Melbourne Maritime Museum, Maritime museum in South Wharf, Melbourne, Australia

The Melbourne Maritime Museum sits beside the Yarra River with a preserved cargo vessel and tells the story of seafaring and transport development in Victoria. The collection includes ships, period tools, documents, and displays explaining maritime commerce and shipbuilding methods.

The barque Polly Woodside was launched in Belfast in 1885 and carried coal, nitrates and wheat between England and South America, rounding Cape Horn many times until 1903. Renamed Rona, it traded between Australia and New Zealand from 1904 to 1922, then served as a coal hulk in Melbourne port until 1962, apart from 1943–1946 on a New Guinea military base. It now rests in a wooden-walled dry dock used for ship repair for over a century.

The museum tells how maritime trade shaped Melbourne's growth and made the river port central to the city's identity. Visitors learn about the daily work of dock workers and the importance of seafaring commerce to the region.

The museum is open on weekends and during school holidays in Victoria, with longer hours during special maritime events. The best time to visit is in good weather, since many displays are outdoors.

The dry dock's pump house and boiler room survive on site; they once emptied the dock so ships could be repaired. The barque Polly Woodside, launched in Belfast in 1885, carried coal, nitrates and wheat around Cape Horn before being sold to New Zealand in 1904 and renamed Rona.