Sir Edmund Hillary's hut at Scott Base in Antarctica is to be saved and conserved at a cost of just under $1 million.
Constructed by Sir Ed in 1957, it's one of the last remaining original huts left at New Zealand's Scott Base.
Four-thousand kilometres from home, Graeme Ayres walks in his father's footsteps.
"Every time I come down here, the first thing I do is go into the hut," says Mr Ayres.
Antarctic exploration is in his veins.
"For me it is very special, the fact that my father was in the beginning of that first expedition."
Dad, Harry Ayres, was a member of Sir Ed's trans-Antarctic expedition – our most famous. Sir Ed helped build the hut on the edge of Antarctica before racing off on a tractor to the South Pole.
Ever since then the green hut has been suspended in time. The hut was full of objects from the 1950s. Only a few remain, like an ice-melting machine, which would supply their water. There are others things, like recipes for the men out in the field, including scrambled eggs.
After almost 60 years the time has come for the kitchen and mess to be tidied up.
"We are getting a bit of leakage coming through into the building, a bit of shifting of panels that needs tightening up," says conservation programme manager Lizzie Meek.
"I think it is really important to save the hut," says son Peter Hillary. "It is not just Ed Hillary's hut; it is New Zealand's hut, and it's a really strong part of our connection to Antarctica itself."
"We have got people alive that are connected to it right now," says Mr Ayres.
Yesterday's connection to Sir Ed and his all-conquering men is set to continue into tomorrow.
3 News
source: newshub archive
