EXPEDITION TO ANTIPODES IS.

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31780, 10 September 1968, Page 1

EXPEDITION TO ANTIPODES IS.

A New Zealand scientific expedition will in January visit Antipodes Island, the least-known biologically' of all New Zealand’s subAntarctic islands, and make the most thorough investigations so far. Members of the party will be Mr J. Warham, of the Canterbury University zoology department, as leader; Dr E. J. Godley director of the Botany Division, D.5.1.R., as botanist; Mr P. Johns, of the Canterbury University zoology department, as an entomologist; Professor G. A. Knox, of the zoology department, as marine zoologist; Dr G. Kuschel, of the entomological division, D.5.1.R., as an entomologist; Mr R. W. Taylor, animal ecology division, D.5.1.R., as vertebrate ecologist: and Dr G. R. Williams and Mr B. D. Bell, of the Wildlife Branch, Department of Internal Affairs, as vertebrate zoologists.

The party plans to sail from Lyttelton on January 3 and return on March 8 aboard H.M .N.Z.S. Endeavour, which will be v making trips to the Antarctic. If a landing on Antipodes Island is impossible on the way down, the expedition will be landed on Campbell Island and picked up for a second attempt about January 26. The Navy will provide a beach party to help unload stores and equipment. The party will have to sleep on deck or elsewhere in the Endeavour, as extra accommodation is not available. On Antipodes Island, they will use two large Army tents with wooden floors. However, a 20ft by 12ft sectional hut has been provided by Fletcher Industries to serve as a laboratory. Igloo and alpine tents will be used on sorties away from the base. There will be communication with Awarua Radio. The scientific investigations will cover all plants and animals on the island and its littoral zone, and their relationship to other sub-Antarctic islands and the southern land masses. The programme also will include a bird census, bird banding, and soil sampling. Although the R.N.Z.A.F. has provided aerial photographs, mist has made them unsuitable for map-making, and some of this will be done by the party. Meteorological records will also be kept.