Shackleton's cine camera to museum

Press, 18 February 1977, Page 4

Shackleton's cine camera to museum

A movie camera used in Ernest Shackleton’s second Antarctic Expedition has been given to the Canterbury Museum. Most of the camera parts are in their original condition although the lens and viewfinder are missing. These have been replaced. However, the Antarctic curator at the Canterbury Museum (Mr D. L. Harrowfield), is looking for a 3.5 Zeiss lens. “I’m sure one could be flushed out from somewhere,” he said. Mr Harrowfield learned of the camera’s existence purely by chance. He was talking to a friend who mentioned that a relative in Wellington (Mr R. Palamountain) had a movie camera from the Shackleton expedition. Mr Palamountain obtained! the camera from a photo-' graphy dealer in 1918 for| £7 10s. After a few years he | disposed of the camera and was unable to find it until recently. The previous owner had replaced the original lens. The camera is believed to have come from the depotlaying party in the expedition that approached the continent aboard the Arora from the Ross Sea. The mystery is who used the camera, as there is no information about a photographer on the Arora, said Mr Harrowfield. The main part of the expedition, including Shackle-

ton himself, started out from the Weddell Sea but the Endurance was crushed by ice. The photographer, Frank Hurley, had to abandon all his gear and was able to salvage only some blocks. Seme prints off these have also been presented to the museum by Mr Palamountain. The expedition was heavily in debt so the Arora and its effects (and probably the movie camera) were sold in Wellington. The Canterbury Museum will also have an early photographer’s studio by the time the new Antarctic wing is officially opened by the Duke of Edinburgh on March 4. The honorary curator of colonial collections (Miss Rose Reynolds) and the assistant curator (Miss Jennifer Queree), are remodelling the former Stuart Room which will now feature photographic equipment from the 1911 period. However, it is hoped that equipment used in 1860 will also be displayed later. The museum will also profit from the sale of 1000 prints of the interior of Shackleton’s hut at Cape Royds in Antarctica. The 13in by 17in prints bu the artist, Maurice Conly, will be sold for $7.50 and all funds will go towards future purchases by the museum.