Former SA politician Bruce Eastick gifts clipper ship model to City of Adelaide restoration project

The historical clipper ship City of Adelaide is under restoration by a group of volunteers. (ABC News: Claire Campbell)

The restoration project of a historic ship has been given a boost thanks to a family heirloom from a former SA politician.

Bruce Eastick, who was the state's opposition leader in the 1970s, presented a model to the volunteers restoring the City of Adelaide on Sunday.

The City of Adelaide was built in 1864 to carry passengers from Britain to South Australia and made 23 return voyages.

"So there's something like a quarter of a million people in Australia whose heritage can be traced back to this vessel," ship spokesperson Peter Christopher said.

The ship was recovered from a swamp in Scotland and returned to Adelaide in 2014.

Since then, it has been undergoing work by volunteers in Port Adelaide.

This large scale model of the City of Adelaide was gifted to the restoration project. (ABC News: Claire Campbell)

Bruce Eastick presented a model built by his great-grandfather in the late 1800s to restoration volunteers on Sunday.

"It's been great to know that it's found a place down here as part of what is an amazing amount of work that's being done by people with an interest in the future of the actual ship," he said.

Mr Eastick said the model "has been with me since my earliest days" and was handed down from his grandfather to his father, and then to him.

"At age 95, I can appreciate that it's something that is there for the future," he said.

The City of Adelaide was used to transport thousands of people to South Australia in the late 1800s. (Supplied: John Oxley Library)

Mr Christopher said the model, which was built while the ship was sailing, would provide valuable information as volunteers finished the restoration project.

"There were not many photographs of this ship at the time it was sailing so a model actually gives us information that would otherwise simply not be available," he said.

Mr Christopher said the project had cost $7 million so far and would be "close to $25 million" by the time it finished.

Bruce Eastick donated a model of the City of Adelaide built by his great-grandfather. (ABC News: Claire Campbell)

The project has been funded through tours of the ship and events on board, as well as from donations.

Mr Christopher said the ship generated a significant amount of tourism for SA.

"We have a significant number of interstate visitors who actually come to Adelaide and come looking for this ship, they know about it in advance," he said.

"And with overseas visitors now coming in as well we hope to see that pick up as well."

The restored hull of the City of Adelaide clipper arrives at Outer Harbor on the deck of a heavy-lift cargo ship after a voyage from Scotland to Adelaide in 2014. (ABC News: Alina Eacott)