.jpg) Scott Statue in Christchurch, New Zealand, sculpted by his widow,Kathleen Scott. | |
 Interactive map of Statue of Robert Falcon Scott | |
| Location | Christchurch Central City, New Zealand |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 43°31′52″S172°38′01″E / 43.53120°S 172.63361°E /-43.53120; 172.63361 |
| Designer | Kathleen Scott |
| Material | Marble (statue) Granite (plinth) |
| Height | 2.6 m (8 ft 6 in) |
| Weight | 2.5 t (2.8 tons) |
| Opening date | 9 February 1917 |
| Restored date | 26 October 2017 |
| Designated | 26 November 1981 |
| Reference no. | 1840 |
TheStatue of Robert Falcon Scott, commonly known as theScott Statue, is a statue inChristchurch, New Zealand commemorating BritishAntarctic explorerRobert Falcon Scott. The statue was unveiled in 1917 and is located at a small recreational park at the intersection ofWorcester Street and Oxford Terrace inChristchurch Central City. Scott likely died on 29 March 1912 during hisTerra Nova Expedition to theSouth Pole. His death became public knowledge on 10 February 1913, in response, locals organised a committee dedicated to Scott within one week of the news of his death. The statue was commissioned to be carved by Scott's widow,Kathleen Scott, in which she travelled to a marblequarry inCarrara, Italy to carve it in March 1916. Her work was shipped to New Zealand in late 1916 and was unveiled on 9 February 1917. The statue is one of few monuments recognising the significance of early 20th-century Antarctic exploration.
The statue toppled off itsplinth in the February2011 Christchurch earthquake and broke in two; it was temporarily on display in an exhibition in theCanterbury Museum and was later reinstated in its original location on 26 October 2017; unveiled a second time, by the descendants of Scott andLianne Dalziel, formerMayor of Christchurch. The statue reflects Christchurch's connection withAntarctica and theBritish Empire and is also recognised byHeritage New Zealand as a Category II historic place.
The BritishAntarctic explorerRobert Falcon Scott had usedChristchurch andLyttelton as his New Zealand base for theDiscovery Expedition of 1901–1904 andTerra Nova Expedition of 1910–1913.[1][2] In between,Ernest Shackleton'sNimrod Expedition of 1907–1909 also used Lyttelton as the base for their attempt to reach theSouth Pole,[3][4] but they failed to get there.[5][6] Scott and his companions had a strong connection with the people of theCanterbury Region,[1] theTerra Nova departed from England on 1 June 1910 and arrived toLyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō on 28 October and were cherished by locals as they arrived.[7][8] Scott and his companions were welcomed by locals and conducted research and analyses at theCanterbury Museum and tested their equipment at a meteorological hut in theChristchurch Botanic Gardens.[9][10] Locals also helped supply their expeditions and gathered on 28 November 1910 to bade farewell to the explorers before preceding toPort Chalmers to make their final stop before continuing toAntarctica.[11][12] The objective of theTerra Nova Expedition was to be the first to reach the geographical South Pole.[13] Scott and his four other companions eventually reached the pole on17 January 1912, to learn that aNorwegian team led byRoald Amundsen had preceded them by 34 days.[14][15]
Scott and his companions struggled during their expedition and faced inclement weather and shortages of resources. Nearing the end of their journey from the pole, Scott and his two final companions set up their tent for the final time on 19 March.Henry Robertson Bowers andEdward Wilson planned to walk to thefinal depot, which was 11 mi (18 km) away, but never left their tent because Scott was unable to walk. Their deaths were certain because of the limited resources and enough food for only two days.[16] Captain Scott likely died on 29 March, and was presumably the last to die of the expedition.[17][16]
A search party consisting of the crew of theTerra Nova departed their camp in late October in hopes of sighting Scott and his companions that were missing for several months. On 12 November, the search party found a tent that contained the deteriorating bodies of Bowers, Wilson, and Scott.Tryggve Gran, of the search party, placed amemorial cross at the site of their deaths.[18][19] TheTerra Nova left for home in January 1913 and arrived to a port inOamaru in the early morning on 10 February.Edward L. Atkinson andHarry Pennell of the expedition rowed to the port, from where they sent a coded message back to the expedition's organiser.[20][21] On 12 February, the ship arrived to Lyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō, where the men of the expedition were surprised to see the city inmourning and flags flying athalf-mast.[2][22] Scott and his companions' deaths resulted in them being treated as heroes throughout theBritish Empire.[2][23]
The Statue of Robert Falcon Scott is located on the corner ofWorcester Street and Oxford Terrace inChristchurch Central City, New Zealand.[24] It is located in a small recreational park known as the Scott Statue Reserve beside theAvon River / Ōtākaro.[25][1] The statue is a 2.6-metre (8-foot-6-inch) hand-carved whitemarble sculpture depicting Captain Scott in a Polar dress. He holds a bronzealpenstock in his right hand, facing north towards theOld Municipal Chambers building, on top of a concrete foundation, and a stoneplinth made of severalgranite pieces that had been mortared together.[1][26][27] The statue weighs about 2.5 tonnes (2.5 long tons; 2.8 short tons).[28] The statue is also commonly known as the Captain Scott Memorial, Robert Falcon Scott Memorial, or simply the Scott Statue.[29][30]
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".[31][32]
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After the news of the deaths of Scott and his companions reached Christchurch, many locals suggested that a memorial to Scott and the other explorers to be erected in Christchurch.[33] TheMayor of Christchurch,Henry Holland, called for a public meeting to organise a memorial fund within one week of the news of their deaths.[34][10] A committee dedicated to Scott, named the Scott Memorial Committee, was established and over £1,000 was raised over a number of months from public donations for the memorial from schools and other local organisations that contributed towards a memorial to be erected in Canterbury, because of Christchurch's close connection with the expedition.[10][35]
Whilst the form of the memorial or its location had not been decided upon, the committee wrote to Captain Scott's widow,Kathleen Scott and enquired about her thoughts about the proposal.[27][36] The first proposal for a memorial of Captain Scott was put forward by a localbishop who suggested "that some great monument, placed right on the summit of thePort Hills, would be very suitable and it would be visible from both Lyttelton, with all its shipping, and from Christchurch and the plains". Though this proposal was never finalised.[35] TheChristchurch City Council and the committee later commissioned Kathleen to create a replica of the bronze statue inWaterloo Place in London, England that was erected in 1915. The statue in Christchurch was originally meant to be made withbronze, but the rising costs of the material caused byWorld War I made marble a more cost-effective option.[37][26]
In February 1916, the committee decided the statue would be positioned on a grass plot beside the Avon River / Ōtākaro and opposite theClarendon Hotel facing theOld Municipal Council building.[38][39] Kathleen travelled to carve the statue in a marblequarry inCarrara, Italy, in March 1916.[27][40]
Kathleen Scott's work was completed in May 1916, and the statue was shipped to New Zealand later that same year.[37][41] A large crowd gathered at the intersection of Worcester Street and Oxford Terrace on 9 February 1917 to witness the unveiling of the memorial with several speakers who reflected on the explorers' scientific contributions. The statue was unveiled by theGovernor-General of New Zealand,The Earl of Liverpool who stated "Captain Scott represented everything best in the traditions of theBritish Navy, and were he alive today". Mayor Henry Holland stated that "the memorial to Captain Scott would remain a permanent reminder to the generations of the future that theEnglishmen of these days were worthy upholders of the noblest traditions of their race".Speakers also noting that the statue would "act as an inspiration andan incentive to succeeding generations to emulatetheir example".[42][26]
There is aninscription on the plinth, which includes the names of his party of five which died and one of Scott's last diary entries.[43][26] The inscription reads:
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 further inscription below the one commemorating Captain Scott, is an inscription recognising the statue's sculptor, Kathleen Scott,[27] that reads:
This statue was sculpted by
KATHLEEN SCOTTFRBS
(1878–1947)
widow of
CAPTAIN SCOTT
and was unveiled in 1917.
The statue was toppled off its plinth by the February2011 Christchurch earthquake.[40] Unattached to the plinth, the statue fell to the base, with its head buried in the ground and it broken below its knees. Some more damage was caused by people trying to "dig out" around the head. The statue was lifted on 4 April 2011, from its location inside theCentral City Red Zone, which suffered significant damage during the earthquake. The statue was later craned onto two wooden plinths and transported to a storage facility.[44][24] Over the next few years, the statue was on display during the November 2012 Icefest inHagley Park,[45] and from January 2016, in Christchurch's Earthquake Museum, which is part of theCanterbury Museum, inCity Mall.[46][47]
During the restoration of the statue, fourcarbon fibre rods were inserted from foot to waist in each leg, strengthening the rebuilt statue. In order to attach the statue to its plinth, astonemason drilled a hole through the granite top and the marble base, which allowed the statue to be lifted by acrane. The statue was then transported to its plinth, and its base was reinforced for earthquake resistance with a "large spring mechanism" for additional stability.[48] The estimated cost of restoration work was $560,000, but $900,000 was insured.[40] Restoration of the statue was completed 2017; and was unveiled a second time in a ceremony in its original location on 6 October.[40] It was unveiled by the descendants of Scott andLianne Dalziel, former Mayor of Christchurch.[40][47] Shortly after the restoration, the statue was vandalised by someone snapping off his alpenstock in his right hand. A staff member from the Christchurch City Council later found the broken alpenstock in a nearby garden.[28]
A 2017 "significance assessment" by the Christchurch City Council reported theScott Statue is one of few monuments recognising the importance of early 20th-century Antarctic exploration. For many people in Christchurch, the statue still serves as a symbolic portrayal of bravery, heroism, and endurance. It also reflects Christchurch's connection with Antarctic exploration and the British Empire. On 26 November 1981, the statue was recognised byHeritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga as a Category II historic place.[27][49]
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