Preserving the historic huts of Antarctic explorers

The Antarctic Heritage Trust is a New Zealand-based charity with a vision of inspiring explorers. Through its mission to conserve, share and encourage the spirit of exploration the Trust cares for the remarkable expedition bases of early Antarctic explorers including Captain Robert Falcon Scott, Sir Ernest Shackleton and Sir Edmund Hillary.

In this presentation, Francesca Eathorne, General Manager Operations and Communications at AHT, will share the stories behind conserving this incredible legacy of the early polar explorers and the thousands of items they left behind. Teams of professional conservators, with specialisms in paper, timber, textile and metal conservation, have either over-wintered at Scott Base or spent summers in the field working from the AHT conservation laboratory.

Collectively, they have conserved more than 20,000 individual artefacts including clothing, equipment and personal items. The Antarctic Heritage Trust shares the legacy of exploration through outreach programmes, and encourages the spirit of exploration through expeditions to engage and inspire a new generation.