12 Jun 2018

Harrowfield Hill

Heritage Expeditions is pleased to announce that our long-time expedition staff member and historian, David Harrowfield, has recently had the rare honour of a geographic feature in Antarctica being named after him.

‘Harrowfield Hill’ has now been formally accepted by the New Zealand Geographic Board as the name for a hill located on Inexpressible Island, Terra Nova Bay, just off the coast of Antarctica. David is both thrilled and humbled to have his name connected to a place to which he has such great affection. 95m above sea level and approximately 1.7km long from north to south, Harrowfield Hill is located at latitude -74.89114, longitude 163.75523 and is officially termed an ‘ice-free hill’.

David has a life-long interest and career associated with Antarctica. Currently a Research Associate for the Canterbury Museum, he has completed post-graduate research, published extensively and undertaken numerous visits to the Antarctic Peninsula , Ross Sea and East Antarctica with various government programmes. He has also been a mainstay of the Heritage Expeditions onboard lecturing staff for many years, sharing his extensive knowledge of the Ross Sea and East Antarctic regions with those who are travelling with him.

David finds it hard to pinpoint just one reason as to why Inexpressible Island holds such a special place in his heart - from the amazing record of human endurance, discipline and leadership by Scott’s Northern Party in 1912, when six men survived over 200 days in a snow cave during a polar winter, to the superb panorama of glaciated landscapes visible, including the mighty Priestly Glacier and the Hell’s Gate moraine, David considers it a privilege to have visited as many times as he has. Next time he has the opportunity to voyage to Inexpressible Island, he will no doubt share a special moment with fellow travellers as he views the landmark to which he is now permanently linked.

© A Breniere