🐧 Support our Inspiring Explorers™ appeal and give today! 🐧
  • 0Shopping Cart
Antarctic Heritage TrustLogo
  • CONSERVE
    • Ross Sea Heritage Restoration Project
      • History of the Project
      • Season Update
    • Explorer Bases
      • Borchgrevink’s Hut, Cape Adare
      • Scott’s Hut, Hut Point
      • Shackleton’s Hut, Cape Royds
      • Scott’s Hut, Cape Evans
      • Hillary’s Hut, Scott Base
      • Location Map
    • Famous Discoveries
      • Ross Sea Party Tent
      • Shackleton’s Whisky
      • Century-old Fruitcake
      • Dr Edward Wilson Watercolour
      • Levick’s Notebook
      • Ross Sea Party Photos
      • Shackleton’s Beer Barrel
    • Antarctic Peninsula Partnership – UKAHT
      • Port Lockroy
      • Stonington Island
      • Horseshoe Island
  • SHARE
    • Latest News
      • Antarctic Blog
      • Conservation
      • Inspiring Explorers™
    • Virtual Reality
      • Scott’s Discovery Hut Virtual Reality Experience
      • Hillary’s Hut Virtual Reality
      • Bookings
      • Antarctica 360 VR
    • Films & Publications
      • Across the Atlantic
      • Polheim
      • Strategic Plan
      • Annual Reports
      • The Explorer Newsletter
      • In Nansen’s Footsteps Film
      • Mt Scott Film
      • The Last 36 Film
      • On Satin Waters – Musical Composition
      • Frozen in Time: Scott’s Antarctic Legacy Podcast
      • A Musical Journey to Antarctica
      • Climate Insights from Antarctica: Exclusive Interview with George Denton
    • Exhibitions
      • Still Life
      • Breaking the Ice: The First Year in Antarctica
      • The Frozen Wild: Photographic & Soundscape Exhibition
    • Educational Resources
      • Icy Heritage – Antarctic Heritage Trust Digital Collection
      • Scott Polar Research Institute
      • Royal Geographical Society
      • LEARNZ Virtual Field Trips
      • Cool Antarctica
      • Antarctica New Zealand Image Library
  • ENCOURAGE
    • Inspiring Explorers Expeditions™
      • 2025 – Ross Sea Antarctica
      • 2023 – South Georgia
      • 2022 – South Pole
      • 2022 – In the Footsteps of Hillary
      • 2021 – Mahu Whenua Traverse
      • 2020 – Antarctic Peninsula
      • 2019 – Antarctic Peninsula
      • 2018 – Greenland Ice Cap
      • 2017 – Climbing Mount Scott
      • 2015 – Crossing South Georgia
    • Young Inspiring Explorers™
      • 2024 – April Summit
      • 2023 – November Summit
      • 2023 – Explorer Conference
      • 2022 – November Summit
      • 2022 – June Summit
      • 2021 – Worsley Weekend
      • 2021 – Explorer Conference
      • 2020 – Summit
      • 2020 – Worsley Weekend
      • 2019 – Summit
    • Inspiring Explorers Education™
      • Antarctic Augmented Reality
      • Antarctic Virtual Reality
      • Meet our Education Team
    • Updates and Applications
      • Apply
      • Latest Inspiring Explorers™ Updates
      • Reach the World Partnership
  • SUSTAIN
    • Ways to Give
      • Donate Today
      • Become a Member
      • Renew Your Membership
      • Donate an Artefact
      • Leave a Gift in Your Will
    • Supporters and Partners
      • Our Partners
      • Sponsorship Opportunities
      • Your Impact
    • Inspiring Explorers™ Fund
      • About the Inspiring Explorers™ Fund
      • Donate to Inspire Explorers
      • Explorer Journeys
    • Shop
      • Gift Ideas
    • About AHT
      • Work with Us
      • Alumni
      • Our People
      • Contact Us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Youtube
    • Vimeo
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Mail
    • Mail
    • Mail
    • Mail
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
  • About AHT
  • Our People
  • Work with Us
  • Latest News
  • Donate
  • Join
  • Image Archive
  • Shop
  • Contact Us

History of the TAE and the IGY

Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition and International Geophysical Year

© Antarctic Heritage Trust | Tim McPhee - credit: Antarctic Heritage Trust | Tim McPhee
  • HISTORY OF EXPEDITION
  • MEET THE CREW
  • CONSERVATION OF HILLARY’S HUT
  • TRANS-ANTARCTIC GALLERY

Fresh from conquering Mount Everest in 1953, Edmund Hillary was enlisted to lead the New Zealand party that would lay supply depots from the Ross Sea towards the South Pole for the first trans-Antarctic crossing.

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.

Murray Douglas at the door of the Scott Base hut.
© Murray Douglas
Murray Douglas at the door of the Scott Base hut.
Sir Edmund Hillary, Derek Wright and Murray Ellis at the South Pole, 20 January 1958.
.

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.

Stay in touch

Subscribe to our newsletter

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Vimeo
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
About AHT Our People Latest News Contact Us Image Archive Shop
QUICK LINKS
About AHT Our People Latest News Contact Us Shop Conserve Share Encourage Sustain
Conserve Share Encourage Sustain

Make a donation

Donate

Become a member

Join

Antarctic Heritage Trust

Antarctic Heritage Trust
7 Ron Guthrey Road, Christchurch 8053, New Zealand
Private Bag 4745, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand

Antarctic Heritage Trust

Antarctic Heritage Trust
7 Ron Guthrey Road, Christchurch 8053, New Zealand
Private Bag 4745, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand

© Copyright 2024, Antarctic Heritage Trust – Registered Charity: CC24071
Terms and Conditions – Privacy Policy

© Copyright 2024, Antarctic Heritage Trust
Registered Charity: CC24071
Terms and Conditions – Privacy Policy

Scroll to top