Meet the Conservation Team
Following a mandatory two-week period of isolation, the Trust’s On-Ice conservation team deployed to Ross Island, Antarctica in early December. They will undertake our annual conservation programme at the historic explorer bases of Captain Robert Falcon Scott, Sir Ernest Shackleton and Sir Edmund Hillary that are under the Trust’s care.
The team, led by Al Fastier, the Trust’s Programme Manager Ross Sea Heritage Restoration Project, will spend the next two months addressing some of the more complicated conservation issues facing the sites and continue the programme of maintenance and monitoring as part of our ongoing care of the sites.
We are excited to have a team of four who will winter-over in Antarctica in 2022 at New Zealand’s Scott Base, continuing our ongoing conservation programme for the 20,000+ objects as part of our Ross Sea Heritage Restoration Project. This is the first time the Trust has run a winter conservation programme since 2014.
Our team of professional conservators will carry out focused re-treatment of vulnerable objects, including a large number of iron alloy artefacts. They will select these objects during the summer and transport them to Scott Base where they will work on them in a laboratory between February and October 2022, before the objects are returned to the huts next summer. We are excited to welcome six skilled and dedicated professionals to the team.
They are Conservators Jane Hamill, Nicola Stewart, Conor Tulloch, and Belinda Hager, and Heritage Carpenters John Taylor and Zack Bennett.
The 2021-22 On-Ice team, left to right, Conor Tulloch, Al Fastier, Nicola Stewart, John Taylor, Belinda Hager, Jane Hamill, and Zac Bennett. © Anthony Powell
While half the team are experienced Antarcticans, working in Antarctica will be an exciting new experience for the others. Jane Hamill is a specialist in the conservation of metals, and has previously spent two winters in Antarctica working for the Trust in 2010 and 2011.
Nicola Stewart is the Collections Officer responsible for Taupō Museum’s historic collections. In 2006 she was part of the Trust’s first conservation team to over-winter in Antarctica. “I have spent five more seasons on the Ice since then and I’m thrilled to be heading south again,” said Nicola.
John Taylor is a ranger with the Department of Conservation in GoldenBay, New Zealand. He was part of the Ross Island Conservation Team for the 2010- 11 summer season, and the field camp installation team working at Cape Adare in 2019. “I’m excited to work with the Trust again. This season I will be providing support focused on building conservation,” says John.
For Conor Tulloch, working in Antarctica will be an exciting new challenge. He has worked as an object conservator for the last nine years in museums in Ireland, the UK, and New Zealand. “I love the outdoors and I was trying to move out of the city. It looks like I’ve succeeded! I’m looking forward to experiencing the long days and nights of Antarctica,” said Conor.
Also embarking on their first deployment to Antarctica are Belinda Hager, who runs a private conservation practice on the Kapiti Coast, New Zealand, and Zack Bennett, who has spent his career restoring and conserving antique furniture, making high end traditional furniture, wood and stone carving, and restoring and building pipe organs. “I’m passionate about the outdoors and very excited to be spending my first summer season on the Ice,” said Zac.
For news on the team’s achievements over the summer Antarctic season, keep an eye on the Trust’s website and social channels.
