Blizzard City: Built Environment and Civilization in Antarctica, 1911-1961
This thesis investigates four Antarctic built environments between 1911 and 1961: Robert Falcon Scott’s 1910-1912 Terra Nova expedition base at Cape Evans, Ross Island; Sir Douglas Mawson’s 1911-1914 Australasian Antarctic Expedition base at Commonwealth Bay; Australia’s Mawson Station in MacRoberts...
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ftsmithonian:oai:figshare.com:article/17003131 2023-05-15T13:37:42+02:00 Blizzard City: Built Environment and Civilization in Antarctica, 1911-1961 Moffat-Wood, Alex (11690293) 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.26686/wgtn.17003131.v1 unknown https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/Blizzard_City_Built_Environment_and_Civilization_in_Antarctica_1911-1961/17003131 doi:10.26686/wgtn.17003131.v1 Author Retains Copyright Historical Studies not elsewhere classified Built environment Civilization Antarctica School: School of History Philosophy Political Science and International Relations 210399 Historical Studies not elsewhere classified Marsden: 439999 Other History and Archaeology Degree Discipline: History Degree Level: Masters Degree Name: Master of Arts Text Thesis 2012 ftsmithonian https://doi.org/10.26686/wgtn.17003131.v1 2021-12-19T21:59:57Z This thesis investigates four Antarctic built environments between 1911 and 1961: Robert Falcon Scott’s 1910-1912 Terra Nova expedition base at Cape Evans, Ross Island; Sir Douglas Mawson’s 1911-1914 Australasian Antarctic Expedition base at Commonwealth Bay; Australia’s Mawson Station in MacRobertson Land, founded in 1954; and New Zealand’s Scott Base, also on Ross Island, founded in 1957. Examining unpublished and published diaries of expeditioners, government files and newspaper reports, this thesis demonstrates that, to the expeditioners who built and occupied them, these places created protective bastions of civilization in an extreme environment. It investigates what residents and architects (figurative and literal) thought and felt about these blizzard cities, their meaning and significance. In doing so, this study reinforces, extends, and at times challenges broader conceptions of built environment, nature, civilization, Antarctica, and their thicket of interrelationships. The first two chapters – one focused on the Heroic Era and the second on the post-WWII bases – argue that Antarctic built environments were embattled, modern sanctuaries. The extreme environment of Antarctica also demonstrated to expeditioners that built environment had plasticity, which challenged the expeditioners’ expectation of built environment being stable, durable, and impermeable. Chapter three argues that Antarctic built environment allowed expeditioners to create civilization in the wilderness, in a variety of ways. Through examining facets of occupation such as etiquette and international cooperation, the chapter argues that civilization took many forms, not all of them positive from the expeditioners’ point-of-view. Thesis Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica MacRobertson Land Ross Island Unknown Antarctic Ross Island Marsden ENVELOPE(66.067,66.067,-67.867,-67.867) Scott Base ENVELOPE(166.766,166.766,-77.849,-77.849) Mawson Station ENVELOPE(62.874,62.874,-67.603,-67.603) Cape Evans ENVELOPE(161.550,161.550,-75.100,-75.100) Commonwealth Bay ENVELOPE(142.500,142.500,-67.000,-67.000) MacRobertson Land ENVELOPE(65.000,65.000,-70.000,-70.000) |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Unknown |
op_collection_id |
ftsmithonian |
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unknown |
topic |
Historical Studies not elsewhere classified Built environment Civilization Antarctica School: School of History Philosophy Political Science and International Relations 210399 Historical Studies not elsewhere classified Marsden: 439999 Other History and Archaeology Degree Discipline: History Degree Level: Masters Degree Name: Master of Arts |
spellingShingle |
Historical Studies not elsewhere classified Built environment Civilization Antarctica School: School of History Philosophy Political Science and International Relations 210399 Historical Studies not elsewhere classified Marsden: 439999 Other History and Archaeology Degree Discipline: History Degree Level: Masters Degree Name: Master of Arts Moffat-Wood, Alex (11690293) Blizzard City: Built Environment and Civilization in Antarctica, 1911-1961 |
topic_facet |
Historical Studies not elsewhere classified Built environment Civilization Antarctica School: School of History Philosophy Political Science and International Relations 210399 Historical Studies not elsewhere classified Marsden: 439999 Other History and Archaeology Degree Discipline: History Degree Level: Masters Degree Name: Master of Arts |
description |
This thesis investigates four Antarctic built environments between 1911 and 1961: Robert Falcon Scott’s 1910-1912 Terra Nova expedition base at Cape Evans, Ross Island; Sir Douglas Mawson’s 1911-1914 Australasian Antarctic Expedition base at Commonwealth Bay; Australia’s Mawson Station in MacRobertson Land, founded in 1954; and New Zealand’s Scott Base, also on Ross Island, founded in 1957. Examining unpublished and published diaries of expeditioners, government files and newspaper reports, this thesis demonstrates that, to the expeditioners who built and occupied them, these places created protective bastions of civilization in an extreme environment. It investigates what residents and architects (figurative and literal) thought and felt about these blizzard cities, their meaning and significance. In doing so, this study reinforces, extends, and at times challenges broader conceptions of built environment, nature, civilization, Antarctica, and their thicket of interrelationships. The first two chapters – one focused on the Heroic Era and the second on the post-WWII bases – argue that Antarctic built environments were embattled, modern sanctuaries. The extreme environment of Antarctica also demonstrated to expeditioners that built environment had plasticity, which challenged the expeditioners’ expectation of built environment being stable, durable, and impermeable. Chapter three argues that Antarctic built environment allowed expeditioners to create civilization in the wilderness, in a variety of ways. Through examining facets of occupation such as etiquette and international cooperation, the chapter argues that civilization took many forms, not all of them positive from the expeditioners’ point-of-view. |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Moffat-Wood, Alex (11690293) |
author_facet |
Moffat-Wood, Alex (11690293) |
author_sort |
Moffat-Wood, Alex (11690293) |
title |
Blizzard City: Built Environment and Civilization in Antarctica, 1911-1961 |
title_short |
Blizzard City: Built Environment and Civilization in Antarctica, 1911-1961 |
title_full |
Blizzard City: Built Environment and Civilization in Antarctica, 1911-1961 |
title_fullStr |
Blizzard City: Built Environment and Civilization in Antarctica, 1911-1961 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Blizzard City: Built Environment and Civilization in Antarctica, 1911-1961 |
title_sort |
blizzard city: built environment and civilization in antarctica, 1911-1961 |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.26686/wgtn.17003131.v1 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(66.067,66.067,-67.867,-67.867) ENVELOPE(166.766,166.766,-77.849,-77.849) ENVELOPE(62.874,62.874,-67.603,-67.603) ENVELOPE(161.550,161.550,-75.100,-75.100) ENVELOPE(142.500,142.500,-67.000,-67.000) ENVELOPE(65.000,65.000,-70.000,-70.000) |
geographic |
Antarctic Ross Island Marsden Scott Base Mawson Station Cape Evans Commonwealth Bay MacRobertson Land |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Ross Island Marsden Scott Base Mawson Station Cape Evans Commonwealth Bay MacRobertson Land |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica MacRobertson Land Ross Island |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica MacRobertson Land Ross Island |
op_relation |
https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/Blizzard_City_Built_Environment_and_Civilization_in_Antarctica_1911-1961/17003131 doi:10.26686/wgtn.17003131.v1 |
op_rights |
Author Retains Copyright |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.26686/wgtn.17003131.v1 |
_version_ |
1766096864524894208 |