They are the “unsung heroes” of New Zealand’s early Antarctic exploration and they have finally held their reunion a year after it was cancelled due to a snap Covid lockdown.
Members of the Old Antarctic Explorers – some of whom are in their 80s and 90s – headed to Christchurch last August for a three-day reunion.
But within hours of their arrival Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern announced the Delta variant was in the community and alert level 4 – a lockdown – would come into effect that night.
Disappointed but undeterred, the old Antarcticans headed home, hoping they would get to meet up again.
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Just over a year later, they have gathered in Christchurch, one of five Antarctic gateway cities.
The group boasts a wealth of knowledge and experience of the frozen continent, with many of them heading south between 1957 and 1964.
Max Quinn – a renowned wildlife photographer and filmmaker who has visited Antarctica “half a dozen times” – said the Old Antarctic Explorers (OAEs) have a unique link to the famous era of polar exploration.
“I look on these guys as being the last living link to the heroic age of Antarctica,” he said.
“Even though the days of Scott and Shackleton were over and done with, the [OAEs] were still treading over ground that had never been explored before.
“They were carrying on that original work that those early pioneers did down there.”
Some OAEs met members of Robert Falcon Scott’s party who still working in Antarctica, such as Sir Charles Wright who was part of the 1910–13 Terra Nova Expedition, Quinn said.
“He visited them and stayed at Scott Base for 10 days.
“These guys actually ave a link to members of Captain Scott’s party, which was an incredible experience to have witnessed.”
The group’s busy itinerary included welcome drinks at Adventure Books in the Arts Centre, an Antarctica-themed city centre walking tour and a visit to the Antarctic Gallery at Canterbury Museum.
They also attended a day of talks at the International Antarctic Centre and got to meet the huskies.
Amoung them was Frank Graveson, one of the reunion organisers, who was a husky handler in the 1960s – one of two people looking after 70 dogs.
He was part of a team who took part in one of the last “big dog journeys” to survey the frozen continent.
Many of the OAEs were now in their mid to late 80, and last year’s cancellation made this week’s reunion even more special, Quinn said.
"Even in that short time, which was just a year ago, we have already lost several members of the group.”
“This could well be the last time.”
As scientists, engineers and explorers, the work they did in Antarctica in the 1950s and 1960s “was unheralded”, he said.
“I call them the unsung heroes of New Zealand’s Antarctic programme.”
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