Breaking the Ice Exhibition – Century-old fruit cake

A perfectly preserved fruit cake that was probably baked in 1910, and likely left at Cape Adare by the Northern Party. It is wrapped in paper and the Antarctic Heritage Trust conservators say it looks and smells almost edible. Created by Antarctic Heritage Trust in partnership with Canterbury Museum, Breaking the Ice: The First Year in Antarctica was the public’s only chance to see items left behind by Carsten Borchgrevink’s Southern Cross and Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova expeditions in two huts at Cape Adare. Artefacts in the exhibition, including scientific equipment, clothing and sledging supplies, were painstakingly conserved in a Canterbury Museum laboratory by an AHT team of international experts.