Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition and International Geophysical Year
Led by the then Dr Vivian Fuchs, the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (TAE) 1955–1958 planned to cross the continent from the Weddell Sea. Pram Point, on the edge of the McMurdo ice shelf and four kilometres from the United States’ McMurdo Station, was chosen as the site for Scott Base.
In January 1957 the team completed the buildings (six interconnecting units and three detached science buildings) that would form the antecedents of the modern-day Scott Base. A party of 23 men wintered over at the newly formed base.
The image of Hillary and his team in Antarctica on their TE 20 Ferguson tractors is an enduring one. Ably supported by dogs and aircraft, Hillary succeeded in completing his task for the TAE and, in a final push, gained the South Pole, accomplishing the third overland trip to the Pole, following in the footsteps of Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott. Two months later Fuchs’s party arrived at Scott Base to world acclaim, completing the first overland crossing of the Antarctic continent and gathering useful scientific information on the way.
In a little more than a year on the Ice, Hillary’s TAE/IGY party had established Scott Base, supported Fuchs and explored and mapped considerable areas of the Ross Sea region and the Transantarctic Mountains, laying the foundations for the more detailed mapping and geology that was to follow. The remaining original building (‘Hut A’) represents the beginning of the modern era of the study of the continent from the Ross Sea region and marks the foundation of New Zealand’s Scott Base.
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Antarctic Heritage Trust
7 Ron Guthrey Road, Christchurch 8053, New Zealand
Private Bag 4745, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand
Antarctic Heritage Trust
7 Ron Guthrey Road, Christchurch 8053, New Zealand
Private Bag 4745, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand