Photo: Fergal Buckley
The first journey we made with the gold picture frame sledge was to a small glacier not far from the base known as 'Sunnyside Glacier'. Me and Fergal Buckley took photographs of several toys with this picturesque backdrop including these plastic toy dogs from the 'Action man' Antarctic explorer set. I am in the distance behind the sledge. The outcrop of rock behind me is the beginning of a small range of mountains known as 'Stokes Peaks'. I found out later that this collection of peaks were affectionately named after some of the last sled dogs in Antarctica.
Photo: Priscila Buschinelli
Photo: Priscila Buschinelli
On top of the box is the 'Action Man' Antarctic sledge dog set. Photo: Priscila Buschinelli
The unpainted, bare wooden sledge boxes were originally pre packed with food supplies. Officially they are called 'man' food boxes. This is an anachronistic title; a left-over definition from the days of using dogs- 'Man' food differentiating them from `dog' food boxes. This is despite the fact there have been no dogs in the Antarctic since the early 1990's.
As part of the Antarctic treaty, it was agreed that all non-indigenous species were removed from Antarctica. In view of their genetic similarity to seals there was a fear that dog distemper might mutate and cross over into the seal population. In view of this, dogs were especially targeted for removal and the last ones were taken from Antarctica in 1994.
Somebody I met in Antarctica, David Vaughan, had been to the U.S. base, MacMurdo station on the other side of the continent. Very close to the base was Captain Scott's original hut at Cape Evans. It was from here that his expedition set out in 1911. David Vaughan showed me this photograph he had taken on his trip of a dead dog with a collar still attached. It had been one of Scott's team of dogs and been preserved in the ice. He went on to explain that the dead dog was well known at MacMurdo base. It was annually covered with snow every winter and exposed again each spring in the thaw. Perpetually emerging and disappearing in the snow for a hundred years.
As part of the Antarctic treaty, it was agreed that all non-indigenous species were removed from Antarctica. In view of their genetic similarity to seals there was a fear that dog distemper might mutate and cross over into the seal population. In view of this, dogs were especially targeted for removal and the last ones were taken from Antarctica in 1994.
Somebody I met in Antarctica, David Vaughan, had been to the U.S. base, MacMurdo station on the other side of the continent. Very close to the base was Captain Scott's original hut at Cape Evans. It was from here that his expedition set out in 1911. David Vaughan showed me this photograph he had taken on his trip of a dead dog with a collar still attached. It had been one of Scott's team of dogs and been preserved in the ice. He went on to explain that the dead dog was well known at MacMurdo base. It was annually covered with snow every winter and exposed again each spring in the thaw. Perpetually emerging and disappearing in the snow for a hundred years.
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There is a building on Rothera base called Old Bransfield house. It's one of the older buidings being constructed in the the 1970's. The building was semi redundant in 2009 and pinned on the walls were several old photographs of some of the last dogs in Antarctica. Biff, Elwood and Tom all had small mountains named afer them.
The oldest building on the base is the carpenters shed where I made my gold picture frame sledge. At some point dogs were kept in the small room off of the main workshop. In 2009 you could still clearly see dog claw marks on the back of the door.
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Photo: David Vaughan/BAS. 2004 at Cape Evans. One of Captain Scott's dogs that emerges from the ice every spring.
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Photo: Priscila Buschinelli
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A later preserved dead dog from 1958. Photo: Rene Robert
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