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Antarctica is an unique place. Not only
is it the highest, driest and windiest
continent, it is the only continent where
the first structure to be erected there by
man still survives. This is at Cape Adare
where Kirsten Borchgrevink in 1898, as
part of the First British Antarctic
Expedition, built his hut and proved
that it was possible to winter over in
this inhospitable environment. Cape
Adare is accessible only by ship and
remains, like Mawson’s hut in
Commonwealth Bay, off the Antarctic
tourist route. The three other remaining
huts on Ross Island in the Ross Sea
Region are more accessible, and more
vulnerable as a result.
TOP: The approach to Shackleton’s Hut ABOVE: Robert Falcon Scott
Heroics in Antarctica
Managing director of International Conservation Services,
Julian Bickersteth spent most of January this year in Antarctica
assessing the condition of the historic huts and their contents.
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LEFT: Shackleton’s hut, overlooked by the Cape Royd penguin colony RIGHT: A wheel from the too heavy Arrol-Johnston remains propped against the wall
of Shackleton’s hut
Ross Island is 4000 kms south of New
Zealand, dominated by the 14,500 ft
high active volcano Mt Erebus. It backs
onto the Ross Ice shelf, a vast floating
mass of ice the size of France, which
served as a highway for the early
sledging parties. On the island three
historic huts from the so called Heroic Era
remain, their use dating from the period
of Robert Falcon Scott's first expedition
(1901-1904) to the end of Ernest
Shackleton's second expedition in 1917.
The immediacy of daily
living and heroic endeavour
– from almost a century ago
The first hut to be built was at the
appropriately named Hut Point. The
Discovery Hut (so named after
Scott’s ship, the SY Discovery) was
constructed in Australia from Jarrah.
Similar to an outback house, it was
erected soon after the arrival of Scott’s
expedition in February 1902. At
the time the hut was not used for
accommodation, but for drying furs
and tents and scientific experiments,
the expedition members choosing
to remain on the ship. The hut was
subsequently used by later expeditions
of both Shackleton and Scott.
The second hut is at Cape Royds,
built by Shackleton’s British Antarctic
Expedition of 1907-09. Shackleton
had been invalided home before the
conclusion of the Discovery expedition,
and was determined to return to carry
on the scientific work that Scott had
begun and, more importantly, reach
the geographic south pole. In the
event, he reached the magnetic south
pole and got within 97 miles of the
geographic pole before having to turn
back through lack of food.
The hut at Cape Royds was constructed
by Humphreys of Knightsbridge,
London. The hut housed 15 men, and
included a laboratory and darkroom for
the scientists on the expedition, both
Australians, Professor Edgeworth David
and Douglas Mawson. There was even
a garage for the new Arrol-Johnston,
a motor car donated to the trip.
Shackleton hoped the car would enable
Heroics in Antarctica
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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Scott’s birthday celebrations. l To clear and reconstruct, or leave as is. Some of the conservation issues to be addressed.
l Left as if it were yesterday. l The exterior of Scott’s hut, with its stables and latrines
him to sprint to the South Pole,
some 150 miles away in 24 hours,
but in the event it proved hopelessly
overweight and sank into even the
hardest snow.
The third hut located at Cape Evans
is not only the most impressive, but
also the most significant. Here Scott’s
second expedition 1910-13 built a
substantial building, which had been
prefabricated in London. From here
Scott set out on his trek to the South
Pole, and the rest, as they say, is
history. His team of five reached the
South Pole on 18 January 1912,
only to find they had been beaten
to it by a month by Roald
Amundson. Their return journey
was beset by illness, hunger and
blizzards, with the final three, Scott,
Wilson and Bowers dying only eleven
miles from One Ton depot on the
Ross ice shelf, and only 150 miles
from Hut Point, having journeyed
on foot, hauling their sledges
some 1,450 miles.
Accessibility versus
intervention
With the end of the Heroic era came
a period of over 30 years before the
huts were visited again by seamen as
part of the US Navy’s Operation
Deep Freeze
in 1948. All the huts had become to
varying degrees filled with ice, and
had to be excavated to reveal their
contents. Today the huts remain in
remarkably good condition, and host
some 2000 visitors a year. Many of
Heroics in Antarctica
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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Precious supplies, preserved by the intense cold. Hams hung almost a century ago; Candles clearly marked ‘Made Expressly
for Hot Climates’
them are pilgrims, devotees of the
heroic era making their visit to the
shrines of Scott and Shackleton.
To manage these visitors, various
issues are having to be addressed.
One of the huts’ most interesting
features is the quantity of artefacts
remaining from the expeditions,
some 15,000 in all. These range from
furniture and stoves to bedding,
clothing, sledges and large quantities
of tinned food, much of it still in
packing crates. Protocols have had to
be established to avoid the constant
picking up and moving of artefacts
and regular theft – the ‘if I don’t take
it for safe keeping, someone else
will’ syndrome.
There is a lack of site interpretation
but with this comes the benefit of
authenticity. This is a word much
used when describing the huts – they
look and indeed smell as if they have
been untouched since the occupants
walked out. Much store is placed on
maintaining this ambience, and there
is no doubt that they are all highly
evocative sites. In a world where so
much is make-believe, or
reconstructed to create an ‘authentic’
experience, the most special feature
about a visit to the huts is
undoubtedly this aspect. The
challenge is how to maintain this
whilst also ensuring an overlay of
preservation, security and
site interpretation.
Julian Bickersteth is Deputy President
of the National Trust in NSW