An estimated 60,000 hours of painstaking voluntary labour saw the ship refurbished close to its original state. The project received strong support from businesses, unions, former crewmembers and several Captains. The first Master of Restoration, Captain G.H.Heyen was a master in sail. "Polly Woodside's" chief rigger for 27 years of restoration was Tor Lindqvist, a former able seaman and sailmaker on Lawhill, Passat and Viking. In 1978 she was opened under her original name to the public, and is now permanently moored at the old Duke and Orr's Dry Dock on the Yarra River near Melbourne. Now landlocked by a nearby roadbridge, she cannot take to sea like the restored barque James Craig, of Sydney.