An amazing tale of exploration through Antarctica has been unveiled at Berry Museum.
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‘Shackleton: Escape from Antarctica’ documents the travels of British polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton through Antarctica and beyond in the early 1900s.
The Australian National Maritime Museum exhibition is travelling throughout the country and plans to feature it in Berry have been in the works for around a year.
Nancy Bevan, vice president of the Berry & District Historical Society Inc. said the exhibition is set to take visitors on a tour of Shackleton’s journey.
“We’re very excited to have it here,” she said.
“It shows how Shackleton was getting prepared for this exhibition just as the war was beginning and he almost didn’t go but someone higher up said, ‘just go, once you do no-one will be able to call you back’.”
Shackleton’s plan was to start at Weddell Sea, with the South Pole in his sights. He had another party set out from the opposite side of the Antarctic, and the exhibition features the two journeys side-by-side on banners. Shackleton’s photographer helped document the expedition and the photographs are part of the exhibition.
Shackleton’s ship was later crushed by ice and plans to make it to the largely inhabited Elephant Island were put into place instead.
The exhibition is on show until the end of January on Saturdays from 11am to 2pm and Sundays from 11am to 3pm. The museum is also open everyday during school holidays between 11am and 2pm.
It also features a fun activity for the kids, with an Antarctic ‘guess which animal that is’ game.
The adventurous theme will continue in late 2010 when the ‘Submerged’ exhibtion features at Berry Museum. It will showcase shipwrecks off the coast of Australia.
For more information about the exhibition contact the Berry Museum on 4464 3097.