On Friday 20 January 2017 the residents of New Zealand’s Scott Base celebrated the base’s 60 year anniversary by taking a tour through the recently restored Hillary’s (TAE/IGY) Hut.
Antarctic Heritage Trust’s team of 12 worked more than 5700 hours on the major conservation of the building over the summer season. The work started in November 2016 following a successful fundraising campaign to save the site, the legacy of the Commonwealth Trans- Antarctic Expedition (1956-1958).
Jane Ussher
A stunning photo taken by renowned New Zealand photographer Jane Ussher following the completion of the TAE Hut restoration.
The New Zealand Government and Antarctica New Zealand asked the Trust to take on the care and conservation of the hut, including raising funds for its restoration and long term maintenance.
“It’s an iconic slice both of polar and Kiwi history that could have been lost. Now, thanks to our many supporters from around the world it will be there to inspire future generations to explore and push their boundaries like Sir Ed did,” says the Trust’s Executive Director Nigel Watson.
Extensive planning and research was undertaken by the Trust in preparation for the conservation work. Originally designed to last only twenty years, after sixty years the building had a number of issues including deteriorating asbestos wall and ceiling linings, a leaking roof, snow ingress, and melt water under the foundations.
Care was taken to retain and reinstate original building materials after the asbestos was removed. Where new material was essential, modern material was chosen that was as close as possible to the original finish and appearance.
The 1980’s pitched roof addition was removed and the original flat roof structure was reinstated. Exterior vents and flues were repaired and replaced. The Trust worked closely with Dulux New Zealand to match original TAE-era paint samples and colour swatches, before repainting the exterior and interior of the building in the bold shades of the 1950s.
Hillary’s Hut featuring its original colours, renamed by the Trust as ‘Pram Point (yellow) and ‘Sno-cat’ (orange).
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Our conservation specialists, working in expedition photographer Herbert Ponting’s darkroom at Scott’s Cape Evans base, discovered a small box of cellulose nitrate negatives clumped together.
The photographs are from Ernest Shackleton’s Ross Sea Party (1914-1917), which spent time living in Scott’s hut after being stranded on Ross Island when their ship blew out to sea. Their role was to lay vital depots for Shackleton’s expedition.
Antarctic Heritage Trust
The negatives were removed from Antarctica to undergo detailed conservation treatment back in New Zealand, where the negatives were painstakingly separated to reveal 22 never-before-seen Antarctic images.
Antarctic Heritage Trust
Iceberg and land, Ross Island.
Although many of the images were damaged, our conservators were able to recognise landmarks around McMurdo Sound. While the identity of the photographer remains unknown, it is thought to be expedition photographer, the Reverend Arnold Spencer-Smith.
Antarctic Heritage Trust
Alexander Stevens, chief scientist and geologist on-board the Aurora.
Antarctic Heritage Trust
Looking south along Hut Point Peninsula to Ross Island.
Antarctic Heritage Trust
Ross Island, Antarctica. Alexander Stevens, chief scientist and geologist looks south. Hut Point Peninsula in the background
Antarctic Heritage Trust
Tent Island, McMurdo Sound.
Antarctic Heritage Trust
Big Razorback Island, McMurdo Sound.
Mount Erebus, Ross Island, from the west.
Mount Erebus, Ross Island, from the west.
Antarctic Heritage Trust
Sea ice afloat, McMurdo Sound.
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Today, New Zealand Prime Minister Rt Hon John Key has launched the Antarctic Heritage Trust’s Conservation Plan for Hillary’s Hut, in front of more than 125 Antarcticansat Parliament.
Hillary’s Hut, ‘Hut A’, forms part of New Zealand’s first scientific facility at Scott Base. It is the original remaining building established with the support of the New Zealand Government for the country’s involvement in the Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1955-58 and International Geophysical Year 1957-58. It is designated as a Historic Monument under the Antarctic Treaty in recognition of its importance in the history of exploration and science in Antarctica.
Antarctic Heritage Trust
NZ flag
The event was hosted by Hon Maggie Barry, Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage and included surviving members of the Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1955-58 and International Geophysical Year 1957-58and members of Sir Edmund Hillary’s family.
This conservation work is of great significance to New Zealand’s history. “Sir Ed was the patron of the Antarctic Heritage Trust up until his passing. We are honoured to have the opportunity,in partnership with Antarctica New Zealand, to conserve the origins of Scott Base once we secure the necessary funding,” says Nigel Watson, Executive Director, Antarctic Heritage Trust.
The Conservation Plan was written by a team of authors under the leadership of Conservation Architect Chris Cochran, and peer reviewed by international experts.
In 2012 the Trust signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Antarctica New Zealand to manage this conservation work, including all fundraising for the site. Work will commence in the Antarctic summer of 2016-17 subject to the Trust securing funds.
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A Ferguson tractor, used by Sir Edmund Hillary’s party at the newly-constructed Scott Base during the British Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1955 –58,has been secured for public ownership through a public private partnership between Canterbury Museum, the Antarctic Heritage Trust and the Commodore Hotel Christchurch.
Museum Director Anthony Wright says the tractor, part of a private collection auctioned in Christchurch this morning, is one of the most significant items from this era to have come on the market in the last 20 years. Canterbury Museum already holds the world’s most comprehensive collection of items from the heroic age of Antarctic exploration and discovery and many items from the Trans-Antarctic Expedition including a Tucker Sno-cat and one of the tractors used by Hillary’s polar party which was the first motorised vehicle to reach the South Pole overland.
Antarctic Heritage Trust
Hillary tractor
The tractor will be put on display at the Commodore Hotel as an attraction for hotel guests, many of whom are en route to Antarctica, until the Museum has space to show it in an expanded Antarctic exhibition. The tractor will also be made available to the Museum’s long-term partner, the Antarctic Heritage Trust,to support their marketing and fundraising activities including their project to conserve Hillary’s hut in Antarctica.
“It’s fantastic that the Museum has been able to secure this outstanding item of national importance for permanent public ownership with the help of private partners,” says Mr Wright. “The Museum will benefit in the short-term by having the tractor cared for and displayed at the Commodore until we have sufficient space to exhibit it in the Museum.”
The Museum used funding from the M. C. Richards Bequest,left to the Museum specifically to acquire Antarctic objects, to purchase the tractor. The Commodore Hotel has contributed to the acquisition cost as a gift to the people of Canterbury through the Museum. The commercial terms of the agreement between the Museum, the Antarctic Heritage Trust and the Commodore Hotel are confidential.
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Antarctic Heritage Trust has returned a carefully reconstructed beer barrel to the Antarctic hut that was home to Sir Ernest Shackleton’s historic ‘Nimrod’ expedition in 1908.
Shackleton’s hut at Cape Royds is also where the Trust found three crates of Mackinlay’s whisky encased in ice; a discovery that attracted global attention.
Credit: Kinsey, Joseph James (Sir), 1852-1936. Photographs relating to Antarctica and mountaineering. Ref: PA1-o-464-17. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
Shackleton’s hut at Cape Royds, Ross Island, Antarctica 1907-1909
The barrel of beer was originally donated to Shackleton by New Zealand brewer Speight’s in 1907. Its iron hoops and staves were pulled out of Pony Lake, alongside the Cape Royds hut, by caretakers in the 1970s.
Credit: Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, with permission
A sledge party from the Nimrod Expeditition team unload beer from the ship to the hut
The Trust’s Programme Manager-Artefacts Lizzie Meek says the barrel pieces were left near the hut and remained there, embedded in ice, for decades.When the Trust started major conservation work at the site in 2005, the staves and hoops were leaned up against an area adjacent to the latrine and the pony stables.“The Trust spent four years conserving the hut, finishing in 2008. During that project, we saw some of the staves half buried in the ice and put a plan in place to excavate and conserve them.
Antarctic Heritage Trust
Shackleton’s hut at Cape Royds, Ross Island, Antarctica.
“It took some time but we managed to get them back to New Zealand in 2016. One of the staves has a bunghole and is engraved with the words ‘Speight’s’ and ‘Dunedin’ so we knew it was a beer barrel from the brewery.”
Antarctic Heritage Trust
The barrel bunghole on one of the recovered staves is engraved with the words ‘Speight’s’ and ‘Dunedin’.
Once in New Zealand, the barrel underwent a detailed examination by the Trust’s conservators in a laboratory at Canterbury Museum. “The iron hoops were too badly corroded to be used to reconstruct the barrel but many of the staves were in suitable condition,” says Lizzie Meek. AHT then connected with one of New Zealand’s only practising coopers, Jurgen Voigtlander, and worked with him to re-build the Speight’s barrel. The Trust was grateful to Speight’s Dunedin for supplying some staves for the reconstruction of the barrel.
Great Scott PR
One of New Zealand’s only practising coopers, Jurgen Voigtlander, re-built the Speight’s barrel
“Jurgen established a repair strategy after a lot of research and trial assembly. It wasn’t an easy job given that, over the years, the original staves had lost some of their curvature and were heavily eroded. But Jurgen painstakingly rebuilt the barrel, using traditional techniques, the original staves, new iron and some new wooden elements. We were delighted with the result.”AHT paid for the conservation of the barrel and it was taken back to site with logistics support from Antarctica New Zealand.
Antarctic Heritage Trust
The Speight’s barrel was carefully positioned outside Shackleton’s hut by the Trust’s conservation team.
The Cape Royds hut sits in an Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) which means permits are required to remove anything from the area and anything temporarily removed has to be returned.
Returning the barrel to Antarctica
Transporting the barrel back to its home at Cape Royds held a few challenges. Logistics between Christchurch and Antarctica are operated by the United States and New Zealand Antarctic Programmes. The first stage of the journey was packing it for transit from Christchurch to Phoenix runway in McMurdo Sound on board an American C-17. A large Antarctic storm cycle caused a 2-week delay to the start of the summer on-ice season, preventing aircraft from landing and causing the Trust some anxiety, as staff and cargo were waiting in Christchurch. However, the system caught up and both barrel and staff arrived in Antarctica in time for the next stage of the journey. Once at Scott Base, the barrel was gradually exposed to lower temperatures, eventually being stored (wrapped) outside at ambient temperatures of around -15 degrees C. The distance between Scott Base and Cape Royds is a little under 40km, and the terrain is a mix of the lower slopes of the active volcano Mt Erebus, and frozen sea ice. The barrel was transported to a ridgeline near Shackleton’s historic hut using a container slung underneath a Southern Lakes helicopter. From the top of the ridge, the AHT team transferred the barrel to a polypropylene sled and towed it down the hill to its final resting place outside Shackleton’s Nimrod hut.
Mike Gillies
Shackleton’s Nimrod Hut, Cape Royds
This area and adjacent areas were used by Shackleton’s expedition to stage/store all sorts of equipment, food cases and barrels. There was a constant ebb and flow of different items. The barrel is too large to fit comfortably inside the hut, and like the stores boxes also found outside the hut, forms part of the story of the enormous quantity of supplies needed for an over-wintering party of 15 men, as well as dogs, ponies and a motor car.
Antarctic Heritage Trust
The Speight’s barrel is now in position outside Shackleton’s Hut.
Trust Executive Director Nigel Watson says it was a poignant moment to see the barrel be returned there.“Just as when we returned Shackleton’s whisky to the ice, there was some celebration at the barrel’s return. Conserving Antarctic artefacts is an incredibly meticulous process so it’s always satisfying to see them put back with a new lease on life that will see them survive for generations to come,” concludes Nigel.
What happened to the beer?
Beer will freeze if left outside on all but the warmest of Antarctic summer days, and in fact the beer may even have been consumed during a special occasion on the ship (SS Nimrod) and the barrel re-purposed for another use. We have not yet found a record that detailed, but some records indicate that the tragic accident where Captain Aeneas Mackintosh lost an eye, was caused when a hook carrying up a barrel of beer from the Nimrod’s hold, sprang loose and hit him in the head.
Antarctic Heritage Trust
Shackleton’s hut at Cape Royds, Ross Island, Antarctica.
The barrel location provides shelter from the two prevailing winds at the site (north and south winds), which lowers the damage caused by wind and ice erosion, and protects the barrel from being moved by the stronger gusts during storms.Part of the work the Trust carries out on an annual basis is snow removal, monitoring and maintenance of all aspects of the building and artefact collection. Over the next few years we will be checking the barrel on each visit, and will keep an eye on its condition.