Antarctica, New Zealand territorial claim

This is a timeline of the history of New Zealand's involvement with Antarctica.

Pre 1900s

;1838–1840 *French and American expeditions, led by Jules Dumont d'Urville and Charles Wilkes. John Sac, a Māori travelling with Wilkes, becomes the first New Zealander to cross the Antarctic Circle. p. 72. ;1895 *New Zealander Alexander von Tunzelmann becomes the first person to set foot on Antarctica, at

Cape Adare Cape Adare is a prominent cape of black basalt forming the northern tip of the Adare Peninsula and the north-easternmost extremity of Victoria Land, East Antarctica. Description Marking the north end of Borchgrevink Coast and the west e ...

. p. 73. ;1899 *February British expedition led by Carstens Borchgrevink, including several New Zealanders, establishes first base in Antarctica, at

. This expedition becomes the first to winter over on the continent.

1900s

;1902 * Scott Island (formerly ''Markham Island'') was discovered and landed upon by William Colbeck (seaman).

1910s

;1910 * Robert Falcon Scott leaves for Antarctica from Port Chalmers. Scott's party later died on the return journey after being delayed by a blizzard. ;1911–1914 *Four New Zealanders (H Hamilton, AJ Sawyer, EN Webb, and LA Webber) are members of Douglas Mawson's Australian Antarctic expedition. p. 74.

1920s

;1923 * Ross Dependency proclaimed on 30 July as a British Territory entrusted to New Zealand. ;1928 * US Navy Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd leaves Dunedin for the first sea-air exploration expedition to the Antarctic. Byrd overflew the South Pole with pilot Bernt Balchen on 28 and 29 November 1929, to match his overflight of the North Pole in 1926. ;1929 *Combined UK-Australia-NZ expedition led by Douglas Mawson; New Zealand members include RA Falla and RG Simmers. p. 75.

1930s

;1933 * New Zealand Antarctic Society founded.

1940s

;1946 *New Zealand joins the International Whaling Commission to help oversee whaling in the southern ocean. ;1949 *First publication of New Zealand Antarctic Society quarterly journal, ''

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...

1950s

;1955 *In August, The New Zealand Government decide to establish an Antarctic base as part of its contribution to

International Geophysical Year The International Geophysical Year (IGY; french: Année géophysique internationale) was an international scientific project that lasted from 1 July 1957 to 31 December 1958. It marked the end of a long period during the Cold War when scientific ...

(1957–58). pp. 75–76. ;1956 *

McMurdo Station McMurdo Station is a United States Antarctic research station on the south tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the Unit ...

established; construction of both Scott Base and

Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station The Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station is the United States scientific research station at the South Pole of the Earth. It is the southernmost point under the jurisdiction (not sovereignty) of the United States. The station is located on the ...

started. ;1957 *20 January Scott Base established in Ross Dependency. * New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition (NZGSAE) of 1957–58; named the Borchgrevink Glacier. * Hallett Station South of

is established as a joint New Zealand-United States operation. p. 76. * Bill Cranfield, John Claydon, and a New Zealand scientist arrived at the South Pole by air aboard a US Navy airplane; ;1958 *4 January Edmund Hillary, leading an expedition using farm tractors equipped for polar travel, arrives at the Pole, the first expedition since Scott's to reach the South Pole over land; part of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Hillary was the first New Zealander to reach the South Pole overland. * New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition (NZGSAE) of 1958–59; named the Mountaineer Range. *United States '' Operation Deep Freeze'' starts, based in Christchurch. ;1959 *1 December Antarctic Treaty signed with other countries involved in scientific exploration in Antarctica. *New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) established an Antarctic Division.

1960s

;1964 *January Walter Nash becomes the first Prime Minister of New Zealand to visit Antarctica. * Hallett Station destroyed by fire. It is not rebuilt but is used as a summer-only base until 1973. ;1965 *The first flight from New Zealand to Antarctica made by a Royal New Zealand Air Force C130 (Hercules) aircraft ;1968 *

Marie Darby Marion Marie Stringer Darby (née Büchler, 2 August 1940 – 10 October 2019) was a New Zealand marine biologist and teacher. She was the first New Zealand woman to visit the Antarctic mainland. In January 1968, she travelled on the ''Magga Da ...

becomes first New Zealand woman to visit the Antarctic ;1969 * New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition (NZGSAE) of 1969–70; visited the Scott Glacier and named Marble Peak and Surprise Spur. *12 November South Pole visited for the first time by women – four Americans, an Australian, and New Zealander

Pamela Young Pamela Margaret Young (née Rawlinson) was the first New Zealand woman to live and work in Antarctica. In 1969–70, she worked at Cape Bird as field assistant to her husband Euan, a biologist, and was among the first six women to fly to the Sou ...

* Vanda Station manned for the first time

1970s

;1970 * Antarctic Amendment Act comes into force. ;1972–1974 *First solo voyage to Antarctica, by New Zealand-born yachtsman and author David Lewis p. 77. ;1974 *December Joint NZ-France expedition makes first ascent, and descent into crater, of Mount Erebus. *Antarctic Museum Centre opened at Canterbury Museum in Christchurch. ;1975 *Prime Minister

Bill Rowling Sir Wallace Edward Rowling (; 15 November 1927 – 31 October 1995), commonly known as Bill Rowling, was a New Zealand politician who was the 30th prime minister of New Zealand from 1974 to 1975. He held office as the parliamentary leader of t ...

had a formal proposal made at the Oslo Meeting for Antarctic to be declared a World Park. ;1976 *

Thelma Rogers Thelma is a female given name. It was popularized by Victorian writer Marie Corelli who gave the name to the title character of her 1887 novel ''Thelma''. It may be related to a Greek word meaning "will, volition" see '' thelema''). Note that alt ...

, of New Zealand's DSIR, becomes the first woman to winter over on Antarctica. ;1977 *New Zealand proclaims Exclusive Economic Zone of 200 nautical miles (370 km), which provides for the zone to also include Ross Dependency's waters. ;1978 *21st Anniversary of Scott Base ;1979 * The

Mount Erebus disaster The Mount Erebus disaster occurred on 28 November 1979 when Air New Zealand Flight 901 (TE-901) flew into Mount Erebus on Ross Island, Antarctica, killing all 237 passengers and 20 crew on board. Air New Zealand had been operating scheduled A ...

: an Air New Zealand DC-10 crashes and 257 people die.

1980s

;1980 *New Zealand is signatory to the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, which comes into effect in 1982. ;1982 *20 January Rob Muldoon becomes the first sitting Prime Minister of New Zealand to visit Antarctica. *June Antarctic Treaty nations meet in Wellington to discuss the exploitation of Antarctica's minerals. ;1987 *Closure of Scott Base Post Office (reopened in 1994)

1990s

;1995 *Closure of Vanda Station ;1996 *

Antarctica New Zealand Antarctica New Zealand is an Institute set up by the Government of New Zealand in 1996 to manage its interests in Antarctica and the Ross Sea. As well as providing logistics support to a large scientific programme, it also runs bases such as Sco ...

established on 1 July to manage the Government's interest in Antarctica.

2000s

;2006 * October (to January 2007): New Zealanders Kevin Biggar and Jamie Fitzgerald become the first people to walk to the South Pole without the aid of any supply dumps. Their plan to parasail back is abandoned. ;2007 *Prime Minister Helen Clark and Sir Edmund Hillary (aged 87) travel with an official party to Scott Base to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of its founding. * 4 June First

New Zealand Antarctic Medal The New Zealand Antarctic Medal was created 1 September 2006, as a New Zealand royal honour to replace the British Polar Medal. History The Polar Medal was instituted in 1904 and awarded to those who had made notable contributions to the explor ...

(NZAM) awarded to geophysicist Dr Fred Davey.

References

External links

Antarctica New Zealand website

New Zealand Antarctic Society

{{DEFAULTSORT:Timeline of New Zealand's Links With Antarctica New Zealand and the Antarctic Antarctica History of Antarctica Antarctica Regional timelines History of the Ross Dependency