Captain Scott Memorial

This statue of the Antarctic explorer, was sculpted by his wife. Captain Scott became well-known in Christchurch which he used as a base for Antarctic expeditions in 1901 and 1910.

In 1910 his ship Terra Nova left the port of Lyttelton for the ice. When Scott and his men died on the return jouney from the South Pole in 1912, many in Christchurch mourned. His widow, Kathleen Scott, carved the statue of her husband from Carrara marble. The memorial was unveiled in 1917, though Mrs Scott never actually finished the project, promising to return and complete the detail on his gloves and trousers, leaving him resting on a stump.

If you interested in Antarctica don't miss the displays at the Canterbury Museum or the Antarctic Centrenear the Christchurch Airport. The Statue was thrown off its plinth and broken in a Christchurch earthquake. Since then it has been moved from it's usual home on Scott Reserve on the corner of Worcester and Oxford, to a temporary home.

Plans exist to re-establish the statue on its plinth. The other Captain Scott memorial is at Port Chalmers.