Statue of Robert Falcon Scott

The Statue of Robert Falcon Scott, commonly known as the Scott Statue, is a statue in Christchurch, New Zealand commemorating British Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott. The statue was unveiled in 1917 and is located at a small recreational park at the intersection of Worcester Street and Oxford Terrace in Christchurch Central City. Scott likely died on 29 March 1912 during his Terra Nova Expedition to the South 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 marble quarry in Carrara, 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 its plinth in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake and broke in two; it was temporarily on display in an exhibition in the Canterbury Museum and was later reinstated in its original location on 26 October 2017; unveiled a second time, by the descendants of Scott and Lianne Dalziel, former Mayor of Christchurch. The statue reflects Christchurch's connection with Antarctica and the British Empire and is also recognised by Heritage New Zealand as a Category II historic place.

Background

The British Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott had used Christchurch and Lyttelton as his New Zealand base for the Discovery Expedition of 1901–1904 and Terra Nova Expedition of 1910–1913. In between, Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition of 1907–1909 also used Lyttelton as the base for their attempt to reach the South Pole, but they failed to get there. Scott and his companions had a strong connection with the people of the Canterbury Region, the Terra Nova departed from England on 1 June 1910 and arrived to Lyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō on 28 October and were cherished by locals as they arrived. Scott and his companions were welcomed by locals and conducted research and analyses at the Canterbury Museum and tested their equipment at a meteorological hut in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens. Locals also helped supply their expeditions and gathered on 28 November 1910 to bade farewell to the explorers before preceding to Port Chalmers to make their final stop before continuing to Antarctica. The objective of the Terra Nova Expedition was to be the first to reach the geographical South Pole. Scott and his four other companions eventually reached the pole on 17 January 1912, to learn that a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen had preceded them by 34 days.

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 and Edward Wilson planned to walk to the final 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. Captain Scott likely died on 29 March, and was presumably the last to die of the expedition.

A search party consisting of the crew of the Terra 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 a memorial cross at the site of their deaths. The Terra Nova left for home in January 1913 and arrived to a port in Oamaru in the early morning on 10 February. Edward L. Atkinson and Harry Pennell of the expedition rowed to the port, from where they sent a coded message back to the expedition's organiser. On 12 February, the ship arrived to Lyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō, where the men of the expedition were surprised to see the city in mourning and flags flying at half-mast. Scott and his companions' deaths resulted in them being treated as heroes throughout the British Empire.

Description

The Statue of Robert Falcon Scott is located on the corner of Worcester Street and Oxford Terrace in Christchurch Central City, New Zealand. It is located in a small recreational park known as the Scott Statue Reserve beside the Avon River / Ōtākaro. The statue is a 2.6-metre (8-foot-6-inch) hand-carved white marble sculpture depicting Captain Scott in a Polar dress. He holds a bronze alpenstock in his right hand, facing north towards the Old Municipal Chambers building, on top of a concrete foundation, and a stone plinth made of several granite pieces that had been mortared together. The statue weighs about 2.5 tonnes (2.5 long tons; 2.8 short tons). The statue is also commonly known as the Captain Scott Memorial, Robert Falcon Scott Memorial, or simply the Scott Statue.

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".

History

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. The Mayor of Christchurch, Henry Holland, called for a public meeting to organise a memorial fund within one week of the news of their deaths. 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.

原文较长，这里只摘了前面一部分，摘自英文维基百科「Statue of Robert Falcon Scott, Christchurch」（暂时没有中文条目，下面是英文原文），按 CC BY-SA 4.0 使用，去掉了参考文献、外部链接等尾部小节和表格，其余文字未作改动。