Voices from Antarctica 2: Scott Base

Alison Ballance has her first day at New Zealand's Antarctic station, Scott Base, and visits the historic Hillary's Hut.

In the Scott Base episode of Voices from Antarctica, Alison Ballance gets some tips on how to sleep warmly and go to the toilet out in the field, and gets a tour of Hillary Hut with Antarctic Heritage Trust conservator Al Fastier.

Find Our Changing World on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRADIO, Google Podcasts, RadioPublic or wherever you listen to your podcasts

Scott Base is New Zealand's Antarctic station, situated at Pram Point, Hut Point Peninsula on Ross Island in McMurdo Sound. Its exact location is 77°51'S and 166°46'E, and it is 10 metres above sea level. The United States' McMurdo Station lies a few kilometres away.

Hillary Hut, was known as Hut A in the original Scott Base, and was constructed as a kitset in January 1957.

It is officially known as the TAE / IGY hut. This stands for the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition - International Geophysical Year.

Hillary's Hut now serves as a museum.

Hillary Hut was built to house a team of New Zealanders, led by Sir Edmund Hillary, who were supporting Sir Vivian Fuchs' effort to cross Antarctica. Sir Ed and his team were just meant to lay supply depots for Fuchs, but they ended up driving all the way to the South Pole in Massey Fergusson tractors where they met 'Bunny' Fuchs and his team who had crossed from the other side of the continent.

The original Scott Base was intended to be a temporary camp only, but in 1962 the New Zealand government decided to make it a permanent Antarctic Base.

Over time, the old base has been mostly replaced by new buildings.

The Antarctic Heritage Trust has recently restored Hillary's Hut, as part of a multi-year mission to restore five historic huts in the Ross Sea region.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_0rqvaA1pk/

In 2011, Alison Ballance reported on the restoration of Shackleton's Nimrod Hut at Cape Royds.

In 2007, Veronika Meduna reported on the restoration of the Nimrod Hut and Scott's Hut at Cape Evans.

Voices from Antarctica - listen to the full series

Voices from Antarctica 1: Ice Flight

Voices from Antarctica 2: Scott Base

Voices from Antarctica 3: Flags to physics

Voices from Antarctica 4: Best journey in the world

Voices from Antarctica 5: Waiting for Emperors

Voices from Antarctica 6: Seal songs

Voices from Antarctica 7: What the ice is saying

Voices from Antarctica 8: Under the ice

Our Changing World's Antarctic collection

Listen to a wide range of stories recorded in and about Antarctica from our archives.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details