Latest news with #RobertFalconScott
Scoop
13-05-2025
- Scoop
NZ-made ‘Cutting-Edge' VR Experience Tours The UK
Press Release – Antarctic Heritage Trust The VR experience uses a combination of LiDar and photogrammetry data to give the public access to the first expedition base on Antarcticas Ross Island built in 1902 – making it over 122 years old. Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Discovery Hut has opened its doors to the UK public thanks to Kiwi-made cutting-edge technology. The New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust (NZAHT), in collaboration the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT) are touring England and Scotland for the first time with two immersive virtual reality (VR) experiences. The virtual reality tour will visit schools, museums and Antarctic organisations where the British public can don the VR headset, hold the controllers and come face to face with penguins, feed huskies, and meet heroic-era explorers. Among those seeing first-hand how VR is transforming Antarctic education was UKAHT Patron HRH The Princess Royal at a special event at Gilbert White's House and Gardens in Hampshire. HRH The Princess Royal officially launched NZAHT's Ross Sea Heritage Restoration Project at Scott's Discovery hut in 2002. 'It was wonderful to update The Princess Royal on the significant work we have undertaken, and continue to do, to conserve the explorer bases of Antarctica's early explorers including Captain Robert Falson Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton,' says NZAHT Executive Director Francesca Eathorne. 'We're excited to bring Scott's expedition base to people virtually, making it accessible to those who may not have the opportunity to visit these historic sites in person,' 'It gives great insight into the everyday items the explorers had with them and how they used the hut to support the important science and exploration they undertook.' NZAHT launched its new VR experience of Scott's Discovery Hut with Auckland-based virtual reality tech company StaplesVR in August last year. The VR experience uses a combination of LiDar and photogrammetry data to give the public access to the first expedition base on Antarctica's Ross Island built in 1902 – making it over 122 years old. 'To create something as realistic and true to real world form as Scott's Discovery Hut VR, the team at StaplesVR spent over 1000 hours modelling each artefact and piece of timber to be painstakingly accurate. It was incredibly important to ensure we accurately captured the heritage and significance of the building along with the items inside,' says StaplesVR Technical Manager Krystal Paraone. Christchurch man Clarence Hare was on the 1901-1904 expedition with Captain Robert Falcon Scott's. Some of his descendants living in the UK will be taking the opportunity to virtually visit a place that is important to their family history. A significant amount of the funds for the initial conservation of Scott's explorer bases was raised in the UK. NZAHT is delighted to now be able to share their work to save Scott's Discovery Hut – including conserving over 500 artefacts inside – with those who supported them. 'The conservation work our teams undertake is world-leading and sharing it through VR helps us to educate people around the importance of saving this cultural heritage for future generations,' Eathorne says. NZAHT and UKAHT have a long history of successful partnership, helping each other with cold-climate heritage conservation work in one of the world's most extreme environments. The joint tour marks an exciting step forward in their collaboration, combining their expertise in digital technologies and storytelling to make the remote cultural heritage sites that they care for more accessible to all. There will be two virtual reality experiences on offer during the tour. The UK Antarctic Heritage Trust's A Frozen Night is a 30-minute-long VR experience which transports participants to a fully immersive reconstruction of a historic scientific base where they will step into the shoes of over-wintering Antarctic scientists. UKAHT's Chief Executive Camilla Nichol says those taking part will be among the first in the UK to engage with Antarctic heritage sites in this new and unique way. 'A Frozen Night is UKAHT's first virtual reality experience based on a true story from the archives and narrated by those who lived and worked in our southernmost base, Stonington Island. One of the earliest British sites, established in 1948 and a key dog sledging base, Stonington Island enabled teams to travel far inland into the Antarctic Peninsula. 'Now, for the first time, A Frozen Night allows people to virtually travel into Stonington's past to experience the wonders and risks of Antarctic field work.' The virtual reality tour, generously funded by The Charles Hayward Foundation and donors to NZAHT's Inspiring Explorers™ Fund, will also visit the Scott Polar Research Institute and Discovery Point Museum, home to Scott's Discovery ship About New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust Antarctic Heritage Trust is a New Zealand-based not-for-profit with a vision of Inspiring Explorers. A world leader in cold-climate heritage conservation, the Trust cares for the expedition bases and more than 20,000 artefacts left behind by Antarctic explorers, including Carsten Borchgrevink, Captain Robert Falcon Scott, Sir Ernest Shackleton and Sir Edmund Hillary. To date the Trust has restored and conserved Scott's huts at Cape Evans and Hut Point, Shackleton's hut at Cape Royds and Hillary's hut at Scott Base. This has led to a number of significant discoveries including 114-year-old whisky under Ernest Shackleton's hut, a notebook from surgeon and photographer George Murray Levick at Scott's Cape Evans hut as well as lost Ross Sea Party photographs. In 2017, conservators discovered a century-old fruitcake and a 118-year-old watercolour amongst artefacts from Antarctica's first buildings at Cape Adare. The Trust shares the legacy of exploration through outreach programmes and encourages the spirit of exploration through expeditions to engage and inspire a new generation. You can read more at About UK Antarctic Heritage Trust The UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT) is a UK-based charity dedicated to conserving Britain's fascinating history and legacy in Antarctica. UKAHT was born out of a small group's passion to champion the legacy of all those who went before us in the Antarctic. Since 1993, the organisation has worked to protect this, from conserving the huts left by those first pioneers and managing the historic site of Base A, Port Lockroy, to collaborating with other groups to ensure that science and tourism on the Antarctic Peninsula are sustainable. Following a conservation survey in 1994, British Base A, Port Lockroy, was recognised for its historic importance and designated as a Historic Site and Monument 61 under the Antarctic Treaty. The huts were renovated in 1996 by a team from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and have since been open to visitors during the Antarctic summer. UKAHT took over the running of Port Lockroy in 2006. The charity also runs the world's southernmost post office at Base A, Port Lockroy, on behalf of the Government of the British Antarctic Territory, which in turn donates a portion of the Post Office revenue to UKAHT. Anyone wishing to help protect and share the wonder of Antarctica and its heritage can support the charities and New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust and the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust by becoming a member or making a donation.
Scoop
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
NZ-made ‘Cutting-Edge' VR Experience Tours The UK
Tuesday, 13 May 2025, 1:59 pm Press Release: Antarctic Heritage Trust Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Discovery Hut has opened its doors to the UK public thanks to Kiwi-made cutting-edge technology. The New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust (NZAHT), in collaboration the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT) are touring England and Scotland for the first time with two immersive virtual reality (VR) experiences. The virtual reality tour will visit schools, museums and Antarctic organisations where the British public can don the VR headset, hold the controllers and come face to face with penguins, feed huskies, and meet heroic-era explorers. Among those seeing first-hand how VR is transforming Antarctic education was UKAHT Patron HRH The Princess Royal at a special event at Gilbert White's House and Gardens in Hampshire. HRH The Princess Royal officially launched NZAHT's Ross Sea Heritage Restoration Project at Scott's Discovery hut in 2002. 'It was wonderful to update The Princess Royal on the significant work we have undertaken, and continue to do, to conserve the explorer bases of Antarctica's early explorers including Captain Robert Falson Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton,' says NZAHT Executive Director Francesca Eathorne. 'We're excited to bring Scott's expedition base to people virtually, making it accessible to those who may not have the opportunity to visit these historic sites in person,' 'It gives great insight into the everyday items the explorers had with them and how they used the hut to support the important science and exploration they undertook.' NZAHT launched its new VR experience of Scott's Discovery Hut with Auckland-based virtual reality tech company StaplesVR in August last year. The VR experience uses a combination of LiDar and photogrammetry data to give the public access to the first expedition base on Antarctica's Ross Island built in 1902 - making it over 122 years old. "To create something as realistic and true to real world form as Scott's Discovery Hut VR, the team at StaplesVR spent over 1000 hours modelling each artefact and piece of timber to be painstakingly accurate. It was incredibly important to ensure we accurately captured the heritage and significance of the building along with the items inside," says StaplesVR Technical Manager Krystal Paraone. Christchurch man Clarence Hare was on the 1901-1904 expedition with Captain Robert Falcon Scott's. Some of his descendants living in the UK will be taking the opportunity to virtually visit a place that is important to their family history. A significant amount of the funds for the initial conservation of Scott's explorer bases was raised in the UK. NZAHT is delighted to now be able to share their work to save Scott's Discovery Hut - including conserving over 500 artefacts inside - with those who supported them. 'The conservation work our teams undertake is world-leading and sharing it through VR helps us to educate people around the importance of saving this cultural heritage for future generations,' Eathorne says. NZAHT and UKAHT have a long history of successful partnership, helping each other with cold-climate heritage conservation work in one of the world's most extreme environments. The joint tour marks an exciting step forward in their collaboration, combining their expertise in digital technologies and storytelling to make the remote cultural heritage sites that they care for more accessible to all. There will be two virtual reality experiences on offer during the tour. The UK Antarctic Heritage Trust's A Frozen Night is a 30-minute-long VR experience which transports participants to a fully immersive reconstruction of a historic scientific base where they will step into the shoes of over-wintering Antarctic scientists. UKAHT's Chief Executive Camilla Nichol says those taking part will be among the first in the UK to engage with Antarctic heritage sites in this new and unique way. 'A Frozen Night is UKAHT's first virtual reality experience based on a true story from the archives and narrated by those who lived and worked in our southernmost base, Stonington Island. One of the earliest British sites, established in 1948 and a key dog sledging base, Stonington Island enabled teams to travel far inland into the Antarctic Peninsula. 'Now, for the first time, A Frozen Night allows people to virtually travel into Stonington's past to experience the wonders and risks of Antarctic field work.' The virtual reality tour, generously funded by The Charles Hayward Foundation and donors to NZAHT's Inspiring Explorers™ Fund, will also visit the Scott Polar Research Institute and Discovery Point Museum, home to Scott's Discovery ship About New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust Antarctic Heritage Trust is a New Zealand-based not-for-profit with a vision of Inspiring Explorers. A world leader in cold-climate heritage conservation, the Trust cares for the expedition bases and more than 20,000 artefacts left behind by Antarctic explorers, including Carsten Borchgrevink, Captain Robert Falcon Scott, Sir Ernest Shackleton and Sir Edmund Hillary. To date the Trust has restored and conserved Scott's huts at Cape Evans and Hut Point, Shackleton's hut at Cape Royds and Hillary's hut at Scott Base. This has led to a number of significant discoveries including 114-year-old whisky under Ernest Shackleton's hut, a notebook from surgeon and photographer George Murray Levick at Scott's Cape Evans hut as well as lost Ross Sea Party photographs. In 2017, conservators discovered a century-old fruitcake and a 118-year-old watercolour amongst artefacts from Antarctica's first buildings at Cape Adare. The Trust shares the legacy of exploration through outreach programmes and encourages the spirit of exploration through expeditions to engage and inspire a new generation. You can read more at About UK Antarctic Heritage Trust The UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT) is a UK-based charity dedicated to conserving Britain's fascinating history and legacy in Antarctica. UKAHT was born out of a small group's passion to champion the legacy of all those who went before us in the Antarctic. Since 1993, the organisation has worked to protect this, from conserving the huts left by those first pioneers and managing the historic site of Base A, Port Lockroy, to collaborating with other groups to ensure that science and tourism on the Antarctic Peninsula are sustainable. Following a conservation survey in 1994, British Base A, Port Lockroy, was recognised for its historic importance and designated as a Historic Site and Monument 61 under the Antarctic Treaty. The huts were renovated in 1996 by a team from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and have since been open to visitors during the Antarctic summer. UKAHT took over the running of Port Lockroy in 2006. The charity also runs the world's southernmost post office at Base A, Port Lockroy, on behalf of the Government of the British Antarctic Territory, which in turn donates a portion of the Post Office revenue to UKAHT. Anyone wishing to help protect and share the wonder of Antarctica and its heritage can support the charities and New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust and the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust by becoming a member or making a donation. © Scoop Media
Otago Daily Times
11-05-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Antarctic VR experience tours the UK
Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Discovery Hut has opened its doors to the UK public, thanks to Kiwi-made technology. The New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust in collaboration the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT) are touring England and Scotland for the first time with two immersive virtual reality experiences. The virtual reality tour will visit schools, museums and Antarctic organisations where the British public can don the VR headset, hold the controllers and come face to face with penguins, feed huskies, and meet heroic-era explorers. Among those seeing first-hand how VR is transforming Antarctic education was UKAHT patron, the Princess Royal Anne , at a special event at Gilbert White's House and Gardens in Hampshire. Princess Anne officially launched NZAHT's Ross Sea Heritage Restoration Project at Scott's Discovery hut in 2002. 'It was wonderful to update The Princess Royal on the significant work we have undertaken, and continue to do, to conserve the explorer bases of Antarctica's early explorers including Captain Robert Falson Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton,' says NZAHT executive director Francesca Eathorne. 'We're excited to bring Scott's expedition base to people virtually, making it accessible to those who may not have the opportunity to visit these historic sites in person. 'It gives great insight into the everyday items the explorers had with them and how they used the hut to support the important science and exploration they undertook.' NZAHT launched its new VR experience of Scott's Discovery Hut with Auckland-based virtual reality tech company StaplesVR in August last year. The VR experience uses a combination of LiDar and photogrammetry data to give the public access to the first expedition base on Antarctica's Ross Island built in 1902 - making it over 122-years-old. Said StaplesVR Technical Manager Krystal Paraone: "To create something as realistic and true to real world form as Scott's Discovery Hut VR, the team at StaplesVR spent over 1000 hours modelling each artefact and piece of timber to be painstakingly accurate. "It was incredibly important to ensure we accurately captured the heritage and significance of the building along with the items inside." Christchurch man Clarence Hare was on the 1901-1904 expedition with Captain Robert Falcon Scott's. Some of his descendants living in the UK will be taking the opportunity to virtually visit a place that is important to their family history. A significant amount of the funds for the initial conservation of Scott's explorer bases was raised in the UK. NZAHT is now be able to share their work to save Scott's Discovery Hut - including conserving over 500 artefacts inside - with those who supported it. Said Eathorne: "The conservation work our teams undertake is world-leading and sharing it through VR helps us to educate people around the importance of saving this cultural heritage for future generations." There will be two virtual reality experiences on offer during the tour. The UK Antarctic Heritage Trust's A Frozen Night is a 30-minute-long VR experience which transports participants to a fully immersive reconstruction of a historic scientific base where they will step into the shoes of over-wintering Antarctic scientists. UKAHT chief executive Camilla Nichol said those taking part will be among the first in the UK to engage with Antarctic heritage sites in this new and unique way. "A Frozen Night is UKAHT's first virtual reality experience based on a true story from the archives and narrated by those who lived and worked in our southernmost base, Stonington Island. One of the earliest British sites, established in 1948 and a key dog sledging base, Stonington Island enabled teams to travel far inland into the Antarctic Peninsula," Nichol said. "Now, for the first time, A Frozen Night allows people to virtually travel into Stonington's past to experience the wonders and risks of Antarctic field work."
Daily Mail
28-04-2025
- Science
- Daily Mail
Exploring Antarctic was colonialism, claims Cambridge University (even though only penguins live there)
The exploration of Antarctica was an example of colonialism despite only penguins living there, Cambridge University has claimed. Its Polar Museum looks after 5,000 objects, including artefacts linked to explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton. But in the latest effort by the university's museums to deal with subjects related to empire, signs have been put up as part of a project aimed at 'confronting Cambridge's colonial story'. These inform visitors that the daring and often fatal expeditions to the South Pole were 'in the colonial mould'. This is despite the continent having no inhabitants, aside from penguins, to conquer or exploit at the time. A sign for an Antarctic display at the museum reads: 'The colonised Antarctic? At the beginning of the 20th century little was known about Antarctica. 'This set the stage for a number of famous expeditions to reach the South Pole. At the same time, these expeditions were in the colonial mould – claiming land, mapping, prospecting for resources, even sending stamps as a sign of ownership.' The label adds: 'The only difference was that there was not an indigenous population in Antarctica.' The Cambridge Dictionary defines colonialism as 'the belief in and support for the system of one country controlling another'. However, the Oxford Dictionary Of Human Geography defines it as: 'The control over one territory and its peoples by another.' The signage was installed as part of the university's 'Power and Memory' project, which addresses the institution's links to colonialism, empire and slavery, The Sunday Telegraph reported. As part of this, the Polar Museum carried out work to reveal 'hidden histories' in its collection to show a different side to Arctic and Antarctic exploration. One sign states that during meetings between explorers and indigenous populations, 'colonial expeditions would usually hold the power'. Others draw attention to the contribution by black people in the field of polar research. It comes as the university's Fitzwilliam Museum hosts an exhibition, Rise Up, about the history of slavery and its abolition. The catalogue claims that physicist Stephen Hawking, and others, benefited from slavery-derived funds given to Cambridge 200 years before he was born. Professors and historians, however, have accused the museum's bosses of misreading history.
Telegraph
26-04-2025
- Science
- Telegraph
Britain's exploration of South Pole was ‘colonial', claims museum
A Cambridge University museum has claimed Britain's exploration of Antarctica was ' colonial ' – despite only penguins living there. The university's Polar Museum holds personal artefacts linked to the explorers of the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration, including Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton. The museum informs visitors that the daring and often fatal expeditions to the South Pole were 'in the colonial mould', despite the southernmost continent having no human population to conquer or exploit. Signs pointing out colonial connections were installed as part of a project aimed at 'confronting Cambridge's colonial story'. The signage for an Antarctic display at the museum reads: 'The colonised Antarctic? At the beginning of the 20th century little was known about Antarctica. 'This set the stage for a number of famous expeditions to reach the South Pole. 'At the same time, these expeditions were in the colonial mould – claiming land, mapping, prospecting for resources, even sending stamps as a sign of ownership. The label adds: 'The only difference was that there was not an indigenous population in Antarctica.' The Polar Museum is part of the Scott Polar Research Institute, named for the famed explorer, which is itself part of the university's department of geography. The signage was installed as part of Cambridge's 'Power and Memory' project to address the university's links to colonialism, empire, and slavery. As part of this, the Polar Museum undertook work to reveal 'hidden histories' in its collection, to show a different side to Arctic and Antarctic exploration. Labels direct visitors to the fact that 'the extraction of natural resources has been a primary part of colonial expeditions in the Arctic'. One sign critiques the word 'encounter', stating that in meetings between explorers and indigenous populations 'colonial expeditions would usually hold the power'. Other labels draw attention to the contributions of women and black people in the field of polar research. Cambridge's past controversies The University of Cambridge's museums have made efforts to confront the subjects of empire and colonialism, and the Fitzwilliam Museum dedicated a recent exhaustion to the history of slavery and its abolition. A catalogue accompanying the exhibition, titled Rise Up, claimed Stephen Hawking and others benefited from slavery-derived funds given to Cambridge two centuries before the physicist was born. Cambridge professors and leading historians contested the claims, insisting they were made on the grounds of a misreading of history. Before this row, the same institution caused controversy when it rehung many of its artworks. The Fitzwilliam suggested that paintings of the British countryside evoke dark 'nationalist feelings'. The new signage stated that pictures of 'rolling English hills' can stir feelings of 'pride towards a homeland', but that works by Constable and others have a 'darker side'.
