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Conservation News

2024-25 On-Ice Conservation Updates

Members of the Trust’s 2024-25 On-Ice Conservation team touched down on Ross Island in late November. Since then, they have undertaken work tasks on historic explorer bases at Scott Base, Hut Point, and most recently, Cape Royds.
December 20, 2024/by Mark Sanders

Conservation Plans Enter New Phase

The Ross Sea Heritage Restoration Project (RSHRP), the world’s largest and longest-running cold climate conservation programme, has been running for over 21 years.
December 20, 2024/by Mark Sanders

Ross Sea Party Tent Conservation Journey Begins

The Ross Sea Party tent, an invaluable artefact from Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1914-17, is under scrutiny as three specialist conservators develop the most appropriate processes to conserve it.
November 1, 2024/by Mark Sanders

‘Icy Heritage’ Update

The Trust’s digital image database, 'Icy Heritage', has made an impressive impact since its launch in October 2023. With over 5,000 unique visitors from 114 countries, it has become a global window into Antarctica’s rich heritage, our ongoing conservation efforts, and our mission to inspire the next generation of explorers.
September 27, 2024/by Mark Sanders

2024-25 Conservation Season

During the upcoming summer conservation season the Trust will have teams working in three areas of Antarctica: at Cape Adare, on Ross Island, and on the Antarctic Peninsula, working with our sister trust, UKAHT.
September 27, 2024/by Mark Sanders

Al Fastier Retires

After an incredible 18 years leading the Trust’s Ross Sea Heritage Restoration Project to the highest heritage and environmental standards, Programme Manager Al Fastier has retired.
September 27, 2024/by Mark Sanders

Design Team Members Honoured

Pip Cheshire and Julian Bickersteth, members of the Trust’s Conservation Design Team, have both received high honours.
May 30, 2024/by Mark Sanders

Conservation Collaboration

The Trust’s conservation team had a successful season working collaboratively alongside our partner UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT), with significant strides made in conserving and maintaining two of their historic sites on the Antarctic Peninsula. Al Fastier, Trust Conservation Advisor, and Lizzie Meek, Trust Collections Conservation Manager, played pivotal roles in this endeavour, contributing their expertise to various projects aimed at safeguarding Antarctic heritage.
May 30, 2024/by Mark Sanders

2023/24 Summer Conservation Season – Ross Island

The Trust’s On-Ice Conservation team spent thirteen weeks in Antarctica this season, from early November until late January, undertaking an intensive digital data capture project, followed by the annual conservation programme at the historic Ross Island explorer bases of Captain Robert Falcon Scott, Sir Ernest Shackleton, and Sir Edmund Hillary.
May 30, 2024/by Mark Sanders

Encouraging the Next Generation of Antarctic Conservators

Since July 2023, the Trust has been working with Young Inspiring Explorers™ alumna Abby Wilson on her school’s ‘Adopt a Scientist’ research project. Abby chose to focus her studies on Antarctica’s heritage conservation and Dr Gabriela Roldan, Trust Education Manager who is also a Social Scientist, responded to the call and mentored Abby for four months.
December 14, 2023/by Mark Sanders

2023/24 Conservation Season

December 14, 2023/by Mark Sanders

Online Database Update April 2023

159,000 images have been processed so far by the project team transitioning the Trust’s image assets to an online database called Recollect.
May 1, 2023/by Comms

Artefacts Repatriated to Scott’s Terra Nova hut

The team repatriated several items to Scott’s Terra Nova hut at Cape Evans this season including an improvised sledge distance meter wheel once owned by George Murray Levick.
May 1, 2023/by Comms

Cape Adare Reached

An Antarctica New Zealand led event saw a small team of four people reach Cape Adare, the site of Carsten Borchgrevink’s expedition base, for the first time since the field camp on site was completed during the 2019-20 summer season.
December 19, 2022/by Comms

Winter-Over Team Return

In October 2022 our winter conservation team of four conservators – Jane Hamill, Shannah Rhynard-Geil, Belinda Hager, and Conor Tulloch returned from the Ice.
December 19, 2022/by Comms

Antarctic Conservation Update – Summer Conservation Season 2022-23

The Trust’s On-Ice conservation team deployed to Ross Island, Antarctica in late November.
December 19, 2022/by Comms

Antarctic Conservation Update – September 2022

In a first since 2014, our winter conservation team of four conservators – Jane Hamill, Shannah Rhynard-Geil, Belinda Hager, and Conor Tulloch have wintered-over in Antarctica.
September 28, 2022/by Comms

Summer 2022-23 Conservation Season

To support the ongoing conservation of the Ross Island explorer bases, this summer the Trust will have a team of five on-Ice led by Collections Conservation Manager Lizzie Meek, including a heritage carpenter, two artefact conservators, and a building conservation support person.
September 28, 2022/by Comms

Antarctic artefacts return home after 60 years in the USA

Two historic Antarctic artefacts are on their way home after more than 60 years and a trip around the globe.
August 23, 2022/by Comms

Antarctic Conservation Season Update June 2022

The 2021-22 summer Antarctic season saw a seven-person conservation team spend nearly two months working on an extended monitoring and maintenance programme at the Ross Island explorer bases of Robert Falcon Scott at Cape Evans and Hut Point, Sir Ernest Shackleton’s base at Cape Royds, and Sir Edmund Hillary’s hut at Pram Point.
June 7, 2022/by Comms

Endurance Found

The discovery of historic Antarctic artefacts at Cape Evans is one of the highlights of the season for the Trust.
May 29, 2022/by Comms

Historic Antarctic Artefacts Discovered

The discovery of historic Antarctic artefacts at Cape Evans is one of the highlights of the season for the Trust.
May 29, 2022/by Comms

Year-Round Conservation Programme

For the first time since 2014, we have a team of four wintering over in Antarctica.
May 29, 2022/by Comms

Protecting and Repatriating Artefacts at Scott’s ‘Terra Nova’ hut

A key project, in addition to maintenance and monitoring work at Scott’s Terra Nova hut at Cape Evans work was to reduce the dust levels from the scoria in the stables and western annex.
May 29, 2022/by Comms

Preventing Blubber Ooze at Scott’s ‘Discovery’ Hut

At Scott’s Discovery hut at Hut Point, a stack of seal blubber within the hut has been oozing oil onto the adjacent floorboards during the warm summer months.
May 29, 2022/by Comms

Conserving Shackleton’s Venesta Cases

The largest and most challenging task this 2021/22 season was at Shackleton’s Nimrod hut at Cape Royds.
May 29, 2022/by Comms

“Thrilling and ground-breaking” – Antarctic Heritage Trust reacts to Endurance discovery

March 10, 2022/by Anna Clare

Visit Cape Evans via Podcast

The Trust has published a podcast featuring a series of short interviews captured on location in Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova hut during the 2019 Antarctic season by Francesca Eathorne, Trust Chief OperationsOfficer.
December 19, 2021/by Comms

Kiwis Visit Sir Ed’s Hut through Virtual Reality

Over the last year the Trust has been touring our fully immersive virtual reality experience of Sir Edmund Hillary’s Antarctic hut around New Zealand.
December 19, 2021/by Comms

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.
December 19, 2021/by Comms

Antarctic Conservation Season Update June 2022

Covid-19 continues to have a major impact on people and programmes across the Ross Sea Heritage Restoration Project (RSHRP).
August 29, 2021/by Comms

Hillary’s Hut (TAE/IGY) Ice Melter gets the Deluxe Dulux Treatment

The Trust worked very closely with Dulux to research historic paint archives, and examine the multitude of different coloured interior and exterior paint samples from the hut itself.
December 23, 2020/by Comms

Frozen Rigging, Antarctica Bound

AHT discovered that a section of this cable had corroded through after more than 100 years, making the cable unfit for purpose.
December 23, 2020/by Comms

Antarctic Conservation Season Update

Despite the ramifications of Covid-19, our conservation team have successfully completed the essential monitoring and maintenance programme at the Ross Island historic huts in November and December 2020, thanks to the support of Antarctica New Zealand, in what has been an extremely challenging year for their operations.
December 13, 2020/by Comms

Antarctic Conservation Season Update September 2020

The COVID-19 global pandemic has impacted the Trust’s Antarctic operations for the upcoming 2020-2021 season.
September 6, 2020/by Comms

Sharing the First Stories

Antarctic Heritage Trust is excited to have a new creative project being developed using augmented reality (AR).
May 9, 2020/by Comms

RSHRP 2019-2020 Season

A team of four travelled to Ross Island in November to implement the annual monitoring and maintenance programme for the expedition bases.
May 9, 2020/by Comms

Cape Adare Camp Completed

The Trust’s objective this season was to position and secure the required conservation equipment on site at Cape Adare to allow the conservation of Borchgrevink’s 1898 British Antarctic Expedition huts to be undertaken.
May 9, 2020/by Comms

Virtual Reality Allows Immersive Access in Antarctica

May 8, 2019/by Comms

Shackleton’s 111-year-old Beer Barrel

Antarctic Heritage Trust has returned a carefully reconstructed beer barrel to the Antarctic hut that…
January 11, 2019/by Comms

An Update from Port Lockroy

Trust Programme Manager Al Fastier joined the UKAHT Port Lockroy Conservation Team under the Trust’s partnership to share its conservation knowledge and expertise developed during the Ross Sea Heritage Restoration Project.
November 15, 2018/by Comms

Prime Minister Launches ‘Hillary’s Antarctica’

The Trust was honoured to have New Zealand Prime Minister Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern launch a new book, ‘Hillary’s Antarctica’, at an event in the New Zealand Parliament Grand Hall in late October.
November 1, 2018/by Comms

Conserving Stonington Stories

“Like seeing Antarctica for the first time” is how Lizzie Meek (Programme Manager – Artefacts) described her experience at Stonington Island on the Antarctic Peninsula.
July 4, 2018/by Comms

Raising the Roof

Antarctic Heritage Trust has finished the last major job of saving Sir Edmund Hillary’s hut at Scott…
March 27, 2018/by Comms

Stunning Stonington

The Trust is delighted to have our team assisting UKAHT on the Antarctic Peninsula as part of the new multi-year agreement.
March 26, 2018/by Comms

Final Touches go on Sir Ed’s Antarctic Hut

The Trust raised nearly a million dollars to save the hut, also known as the TAE/IGY Hut, which was built…
December 19, 2017/by Comms

Century-old Fruitcake

Antarctic Heritage Trust conservators found a 100 year old fruit cake among the artefacts from Cape…
August 10, 2017/by Comms

Dr Edward Wilson Watercolour

New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust has discovered an almost perfectly preserved 118 year old watercolour painting among penguin-excrement, dust and mould covered papers found in an historic hut at Cape Adare, Antarctica.
June 12, 2017/by Comms

Hillary’s Hut Wins Award

We are delighted to have won the International category of the 31st annual Dulux Colour Awards for Hillary's…
May 12, 2017/by Comms

Saving Hillary’s Hut

On Friday 20 January 2017 the residents of New Zealand's Scott Base celebrated the base’s 60 year anniversary…
March 19, 2017/by Comms

Ross Sea Party Photos

Our conservation specialists, working in expedition photographer Herbert Ponting's darkroom at Scott's…
January 15, 2016/by Comms

Prime Minister Launches Conservation Plan

Today, New Zealand Prime Minister Rt Hon John Key has launched the Antarctic Heritage Trust’s Conservation…
March 17, 2015/by Comms

Hillary Tractor Secured in Public Private Partnership

A Ferguson tractor, used by Sir Edmund Hillary’s party at the newly-constructed Scott Base during the…
March 13, 2015/by Comms

Levick’s Notebook

Our conservators discovered a photographer’s notebook left behind a century ago at Captain Scott’s last expedition base, Cape Evans.
October 23, 2014/by Comms

Shackleton’s Whisky

In January 2010 our conservators found five crates encased in ice under Shackleton's 1908 Antarctic base…
January 31, 2010/by Comms

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

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    © Copyright 2024, Antarctic Heritage Trust
    Registered Charity: CC24071
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