This memorial to the ill-fated Antarctic explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott (1868-1912) was unveiled on the corner of Worcester Street and Oxford Terrace by Governor the Earl of Liverpool on 9 February 1917. The statue of Captain Scott had been commissioned from Scott's widow, Lady Kathleen Scott, and was a marble replica of a bronze statue erected in Waterloo Place, London, in 1915.
The plaque of dedication below the statue honours Scott, lists the four members of his party who died with him, and incorporates a quotation from Scott's diary. The text reads: ROBERT FALCON SCOTT / CAPTAIN ROYAL NAVY / WHO DIED RETURNING FROM THE SOUTH POLE 1912 / WITH A E WILSON H R BOWERS L E G OATES E EVANS / ["]I DO NOT REGRET THIS JOURNEY, WHICH SHOWS / THAT ENGLISHMEN CAN ENDURE HARDSHIPS / HELP ONE ANOTHER AND MEET DEATH WITH / AS GREAT FORTITUDE AS EVER IN THE PAST ["] / SCOTT'S DIARY.
The same quotation is inscribed on the plinth.
The Christchurch structure was one of several Scott memorials in New Zealand. It had been preceded by a memorial plaque at Waitaki Boys High School (June 1913), a memorial oak in Oamaru (November 1913), a memorial boulder in Queenstown (December 1913), a memorial column near Port Chalmers (May 1914) and a memorial plaque in Warkworth (December 1914). On 24 May 1917 a bust of Captain Scott, commissioned from Lady Scott by the Sportsmen's Memorial Fund, was also unveiled in the Christchurch Art Gallery.
The Christchurch statue was left unfinished to avoid breakage on its transit from London: details of the gloves and legs have not been completed to the present day. A proposal made soon after the monument was erected to add medallions honouring Wilson, Bowers, Oates and Evans has never been actioned.
In 1998 a small plaque was added below the dedication to acknowledge Kathleen Scott ("This statue was sculpted by / KATHLEEN SCOTT FRSBS / (1878–1947) / widow of CAPTAIN SCOTT / and was unveiled in 1917.") In 1997 a plaque commemorating the historic relationship between Christchurch and Antarctica was set into the pavement below the memorial, and in 2007 another plaque was added recognizing the men and women who had assisted with New Zealand's Antarctic Programme between 1957 and 2007.
Update
As this picture shows, the Robert Scott memorial was severely damaged in the Christchurch earthquake of 22 February 2011. After being restored, strengthened and reinstalled on a base isolation plate, it was unveiled again on 6 October 2017.
Images: Imelda Bargas, 2009
Text: Bruce Ringer, 2024