Tony Taylor awarded Antarctic Society Jubilee Medal
As part of its Antarctic Oral History Project, the New Zealand Antarctic Society recently completed an ambitious programme to interview 11 individuals who had been closely involved in the immediate aftermath of New Zealand’s aeroplane disaster on Mount Erebus in Antarctica in November 1979.
The interviews involved climbers who were first on the scene, searching for proof of life amongst the wreckage, and others who built and manned a camp and kept the police recovery people safe, many of whom lacked any sort of mountaineering experience. Other interviews covered the effects of the crash on the Scott Base community.
Dr Tony Taylor was one of the individuals interviewed for this project. As the Honorary Consultant Clinical Psychologist to New Zealand’s Antarctic Division, he has had a long involvement in Antarctica. At the time of the crash, Dr Taylor recruited a team of psycho-medical personnel who interviewed all staff returning from the disaster, as well as those working in the Auckland Mortuary to identify the remains. Dr Taylor visited Antarctica after the bodies were recovered to determine the effect on those working on the ice.
Dr Taylor has had a long involvement with New Zealand’s Antarctic Programme and the New Zealand Antarctic Society was glad to recognise his efforts, with 10 other interviewees, with the Society’s Jubilee medal created in 1983 to mark 50 years of the Society’s existence, now a collector’s item.