The Terra Nova Expedition, officially named the British Antarctic Expedition, took place between 1910 and 1913.
It was led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott and had various scientific and geographical objectives. However, the main aspiration behind the venture was for Scott and his party to be the first to reach the geographic South Pole and plant the British flag on behalf of the Empire.
Fundraising for the expedition was handled jointly by the Royal Society and the Royal Geographical Society.
The total cost was estimated to be £40,000, half of which was met by public subscription and loans and the other half eventually met by a British government grant. Included in the subscriptions was a £1000 grant from the New Zealand Government.
The expedition was further assisted by the free supply of a range of provisions and equipment from sympathetic commercial firms.
The fundraising task was largely carried out by Scott and proved a considerable drain on his time and energy. After the Terra Nova set sail from Cardiff on June 15, 1910, he campaigned for support in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand when the ship called in at the various ports.
On October 25, 1910, the Waipawa Mail recorded that, "The business people of Hawke's Bay have arranged to supply Scott's Antarctic expedition with 1500lb of butter and the amount will probably be raised to 2000lbs."
On the same day the Hastings Standard proclaimed that in addition to butter, "canned tongues, meat, all coal, mutton, beef, and cheese required have now been represented in the Dominion".
It further announced that to complete the stores required an additional 1000lbs of butter, 1000lbs of ham and 1500lbs of bacon was needed. So successful was the fundraising drive by the Hawke's Bay business community that they raised enough money to purchase the extra butter.
The Terra Nova arrived at the Port of Lyttelton, Christchurch, on October 28, 1910 where it stayed for four weeks free of charge.
While there the stores were packed into the Terra Nova's hull (including the butter) for the long journey southward. Also put on board were 33 dogs, 30 of which were Siberian huskies, 19 Siberian ponies and three motorised sledges.
The animals had been specifically hand-picked and purchased from Siberia before being sent to Aotearoa to acclimatise and train.
The expedition then briefly called in at Port Chalmers, Dunedin, before leaving on November 29 for the Antarctic.
The Waipawa Mail stated that "we owe it to British prestige to plant the flag on the Pole … the Scott expedition will therefore leave New Zealand waters with the best of good wishes from the Australasian people".
Once in Antarctica, Scott's base was situated on Ross Island at Cape Evans. He and four companions set off on the 700 miles journey (1126 kilometres) to the South Pole and back on November 2, 1911. They reached the South Pole on January 17, 1912 - 34 days after a rival Norwegian party led by Roald Amundsen.
Dispirited they attempted to return to their supply base but, thwarted by short supplies of food, appalling weather conditions and sickness, they perished on the way.
The last entry in Scott's diary (March 29, 1912) was, "We shall stick it out to the end, but we are getting weaker of course, and the end cannot be far. I do not think I can write more."
His final painfully scrawled words directed to his nation were "For God's sake look after our people."
Gail Pope is social history curator at the MTG.
