Museum features life on the ice
Hallett Station, Antarctica is a new Canterbury Museum attraction showing a slice of Antarctic base life. The Council-supported museum has recreated aspects of the history of Hallett Station from the time it was built by New Zealand and the United States in 1956 to the present day. It was built for the International Geophysical Year science programme and abandoned in 1973, although buildings, equipment and stores remained. The history of the station is both a human and an environmental account of an important era in Antarctic exploration and science. Buildings and the weather dome, a key feature of the base, have been reassembled and artefacts from the original base are displayed to illustrate life in an extreme environment.
At the station, an initial clean-up began in 1984 — buildings were demolished, rubbish removed and some items taken to Scott Base. Remediation efforts in the last five years have focused on returning the remaining buildings, rubbish and equipment to New Zealand. Antarctica New Zealand donated a significant number of these buildings and artefacts to Canterbury Museum. Meanwhile in Antarctica, Adelie penguins are reclaiming the breeding grounds they lost almost 50 years ago.
 Penguins Premiere
Late last month, Christchurch was host to the New Zealand premiere of March of the Penguins, an Academy Award-winning film that has captured the imagination of movie-goers across the United States.
The premiere helped to raise funds for the Antarctic Heritage Trust to allow the organisation to continue its upgrade work on the Scott and Shackleton Huts at Antarctica. The successful evening saw over $4000 raised for the trust. |
