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Statue of Robert Falcon Scott, Christchurch

Coordinates: 43°31′52″S 172°38′01″E / 43.53120°S 172.63361°E / -43.53120; 172.63361
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Statue of Robert Falcon Scott
A white marble statue on top of a plinth with trees in the background.
Scott Statue in Christchurch, New Zealand, sculpted by his widow, Kathleen Scott.
Map
43°31′52″S 172°38′01″E / 43.53120°S 172.63361°E / -43.53120; 172.63361
LocationChristchurch Central City, New Zealand
DesignerKathleen Scott
MaterialMarble
Height2.6 m (8 ft 6 in)
Weight2.5 t (2.8 tons)
Opening date1917
Restored date2017
Designated26 November 1981
Reference no.1840

The Statue of Robert Falcon Scott commemorates Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott. It is located at the intersection of Worcester Street and Oxford Terrace in Christchurch Central City, New Zealand. Unveiled in 1917, the memorial serves as a symbolic portrayal of bravery, heroism, and endurance of the Englishmen of the British Empire. The statue was carved by Scott's widow, Kathleen Scott, and is registered by Heritage New Zealand as a Category II historic place. The statue toppled off its plinth in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake and broke in two; it was temporarily on display in an exhibition in the Canterbury Museum and was later reinstated in its original location in October 2017.

Background

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Portrait of a young Robert Falcon Scott, photographed in circa 1900
Portrait of Scott by John Thomson, c. 1900.

The British Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott had used Christchurch and Lyttelton as his New Zealand base for the British Discovery Expedition from 1901–1904 and Terra Nova Expedition from 1910–1913.[1][2] In between, Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition from 1907–1909 also used Lyttelton as the base for their attempt to reach the South Pole,[3] but they failed to get there.[4] The objective of the Terra Nova Expedition was to be the first to reach the geographical South Pole.[5] Scott and four companions reached the pole on 17 January 1912, to find that a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen had preceded them by 34 days. Scott's entire party died on the return journey from the pole.[6][7][8] Their deaths resulted in them being treated as heroes throughout the British Empire.[2]

The remaining crew of the Terra Nova returned to New Zealand, 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.[9][10] A memorial oak was planted in the street leading to the harbourmaster's house in Oamaru, from where the message was relayed. The next memorial was erected in Queenstown, where two stone tablets were attached to a boulder in the Queenstown Gardens. A few months later, a memorial was erected in Port Chalmers, as this was the last harbour where the Terra Nova had visited before proceeding to Antarctica.[6]

Description

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The statue of Robert Falcon Scott is located on the corner of Worcester Street and Oxford Terrace in Christchurch Central City. Its centrepiece is a 2.6 metres (8 feet 6 inches) hand-carved marble sculpture depicting Scott in a Polar dress. He holds a patinated bronze alpenstock in his right hand facing north. On top of a concrete foundation, the monument is placed on a stone plinth made of several granite pieces that had been mortared together. From the Scott Memorial Reserve, a grassy and bricked area, steps ascend to the granite plinth.[1][11] The statue's white marble is supposed to symbolise the Antarctic's ice.[12] The statue weighs about 2.5 tonnes (2.5 long tons; 2.8 short tons).[13] A grassed space, a pond, a fountain, and garden beds surround the statue. The statue is also commonly referred to as the Robert Falcon Scott Memorial or the Captain Scott Memorial.[1]

In 1917, The Press, a Christchurch-based newspaper publication, described the statue as "Fortunate in many things – in the beauty of its surroundings, in its fine open spaces, in the wise provision of its founders manifested in other ways – Christchurch is not least fortunately endowed in its statues of public men".[14][15]

History

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Commemorative plaques of on the base of the statue
Base of the statue with its plaques

The Mayor of Christchurch, Henry Holland, called for a public meeting to organise a memorial fund within one week of the news of Scott's death.[16] 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.[17][18]

The commission was for Kathleen Scott to create a replica of the bronze statue erected in Waterloo Place in London in 1915.[11] The rising costs of metal caused by World War I made marble a more cost effective option. She travelled to carve the statue in a marble quarry in Carrara, Italy, in March 1916, as the importation of marble into Britain had been banned.[17][12]

The statue was finished in April 1916, but was not shipped until October of that year due to the war.[19][6] A large crowd gathered in Central Christchurch on 9 February 1917 at the intersection of Worcester Street and Oxford Terrace to see the unveiling of the memorial by the governor-general of New Zealand, The Earl of Liverpool who stated "Captain Scott represented everything best in the traditions of the British Navy, and were he alive to-day [sic]". Mayor Henry Holland stated that "the memorial to Captain Scott would remain a permanent reminder to the generations of the future that the Englishmen of these days were worthy upholders of the noblest traditions of their race", as several speakers reflected on the explorers' scientific contributions.[18][11] The inscription on the plinth, which includes the names of his party of five which died and one of Scott's last diary entries, reads:[20][21][11]

ROBERT FALCON SCOTT
CAPTAIN ROYAL NAVY
Who died returning from the South Pole, 1912, with A. E. Wilson, H. R. Bowers, L. E. G. Oates, E. Evans.

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.

A white marble fallen statue depicting Robert Falcon Scott, in a small urban park
Statue fallen off its plinth during the 2011 Christchurch earthquake.

During the war, the statue of Scott was elevated to a representation of "British Values" that should be emulated.[22] The story of Antarctic exploration was surrounded by ideas of inspiration and patriotism, which the memorial illustrates. For many people in the community, the memorial is still a symbolic portrayal of bravery, heroism, and endurance. For both national and international visitors with an interest in Antarctica, the memorial is an important site for commemoration. Every year, the New Zealand Antarctic Society hosts a ceremony to lay wreaths on the memorial.[19]

The statue was toppled off its plinth by the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.[12][19] It broke into two pieces and was put into storage. It was on display during the November 2012 Icefest, and from January 2016, in Christchurch's Earthquake Museum, which is part of the Canterbury Museum, in City Mall.[23][21] In the restoration of the statue, four carbon fibre rods were inserted from foot to waist in each leg, strengthening the rebuilt statue. Inside each leg, carbon fibre strands were used to weave the rods together. Its estimated cost of restoration work was $560,000, but $900,000 was insured.[12]

Restoration of the statue was completed 2017; the statue was unveiled a second time in a ceremony in its original location on 6 October.[24] It was unveiled by the descendants of Scott and Lianne Dalziel, former Mayor of Christchurch.[12][21] Shortly after the restoration, the statue was vandalised by someone snapping off his alpenstock (or walking pole) in his right hand. A staff member from the Christchurch City Council later found the broken alpenstock in a nearby garden.[13]

Heritage listing

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On 26 November 1981, the statue was registered by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust 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 America bases these days at Christchurch International Airport.[17]

See also

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References

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Citations

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  1. ^ a b c Murray & Fryer 2022, pp. 1–2.
  2. ^ a b Rice, Geoffrey (2008). Christchurch Changing: An Illustrated History (2nd ed.). Christchurch: Canterbury University Press. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-908812-53-0.
  3. ^ Mill, Hugh Robert (1923). The Life of Sir Ernest Shackleton. London: William Heinemann. p. 114.
  4. ^ Riffenburgh, Beau (2005). Nimrod: Ernest Shackleton and the Extraordinary Story of the 1907–09 British Antarctic Expedition. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 151–153. ISBN 978-0-7475-7253-4.
  5. ^ Crane, D. (2005). Scott of the Antarctic: A Life of Courage, and Tragedy in the Extreme South. London: HarperCollins. p. 397. ISBN 9780007150687.
  6. ^ a b c "Memorials to Robert Falcon Scott in New Zealand". Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 18 November 2009. Archived from the original on 19 July 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
  7. ^ "Death of Robert Falcon Scott". Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 12 November 2009. Archived from the original on 2 April 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
  8. ^ Birch, Carol (30 December 2011). "Scott's polar disaster lives on". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 October 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
  9. ^ Murray & Fryer 2022, pp. 3–4.
  10. ^ Telegraph Press Association (10 February 1913). "Terra Nova Arrives at Oamaru". Evening Post. Archived from the original on 2 August 2020. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
  11. ^ a b c d "Honouring the Brave". The Press. No. 15822. 10 February 1917. Archived from the original on 15 June 2024. Retrieved 23 November 2024 – via Papers Past.
  12. ^ a b c d e Harvie, Will (7 October 2017). "Christchurch's Robert Falcon Scott statue gets base isolation". The Press. Christchurch, New Zealand. ISSN 0113-9762. ProQuest 1947557533. Archived from the original on 18 July 2024. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
  13. ^ a b "Captain Robert Falcon Scott statue vandalised weeks after being restored to plinth". Stuff. 1 November 2017. Archived from the original on 8 October 2018. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
  14. ^ Matthews, Phillip (9 March 2021). "1917: Scott statue 'a sermon in stone'". Stuff. Archived from the original on 10 March 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
  15. ^ "Captain Scott". The Press. No. 15822. Christchurch, New Zealand. 10 February 1917. Retrieved 22 November 2024 – via Papers Past.
  16. ^ "A Christchurch Memorial". Colonist. Vol. LV, no. 13650. 15 February 1913. p. 6. Archived from the original on 9 October 2012. Retrieved 11 March 2011 – via Papers Past.
  17. ^ a b c Lovell-Smith, Melanie (8 August 2001). "Captain Scott Memorial". Heritage New Zealand. Archived from the original on 29 December 2023. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
  18. ^ a b Murray & Fryer 2022, pp. 3–5.
  19. ^ a b c Murray & Fryer 2022, p. 3.
  20. ^ "Captain Robert Falcon Scott Statue". Christchurch City Council. Archived from the original on 22 November 2010. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
  21. ^ a b c Murray & Fryer 2022, p. 9.
  22. ^ Freer 2011, p. 305.
  23. ^ "Captain Robert Falcon Scott statue returns to public view". The Press. 15 January 2016. p. A2. Archived from the original on 9 July 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  24. ^ "Captain Robert Falcon Scott Statue". Christchurch City Council. Archived from the original on 25 June 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2018.

Bibliography

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