Port Adelaide seaport village to be built around City of Adelaide Clipper ship

Like a maritime Sovereign Hill, a proposed 19th century seaport village inside a giant shed – and including historic ships – is nearing reality for Port Adelaide.

A seaport village at Port Adelaide, billed as the maritime equivalent of Victoria’s Sovereign Hill at Ballarat, is edging closer to reality at Dock 2 on land provided by the state government.

Planning consent has been granted by Port Adelaide Enfield Council for a temporary building inside the enormous, old Shed 13 for a shop, cafe and ticket outlet for tours of the historic clipper City of Adelaide.

The Clipper Ship City of Adelaide group, which runs the tours and is behind the village venture, says revenue from the shop and cafe will help fund further restoration of the clipper, with the long-term hope of bringing it back to its former glory.

Its development application for the broader $25m “historic maritime precinct with a seaport village”, submitted in July 2021, is still being assessed by the State Commission Assessment Panel in consultation with the council and Heritage SA.

The group has already fundraised enough for the first major stage which, if approved, would involve some excavation to prepare the site and then hauling the clipper from its current home on a barge onto land and into position just west of Shed 13.

In further stages, the City of Adelaide, which serviced South Australia from 1864-87 and was brought to Adelaide by the same group in 2014, would be surrounded by other historic vessels and replicas and an array of new buildings to create the village.

Descendants Day was held on Sunday, November 7, 2021, at Dock 2. It’s believed 250,000 South Australians are descendants of the passengers transported to Adelaide aboard the historic Clipper ship, pictured in the background. Picture: Clipper Ship City of Adelaide.

Just as Sovereign Hill allows visitors to step back in time and interact with characters from the goldfields and take part in old-world activities, the 19th Century-style seaport village would feature “port-related activities and craftsmen at work including carpentry, model-making, blacksmithing and wood carving”, the application says.

Future plans also include a cider brewery, fish factory, sailmaking and other kids and family-related activities.

Artist’s impression of the Seaport Village to celebrate maritime history including the Clipper Ship City of Adelaide at Dock 2, Port Adelaide. Credit: John Hales

Clipper Ship City of Adelaide director Peter Christopher said the village would enable visitors to “come and spend maybe half a day there”.

“It’ll become a destination in its own right and that will come to be a feeder for the Port, for Semaphore and it will become quite a major activity,” he said.

“We started this campaign 21 years ago. So it’s pretty exciting to be at this point.

“A lot of design work has been done. We have a professional team of architects and project managers all voluntarily giving their time – we’re talking big engineering companies, big architectural companies. We’re getting good financial support, never enough, but it continues to grow. So that’s all looking pretty good.”

Other vessels on site would include the schooner Nelcebee and the 150-year-old ketch Annie Watt. A submarine could be added down the track, as could on-site accommodation

Depending on the fate of the Failie, which has been hauled out of the water for repairs, that ketch could offer sailing trips once more or find a new life in the outdoor museum.

The Infrastructure Department said after refurbishment of the Failie in 2021, two attempts to return it to Mclaren Wharf failed because the hull leaked.

“Independent marine surveyors will investigate potential repair options for the vessel,” it said.