Special places archive
July 2004
Antarctic Heritage Trust NZ
The New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust is set up to conserve the physical evidence of Antarctic research:
Around the turn of the twentieth century, Antarctica was the focus of one of the last great races of terrestrial discovery. Men risked their lives to conquer the inhospitable, frozen continent and their stories are a chronicle of hardship, courage, endurance and tragedy. They are records of men who overcame great odds, and often their own fears and foibles, to open up Antarctica for the world. They are stories that still inspire and evoke admiration in people around the world a century later.
Real life testaments to these pioneer explorers remain in Antarctica today. Huts, improvised shelters, memorials and supply depots left behind by the early explorers provide frozen time capsules of a period fittingly labelled the ‘heroic age’ of Antarctic exploration.
Antarctic Heritage Trust works to conserve this important heritage so that people may continue to appreciate, learn and draw inspiration from the legacies of the ‘heroic age’ explorers for generations to come.
I took this photograph in the museum in Christchurch, which has a wonderful Antarctic collection.