Antarctic heritage restoration
Uncovering the axe: “It still had its label on and had never been used.” Photos: Supplied.
John Taylor has a fondness for restoring old huts.
The Department of Conservation staffer has been involved with the faithful restoration of Riordan’s, Waingaro Forks and McKay Downs huts in Golden Bay, and his interest in heritage restoration in remote locations led him to a fascinating experience this summer: a three-and-a-half-month-long secondment to Antarctica with the Antarctic Heritage Trust.
“The trust had a big programme of work this year so they wanted to put together a big team,” says John. “They’ve been working on Shackleton and Scott’s huts since 2004, but they wanted a big push on Scott’s hut because next year will be the centenary of Scott getting to the pole and coming to grief on the way back. The trust wants the hut looking good for the celebrations that will take place. They’ve only got limited resources so they hit up DOC for a secondment. DOC agreed to do it and I applied. I’m grateful for the support I had from my local managers in taking up the opportunity.”
John says that his experience in heritage hut restoration undoubtedly helped his appointment to the nine-strong team of carpenters and artefact conservators that spent most of the summer on the ice. The carpenters had a range of tasks to complete. They had to batten over the gaps in the tongue-and-groove cladding in Shackleton’s hut at Cape Royds. The gaps had opened up because the cladding had shrunk in Antarctica’s no-humidity atmosphere. John’s team also had to remove ice from under Shackleton’s hut and prevent the ice from accreting again.
“They’d tried to devise ways of preventing the ice from building up under Shackleton’s hut but it hadn’t been that successful,” says John. “However they knew from experience at Scott’s Hut that a waterproof bund into the permafrost should do the trick so we had to chip away at the new ice and then build a deflection dam and a kind of reverse swimming pool to prevent the ice from building up again.
“While I was chipping away near where they found the whiskey last year, I uncovered an axe. It still had its label on and had never been used. It was kind of ironic that I uncovered it, because I’m normally a pretty happy kind of chap when I’ve got a chainsaw in one hand and an axe in the other. Anyway, this axe was a good find. The conservators will work out the best way to look after it and then put it somewhere appropriate—maybe in the hut itself.”
Another important task for John was re-roofing Scott’s hut, including the stables, the annex and the latrines.
“In carrying out repair work, the trust is aiming to have the huts authentically reflect their heroic era condition,” says John. “Scott’s hut had been roofed in a product called Ruberoid—a bitumen/rubber kind of product that came in rolls and was nailed on and cleated in some places for extra strength. It had lasted until about the 1960s, when a New Zealand expedition went down to the ice to re-roof the hut with canvas tarpaulins. I was rapt to hear that Graeme Wilson of Puramahoi had been part of that expedition. I’ve seen some of his photos and had a yarn about his expedition and I’ll be very pleased to go back and have a bit of a debrief with Graeme.
“Anyway, the heritage trust’s architects sourced a product called Polygum from Belgium that wasn’t exactly identical, but was like a sister to the original Ruberoid. We didn’t fix it with nails because water goes right through nail holes. We mechanically fixed it down one edge and then overlapped it and heat-welded the edges together. That was a big challenge, heat-welding in the very cold temperatures.”
Between late October and early February, Antarctica experiences permanent daylight. This presented more of a challenge than the cold.
“When it was calm or there was only light wind, the temperature could be between minus twenty and zero Celsius. That’s not too bad if you’re well rugged up and you’ve got a good beanie over your ears. At the first hint of wind you need to put on a balaclava. You might have four or five layers of clothes on, but you can always shed one if you needed to during the warmer period of the day between about 3pm and 6pm. The permanent light was the biggest problem for me—it didn’t worry some of the team. We were sleeping in tents. I’m not very good at sleeping in daylight at the best of times, so I got really tired. I never really slept properly in the whole time I was away.”
John says that his amazing experience in Antarctica has given him a whole new perspective on the exploits of the explorers who first went there.
“I’ve got a huge appreciation for what the old fellas did down there. Scott’s 1910-13 expedition was really something. We went down very well equipped to a place that people know a fair bit about, but those guys had to gear up for an expedition to the other side of the world when they didn’t have much idea of what they were going to experience.”
John also says that the work of the Antarctic Heritage Trust is inspirational.
“It’s fantastic the way they manage their work. I’ve got the utmost respect for the staff and the project managers. Heritage conservation in such a harsh and remote location is a big challenge. The trust is doing a fantastic job. As for the huts -it’s like going into a time machine. When you first go into those old huts you don’t talk at all and then you just whisper without realising it. You’re totally transformed back to another era. The huts were the first buildings on the continent and they’re full of thousands of artefacts. There are wooden skis and sleds, winch blocks, a cache of seal blubber for the stove and all manner of scientific and meteorological equipment from the day. The ordinary things like jars, tins, sleeping bags, boots and candles make a powerful impression in their context too. I’d love to go back and see some of the restoration through to completion. It’s not just a set of building tasks; it’s part of something bigger. ”
Back at home, John is enjoying the darkness at the end of the day as well as the familiar sounds and smells.
“The air is so clear down there that there just aren’t any smells—no hay paddocks, no bush, no lawn smells. And the sound of total silence can be deafening. It’s uncanny. Golden Bay looks superb; what a fantastic place to come back to. ”
Neil Wilson
