A petition to the British Prime Minister, the Hon Gordon Brown, has been created to call on the UK Government to gift the world heritage clipper ship City of Adelaide to the people of South Australia for the state's 175th birthday in 2011.
City of Adelaide is one of two of the world's last surviving composite clippers
The City of Adelaidepresently sits on a slipway in Irvine, Scotland. The clipper's owners, the Scottish Maritime Museum, have been served notice to remove the clipper from the slipway. The land alongside the slipway is being developed for new housing.
With few options remaining to them, the Scottish Maritime Museum is expected to call for tenders later this year to demolish the clipper. The Scottish Maritime Museum estimates that the cost to demolish will be the order of £650,000 (US$952,730).
City of Adelaide Preservation Trust Director, Naval Architect Peter Roberts, described the condition of the historic ship as impressive and in remarkably good condition.
Trust Director Peter Christopher, who attended the Glasgow City of Adelaide Conference convened by the Duke of Edinburgh in 2001, stated that His Highness declared that the ship needed to be saved.
A campaign being run from Adelaide, Australia, would like to see the demolition money spent on returning the historic namesake ship to Port Adelaide.
The City of Adelaide was purpose built as a passenger ship in 1864 specifically to bring migrants and goods to South Australia. For nearly a quarter century, she plied the route to South Australia, and on return voyages would carry South Australian wheat, wool and copper to the London markets.
Today a quarter of a million South Australians are calculated to be descendants of her passengers.
The UK petition is open to all UK citizens including expatriates living in South Australia. Links to the petition can be found at www.cityofadelaide.org.au