Carrying Christchurch south: a young historian to Antarctica

From Christchurch classroom to the ice

A young Samoan-Kiwi historian is stepping onto the ice of Antarctica, carrying a lifelong dream and a fresh Pacific lens shaped by Ōtautahi Christchurch’s unique role as a Gateway to Antarctica.

For Josiah Tualamali’i, the journey south has been decades in the making. He proudly points to three patches sewn onto a jacket he’s taking with him to the Antarctic Peninsula.

“When I was about seven, a scientist from the United States Antarctic Program came and talked to our class. They gave me this patch, and I’ve held onto it since. And that was the moment. I just thought: I want to go. I need to go.”

Another patch came years later, gifted by his high school history teacher, Jane Ellis, who travelled to Antarctica in the early 2000s. In Year 12 at Middleton Grange School, while classmates studied Scott and Shackleton, Josiah gravitated toward more modern Antarctic stories – writing about Sir Edmund Hillary’s iconic 1958 expedition to the South Pole using modified farm tractors.

“So both schools here in Christchurch helped me think about our place as a gateway city.”

The third patch connects family to the ice, through his uncle Falemai’i Tualamali’i based at Joint Base McChord in Seattle, where the C-17 aircraft that support Antarctic operations are stationed.

“It’s kind of like: school, school, and then family. All these connections,” he says. “I’ve got them sewn onto my jacket because I want to take them with me.”

The inspiring explorers expedition

Josiah with the Inspiring explorers team

This January, Josiah is travelling to Antarctica as part of the Antarctic Heritage Trust Inspiring Explorers Expedition™, which takes a group of under-30s south each year to deepen understanding of Antarctica’s history and future. Another Christchurch participant, creative storyteller Sam Dunlay, is also part of the expedition.

Christchurch as a Gateway to Antarctica

For Josiah, Christchurch’s gateway status is something deeply personal.

“I’ve always felt like Christchurch talks about being the Gateway to Antarctica – the ships that come through Lyttelton, the planes now, all the buzz that happens around that,” he says. “Sometimes the Pacific part of that story is less visible.”

As a historian, he’s conscious of whose stories are told, and whose are missing.

“There’s (Christchurch-Tongan educator) Siale Faitotonu (MNZM) – he went down in the 1980s to help build water reservoirs for the showers at Scott Base. No one’s written about that,” he says. “Apart from maybe space, there are very few places that could feel less Pacific than Antarctica. But it’s still part of the ocean – and that’s something we share and steward.”

A new lens on Antarctica

Rather than seeing himself as following directly in the footsteps of heroic-era explorers, Josiah sees his role as part of what comes after.

“They call it the Heroic Age for a reason. It has a beginning and an end. I couldn’t do what they did.”

What he hopes to bring is another way of seeing.

“I want to add another lens. I think what’s been missing is helping more people see that Antarctica is a place they can participate in – that everyone can be an explorer.”

That lens includes Pacific and Māori worldviews, questions of wairua and wellbeing, and a strong sense of responsibility as climate change accelerates.

“If the Ross Ice Shelf melts or collapses, that affects Pacific nations, coastal Christchurch, coastal New Zealand – all of it,” he says. “Antarctica doesn’t really have spokespeople, so we have to speak up for it.”

Carrying Christchurch south

Inspiring explorers team building

In preparation, Josiah has been training physically, reading deeply, and packing spiritual support – including his grandfather’s 1958 first-edition copy of The Crossing of Antarctica by Edmund Hillary and Vivian Fuchs, now filled with family messages.

“This is something I’ve always wanted to do,” he says. “Not just to say I’ve done it, but because I want to help. And this will help me help.”

Christchurch has shaped him, he says – and now, he’s carrying that gateway connection south.

About the Inspiring Explorers Expedition

Antarctic Heritage Trust is a charity based in Ōtautahi Christchurch. The Trust cares for the expedition bases and 20,000 artefacts left behind by early Antarctic explorers including Captain Robert Scott, Sir Ernest Shackleton, and Sir Edmund Hillary. It also encourages the spirit of exploration through its Inspiring Explorers™ programme.

On the Trust’s 2026 Inspiring Explorers Expedition™ a team of eight young people from around Aotearoa New Zealand will help sail the historic tall ship Bark EUROPA across the Drake Passage from Ushuaia, Argentina to the Antarctic Peninsula, alongside expedition mentor and world-record-breaking sailor Lisa Blair.

Find out more about Josiah’s expedition at inspiringexplorers.co.nz, and find out more about Antarctic Heritage Trust at nzaht.org.