Cape Adare huts - Pre-conservation

Carsten Borchgrevink’s expedition erected two huts in early 1900 on Ridley Beach at Cape Adare, the Living hut and the Stores hut. Both measured just 5.5×6.5 metres each – a very small space for 10 men to live in for a year. The third hut on site, built by the Northern Party in 1911, was a small hut modelled on the same pattern as the larger hut at Cape Evans. This hut has not withstood the high winds at Cape Adare and, with the exception of the cold porch, has collapsed leaving little more than the main frames of the end walls.

Since the Northern Party’s departure from Cape Adare, there have been only sporadic visits to the remote site. New Zealand parties visited a couple of times during the 1960s and 70s to undertake repairs, before Canterbury Museum sent an expedition party to the site in 1982 to carry out maintenance work, complete drawings of the huts, and document the artefacts.

The first party from Antarctic Heritage Trust visited in 1990 and carried out significant preservation works to the huts. This focus continued on the Trust’s next visit in 2003, when condition reports for the artefacts were also completed.

During the summer season of 2015–2016, a small team from the Trust spent two weeks at Cape Adare gathering close to 1500 artefacts from one of the huts and carrying out further repairs and maintenance. The artefacts collected were later conserved in Christchurch, New Zealand.

For more information on Borchgrevink's hut see Borchgrevink's hut, Cape Adare.