209 Antarctic Connections - Opening Gathering

Join artist Rewa Rendall and polar historian Dr Ursula Rack for the opening of 209 Antarctic Connections — an afternoon celebrating the people, pages and stories that connect us to the Ice.

The project began with the wonderfully ordinary story of Christchurch technician Karl Marshall, who answered the phone on a Monday morning in 1975 and, by Friday, had unexpectedly reached the South Pole to service a 3M 209 photocopier.

Fifty years later, Karl’s story has come back to life through the frozen 209. Instead of copying documents, it now has one final job — collecting stories.

Gather beneath Ferrymead’s historic US Navy LC-47 aircraft to discover the pages contributed by today’s Antarctic community and hear Rewa and Ursula explore the connections between Christchurch, its people and Antarctica.

From there, we’ll walk together to Kinsey’s Cottage & Darkroom, where the story reaches back to Sir Joseph Kinsey, his historic Visitors Book and the blank pages that inspired this growing contemporary record.

We’ll finish the afternoon across the garden at Curragh House, with afternoon tea generously hosted by the Friends of Ferrymead.

Come for a story, stay for a cuppa — and discover where one Antarctic connection might lead.

And if you have an Antarctic connection of your own, add your page now — or come along and share your story on the day. Everyone has a page. I’d love to find yours.