull. Laser survey and graphic by Headland Archaeology, Edinburgh.
- Laser survey detail. Laser survey and graphic by Headland Archaeology, Edinburgh.
- End view of transportation cradle and silhouette of clipper. Cradle design by Aztec Analysis; cradle detail design and graphic by Steve Bown.
- Colourised (real colour) laser survey scan. Laser survey and graphic by Headland Archaeology, Edinburgh.
Permission is granted for media organisations to use these images for the positive media coverage of the ship and the project to rescue and preserve the clipper ship 'City of Adelaide'. Please attribute the original source of the images.
For further information
Director Peter Christopher, +61 (0)8 8337 5645 (After Hours)
Director and Naval Architect Peter Roberts, +61(0) 419 773 332
Rann Communication
Christopher Rann, Managing Director
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Renae Sullivan, Executive Assistant
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Level 1, 18-20 Grenfell Street
Adelaide 5000
Phone: +61 (0)8 8211 7771
Facsimile: +61 (0)8 8212 2272
