A number of half-hearted efforts were made in the mid 20th century to preserve Australia's sailing heritage, at the same time as it rapidly disappeared from Australian ports. In 1934, the Shiplover's Society of Victoria arranged for the coal hulk "Shandon" (a 1,400 ton former barque) to be partially re-rigged and refitted as a static display, to celebrate the centenary of European settlement. However, by the early 1960s, "Rona" was the last of her kind still afloat in Australia. A few others lay full of water, abandoned and forgotten – the "James Craig" in Recherche Bay, Tasmania; the "Santiago" in the Port River, near Adelaide. The "Polly Woodside's" restoration owes much to the efforts of Karl Kortum, former director of the San Francisco Maritime Museum, who inspired Dr. Graeme Robertson of the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) to put up a proposal to save the ship in 1962. In the context of the time, this proposal was quite risky but showed extraordinary vision. The National Trust of Australia relied entirely on volunteer labour, and it had no experience in restoring a sailing ship, even for static display. The restoration of the "Rona/Polly Woodside" would be a massive task. A long campaign led to the National Trust of Australia purchasing her from Howard Smith Industries for one cent in 1968.