Using this learning guide
This learning guide is not designed as a downloadable resource to put in front of ākonga (students). Kaiako (teachers) should select from the guide and adapt the suggested activities as they see fit to meet the needs of their students.
In this learning guide, ākonga will:
- Explore the history of human contact with Antarctica with an emphasis on New Zealand’s relationship with the frozen continent.
- Explore the pros and cons of tourism in Antarctica.
Overview of Antarctic tourism
The surge in Antarctic exploration and the race to reach the South Pole in the early twentieth century captured the imagination of New Zealanders. It also helps explain why Flight TE901 was there in the first place. When Air New Zealand and Qantas began offering sightseeing flights to Antarctica in February 1977, those who flew on them were, like the explorers before them, motivated by a sense of adventure. This was a tourism opportunity like no other.
Antarctica and New Zealand – NZHistory
Antarctica and New Zealand – Te Ara The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Suggested inquiry topics
Inquiry: Early Antarctic explorers
Alexander Turnbull Library, Eph-F-ANTARCTICA-1934-01
Board game based on United States Antarctic explorer, Admiral Richard E. Byrd.
Use the following resources to assign students an Antarctic explorer/expedition to investigate.
Robert Falcom Scott – Wikipedia
Era of Heroes: Captain Robert Falcon Scott – ChristchurchNZ.com
Kaitiakitanga in Antarctica
Scientists have been studying Antarctica since the days of the first explorers, drawn by its extreme environment, unique species and pristine nature. New Zealand has had a kaitiaki role in Antarctica since it began its administration of the Ross Dependency in 1923. New Zealand established its main Antarctic research centre, Scott Base, in 1957. Operated by Antarctica New Zealand, the government agency responsible for New Zealand’s activities in Antarctica, Scott Base is the centre for research, including into the impact of climate change on the continent and its ecosystems.
New Zealand is a signatory to the Antarctic Treaty, which encourages peaceful scientific cooperation and bans all military activity in the Antarctic.
Antarctica and New Zealand – NZHistory
Inquiry: Antarctic timeline
Ākonga could design a history road or timeline that covers the key dates and events relating to the exploration of Antarctica and the establishment of a permanent human presence on the ice.
15 Activities & Websites to Teach Kids About Historical Timelines – We Are Teachers
Antarctic tourism
Alexander Turnbull Library, Eph-E-ANTARCTICA-1979-01
Air New Zealand poster advertising its Antarctic flights for November 1979.
Air New Zealand and Qantas began offering sightseeing flights to Antarctica in February 1977. In a survey of those on the first flights, 44% of respondents described them as the ‘opportunity of a lifetime.’ By the time the airlines terminated these scenic flights – Air New Zealand immediately after the Erebus accident and Qantas in February 1980 – they had carried approximately 10,000 passengers to Antarctica. When Qantas resumed Antarctic sightseeing trips in 1994, Air New Zealand ruled out a similar move, ‘for obvious reasons’.
Seaborne tourism to Antarctica began in the late 1950s and has steadily increased. In the 2022–23 tourism season (the southern hemisphere summer) more than 100,000 people headed to Antarctica, mostly on cruise ships. More than half of them were from the United States. Under the terms of the Antarctic Treaty, tourism operators must apply for permits and follow environmental regulations. Environmentalists are now asking if it is time to take Antarctica off tourists’ ‘bucket list’.
Inquiry: Tourism
November 1979 Antarctic flights – NZHistory
Cruise ship in the Ross Sea – Te Ara The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Tourism in Antarctica is booming, but it's a complicated relationship – Stuff
The Last Place on Earth Any Tourist Should Go – The Atlantic
Analysing people's views, values and actions – Te Akomanga
Use the articles above and any other information you can find to:
- Identify the different views and values people hold in relation to Antarctic tourism
- Explain what actions people have taken to either support or oppose Antarctic tourism
- Get ākonga to complete a literature search to help them write a report about the future of Antarctic tourism. As a guide, they could:
- Build a case for or against all tourism to Antarctica. What are the advantages and disadvantages of such tourism?
- If tourism is to continue, what restrictions might be placed on it?
- Hold a class debate on the topic: ‘It is time to take Antarctica off the tourism bucket-list’.
- Design a poster either promoting or opposing Antarctic tourism.
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