Clipper ship, City of Adelaide, coming home after 150 years.

The magnificent clipper, City of Adelaide, in her heyday.

After being declared a total loss in 1989 when the still floating hull was flooded in Glasgow’s dock, the clipper ship, City of Adelaide, is now back home in her namesake port.

The two decade-long recovery operation has cost more than $6 million and has been funded mainly by public subscription and the only one of two surviving clipper ships now seems safe from destruction and decay. The only other surviving vessel of this type is the famous Cutty Sark, itself badly damaged by fire while under restoration in 2007.

Some 250,000 South Australians can trace their heritage back to the time when the vessel brought 889 passengers from Britain to Adelaide between 1864 and 1886 to begin new lives in the British colony.

The rescued hull being prepared for the long journey home to Adelaide.

Built in Sunderland in 1864 for wealthy Adelaide merchants, the ship had carried the name "Carrick" since 1923, when she became a training ship for the Royal Navy. She then fell under neglect in Glasgow from where she was eventually rescued.

The restoration and display of the vessel will be a centerpiece in the revitalized precinct of Port Adelaide.

Website: www.cityofadelaide.org.au