Polly Woodside Tours and Tickets

Launched in Belfast in 1885 at a time when sailing for commercial shipping was starting to come to an end, the three-mastedPolly Woodside would go on to sail nearly a million miles across all corners of the globe. She rounded Cape Horn 16 different times, and carried everything from nitrate to wheat across the seven seas. During World War II, she served in New Guinea as a supply ship before returning back to Australia, with her owners eventually choosing to scuttle the ship in the early 1960s. Thankfully, a group of local maritime enthusiasts saw the historic and educational value in preserving the crumbling ship, and worked out a deal where it was sold to the National Trust for only a single cent. When visiting thePolly Woodside today, which has been masterfully and expertly restored, visitors will walk the wooden decks and go below in the holds—experiencing life as it would have been while sailing out on the seas. Hear the rations allotted to sailors while harnessing wind between ports, and try your hand at maritime skills like sewing or cutting cloth. It’s amazing to think that early Australians arrived on ships just like these, and it’s a classic dose of Australian history in the heart of Melbourne’s downtown.