Scott Statue
Encyclopedia
Robert Falcon Scott
Captain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13...
. It is located at the intersection of Oxford Terrace and Worcester Street in the Christchurch Central City
Christchurch Central City
Christchurch Central City is the geographical centre and the heart of Christchurch, New Zealand. It is defined as the area within the four avenues and thus includes the densely built up central city, some less dense surrounding areas of residential, educational and industrial usage, and green...
, New Zealand. The statue, carved by Scott's widow Kathleen Scott
Kathleen Scott
Kathleen Scott, Baroness Kennet, FRSBS was a British sculptor.-Early life:Born Edith Agnes Kathleen Bruce at Carlton in Lindrick, Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire, she was the youngest of eleven children of Canon Lloyd Stuart Bruce and Jane Skene Kathleen Scott, Baroness Kennet, FRSBS (27 March...
, is registered as a Category II historic place. The statue toppled off its plinth in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
Context
The explorer Scott had used ChristchurchChristchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...
and Lyttelton
Lyttelton, New Zealand
Lyttelton is a port town on the north shore of Lyttelton Harbour close to Banks Peninsula, a suburb of Christchurch on the eastern coast of the South Island of New Zealand....
as his New Zealand base for the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–1904
Discovery Expedition
The British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–04, generally known as the Discovery Expedition, was the first official British exploration of the Antarctic regions since James Clark Ross's voyage sixty years earlier...
and Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–1913
Terra Nova Expedition
The Terra Nova Expedition , officially the British Antarctic Expedition 1910, was led by Robert Falcon Scott with the objective of being the first to reach the geographical South Pole. Scott and four companions attained the pole on 17 January 1912, to find that a Norwegian team led by Roald...
. In between, Ernest Shackleton
Ernest Shackleton
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, CVO, OBE was a notable explorer from County Kildare, Ireland, who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration...
's Nimrod Expedition
Nimrod Expedition
The British Antarctic Expedition 1907–09, otherwise known as the Nimrod Expedition, was the first of three expeditions to the Antarctic led by Ernest Shackleton. Its main target, among a range of geographical and scientific objectives, was to be first to the South Pole...
also used Lyttelton as the base for their attempt to reach the South Pole
South Pole
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole...
, but they failed to get there. The objective of the Terra Nova Expedition expedition was to be the first to reach the geographical South Pole. Scott and four companions reached the pole on 1912, to find that a Norwegian team
Amundsen's South Pole expedition
The first expedition to reach the geographic South Pole was led by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. He and four others arrived at the pole on 14 December 1911, five weeks ahead of a British party led by Robert Falcon Scott...
led by Roald Amundsen
Roald Amundsen
Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He led the first Antarctic expedition to reach the South Pole between 1910 and 1912 and he was the first person to reach both the North and South Poles. He is also known as the first to traverse the Northwest Passage....
had preceded them by 33 days. Scott's entire party died on the return journey from the pole. Their deaths resulted in them being treated as heroes throughout the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
.
The remaining crew returned to New Zealand and came ashore in British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
, from where a coded message was cabled to the expedition's organiser in Britain. The fate of the expedition's team became public knowledge on 11 February 1913. A memorial oak was planted in the street leading to the harbourmaster's house, from where the message was relayed. The next memorial was erected in Queenstown
Queenstown, New Zealand
Queenstown is a resort town in Otago in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island. It is built around an inlet called Queenstown Bay on Lake Wakatipu, a long thin Z-shaped lake formed by glacial processes, and has spectacular views of nearby mountains....
, where two stone tablets were attached to a boulder in the Queenstown Gardens. A few months later, a memorial was erected in Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers is a suburb and the main port of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand, with a population of 3,000. Port Chalmers lies ten kilometres inside Otago Harbour, some 15 kilometres northeast from Dunedin's city centre....
, as this was the last harbour where the Terra Nova had visited before proceeding to Antarctica.
History
The Mayor of ChristchurchMayor of Christchurch
The Mayor of Christchurch is the head of the municipal government of Christchurch, New Zealand, and presides over the Christchurch City Council. The mayor is directly elected using a First Past the Post electoral system...
, Henry Holland
Henry Holland (mayor)
Henry Holland, CBE was a New Zealand politician of the Reform Party, and Mayor of Christchurch from 1912 to 1919.-Member of Parliament:...
, called for a public meeting to organise a memorial fund within one week of the news of Scott's death. A committee was formed and over £1,000 was raised. Whilst the form of the memorial or its location had not been decided upon, the committee wrote to Scott's widow and enquired about her thoughts. This resulted in her being engaged to sculpt a statue of her late husband.
The commission was for Kathleen Scott to create a replica of the bronze statue erected in Waterloo Place in London in 1915. The rising costs of metal caused by World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
made marble a more cost effective option. She went to carve the statue in Carrara
Carrara
Carrara is a city and comune in the province of Massa-Carrara , notable for the white or blue-grey marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some west-northwest of Florence....
in Italy in March 1916, as the importation of marble into Britain had been banned. She said about the block that was measuring 16 cubic yards (12.2 m³):
You will be glad to hear that it is a remarkably fine piece of marble, of a good colour and without any flaw whatever. Considering the great size this is very fortunate.
The statue was finished in April 1916, but was not shipped until October of that year due to the war. It was unveiled by the Governor
Governor-General of New Zealand
The Governor-General of New Zealand is the representative of the monarch of New Zealand . The Governor-General acts as the Queen's vice-regal representative in New Zealand and is often viewed as the de facto head of state....
, The Earl of Liverpool
Arthur Foljambe, 2nd Earl of Liverpool
-References:...
, on the corner of Worcester Street and Oxford Terrace on 9 February 1917, facing north and looking towards the building that was then the civic offices. The inscription on the plinth, which is one of his last diary entries, reads:
I do not regret this journey, which shows
that Englishmen can endure hardships,
help one another, and meet death with
as great fortitude as ever in the past.
The inscription had become unreadable by 1922 and a separate marble plaque with this text was installed at the entrance to the reserve. Another plaque lists the names of the five men who died. Recognition grew of Kathleen Scott after the 1995 publication of a biography, and in 1998 a further plaque was added recognising her:
This statue was sculpted by Kathleen Scott FRSBS (1878–1947) Widow of Captain Scott, and was unveiled in 1917.
The statue was not quite finished. The details of the gloves have not been done, and one of the legs rests against a stump to support the figure. Kathleen Scott had offered to undertake this additional work when she returned to Christchurch, but this did never eventuate.
The statue toppled off its plinth in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
Heritage listing
On 26 November 1981, the statue was registered by the New Zealand Historic Places TrustNew Zealand Historic Places Trust
The New Zealand Historic Places Trust is a non-profit trust that advocates for the protection of ancestral sites and heritage buildings in New Zealand...
as a Category II historic place, with the registration number being 1840. It is one of seven memorials that Kathleen Scott sculpted after her husband's death. It also demonstrates Christchurch's link with Antarctic exploration, being the base for Shackleton and Scott in the past, and being the Gateway to the Antarctic by providing the Italian, New Zealand and United States of American bases these days at Christchurch International Airport
Christchurch International Airport
-Facts & figures:As the gateway for Christchurch and the South Island, Christchurch International Airport is New Zealand’s second largest airport.5,908,077 passengers travelled in and out of Christchurch International Airport from 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009...
.