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

1838–1840

• French and American expeditions, led byJules Dumont d'Urville andCharles Wilkes. John Sac, a Māori travelling with Wilkes, becomes the first New Zealander to cross the Antarctic Circle.^[1]

1895

• New ZealanderAlexander von Tunzelmann becomes the first person to set foot on Antarctica, atCape Adare.^[2]

1899

• February British expedition led byCarsten Borchgrevink, including several New Zealanders, establishes first base in Antarctica, atCape Adare. This expedition becomes the first to winter over on the continent.^[2]

1902

• Scott Island (formerlyMarkham Island) was discovered and landed upon byWilliam Colbeck.^[relevant?]

1910

• Robert Falcon Scott leaves for Antarctica fromPort Chalmers. Scott's party later died on the return journey after being delayed by a blizzard.^{[citation needed]}

1911–1914

• Four New Zealanders (H Hamilton, AJ Sawyer, EN Webb, and LA Webber) are members ofDouglas Mawson's Australian Antarctic expedition.^[3]

1923

• Ross Dependency proclaimed on 30 July as a British Territory entrusted to New Zealand.^[3]

1928

• US Navy Rear AdmiralRichard Evelyn Byrd leavesDunedin 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.^{[clarification needed]}

1929

• Combined UK-Australia-NZ expedition led byDouglas Mawson; New Zealand members include RA Falla and RG Simmers.^[4]

1933

• New Zealand Antarctic Society founded.

1946

• New Zealand joins theInternational Whaling Commission to help oversee whaling in the southern ocean.^[4]

1949

• First publication ofNew Zealand Antarctic Society quarterly journal,Antarctic^[4]

1955

• In August, The New Zealand Government decide to establish an Antarctic base as part of its contribution toInternational Geophysical Year (1957–58).^[5]

1956

• McMurdo Station established; construction of bothScott Base andAmundsen–Scott South Pole Station started.

1957

• 20 JanuaryScott Base established inRoss Dependency.
• New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition (NZGSAE) of 1957–58; named theBorchgrevink Glacier.^{[clarification needed][citation needed]}
• Hallett Station South ofCape Adare is established as a joint New Zealand-United States operation.^[6]
• Bill Cranfield, John Claydon, and a New Zealand scientist arrived at the South Pole by air aboard a US Navy airplane;

1958

• 4 JanuaryEdmund 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 theCommonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition.^[6] Hillary was the first New Zealander to reach the South Pole overland.
• New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition (NZGSAE) of 1958–59; named theMountaineer Range.^{[clarification needed][citation needed]}
• United StatesOperation Deep Freeze starts, based inChristchurch.^{[citation needed]}

1959

• 1 DecemberAntarctic Treaty signed with other countries involved in scientific exploration in Antarctica.^{[citation needed]}
• New ZealandDepartment of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) established an Antarctic Division.^[6]

1964

• JanuaryWalter Nash becomes the firstPrime Minister of New Zealand to visit Antarctica.^[7]
• Hallett Station destroyed by fire. It is not rebuilt^[6] 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^{[citation needed]}

1968

• Marie Darby becomes first New Zealand woman to visit the Antarctic^[8]

1969

• New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition (NZGSAE) of 1969–70; visited theScott Glacier and namedMarble Peak andSurprise Spur.^{[citation needed]}
• 12 November South Pole visited for the first time by women – four Americans, an Australian, and New ZealanderPamela Young^[6]
• Vanda Station staffed for the first time

1970

• Antarctic Amendment Act comes into force.^[relevant?]

1972–1974

• First solo voyage to Antarctica, by New Zealand-born yachtsman and authorDavid Lewis^[9]

1974

• December Joint NZ-France expedition makes first ascent, and descent into crater, ofMount Erebus.
• Antarctic Museum Centre opened atCanterbury Museum inChristchurch.^[9]

1975

• Prime MinisterBill Rowling had a formal proposal made at the Oslo Meeting for Antarctic to be declared a World Park.^{[citation needed]}

1976

• Thelma Rodgers, of New Zealand's DSIR, becomes the first woman to winter over on Antarctica.^[9]

1977

• New Zealand proclaimsExclusive Economic Zone of 200 nautical miles (370 km), which provides for the zone to also include Ross Dependency's waters.^[9]

1978

• 21st Anniversary of Scott Base

1979

• TheMount Erebus disaster: anAir New Zealand DC-10 crashes and 257 people die.^{[citation needed]}

1980

• New Zealand is signatory to theConvention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, which comes into effect in 1982.^[9]

1982

• 20 JanuaryRob Muldoon becomes the first sittingPrime Minister of New Zealand to visit Antarctica.^[9]
• June Antarctic Treaty nations meet inWellington to discuss the exploitation of Antarctica's minerals.^[9]

1987

• Closure ofScott Base Post Office (reopened in 1994)

1995

• Closure ofVanda Station^[relevant?]

1996

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

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.^[10] Their plan to parasail back is abandoned.^[11]

2007

• Prime MinisterHelen Clark and SirEdmund Hillary (aged 87) travel with an official party toScott Base to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of its founding.
• 4 June FirstNew Zealand Antarctic Medal (NZAM) awarded to geophysicist Dr Fred Davey.^{[citation needed]}

• Antarctica New Zealand website
• New Zealand Antarctic Society
• New Zealand Antarctic Medal

• New Zealand and the Antarctic
• History of Antarctica
• New Zealand timelines
• Regional timelines
• History of the Ross Dependency

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