Long Waiting List For Year Of Isolation

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28370, 31 August 1957, Page 6

Long Waiting List For Year Of Isolation

Now that the' former huddle of huts and makeshift buildings has been replaced with modern, centralised accommodation, New Zealand has one of the most comfortable sub-Antarctic camps in existence for the staff of the weather and scientific station on Campbell Island, 450 miles south of Dunedin, says “Civil Aviation Journal.’* Besides being an important link in New Zealand’s chain of

weather reporting stations stretching from the Antartic to the tropics, Campbell Island .is also being used for observations which are . part of the Dominion’s contribution to the International Geophysical Year. The new living quarters consist of a lounge, kitchen and dining room, office and separate bedrooms for each member of the staff, Colour schemes follow the f “contemporary style.” . There is a billiards table; the . station has its darkroom for photographic enthusiasts and a comprehensive library is being built up. L Campbell Island is, in fact, a more comfortable place than , * many remote construction camps in New Zealand itself, says the journal Reception of New Zealand and Australian broadcast programmes is generally excellent, short-wave reception is possible on a worldwide basis, and the station has permanent radio-telephone contact with the New Zealand tele-

phone system. The island’s isolation is not as severe as it was, for instead of -> the -visit of the annual relief ship, with a year’s stores and a new staff to replace those who have done their year of duty, five or six ships and an occasional flying boat are" likely with the present greater emphasis upon Antarctic exploration. In spite of encroachments of civilisation it is still felt that a year at a time is enough for the average man, so each year applications are called by the Civil Aviation Administration. All are : volunteers and there is no shortage of applicants. Suitable Temperaments But Campbell Island, even with : its new look, is no place for moody men. Experience has shown that anyone regarding it as a refuge from emotional upsets or financial worries will be ' no happier there than anywhere ' else There are three meteor-

ologists, two scientists, a radio technician, a mechanic handyman for generator, tractor and building maintenance and the all important cook. . Basic duties are the meterological observations, made round the clock, in shifts. Upper air observations are assuming greater importance, along with the probing of the ionosphere. The staff includes two scientists for this work. The work in gaining importance because for the first time weather observations are coming from I.G.Y. posts at and around the South Pole itself.

Campbell Island is splendidly placed for determining the development, movements and speed of sub-Antarctic weather that often has a major effect on New Zealand conditions. Information gained about the upper atmosphere will help in the production of more accurate forecasts one, two and even three days ahead for New Zealand in general. Although the climate is bleaker •than New Zealand’s, there is plenty of scope for the outdoor enthusiast and amateur naturalist Wild sheep > and a small herd of wild cattle run on the island. Sea lions, sea elephants and sea leopards often come ashore and millions of sea birds nest there. The colony of rock hopper penguins is the world’s largest. The auroral displays offer fine colour and cine photography. The Air Department’s problem as the time arrives to select the replacement team to go south in November is not to find the men but to* whittle down to nine the annually increasing list of volun-