| Description | This expedition to the islands of Southern Chile formed part of the Royal Society's celebrations of the centenary of the publication of 'Origin of the Species' by Charles Darwin. The expedition lasted for five months, beginning in September 1958 and included five scientific expedition members, Martin Holdgate (UK), George Knox (New Zealand), William Watters (NZ), Eric Godley (NZ) and Guillermo Kuschel (Chile).
This subfonds also contains records which relate more generally to the South Pacific Expedition Committee. This committee later became known as the Southern Zone Expeditions Committee then Southern Zone Research Committee. However the records imply that this is the only expedition overseen by the Committee under its original title so loose records that are not bound in minute books have been incorporated into this subfonds.
Information taken from Hemmen, G E 'Royal Society expeditions in the second half of the twentieth century' Notes and Records Vol. 64 (2010). More information on the expedition can be found in an article by Martin Holdgate published in Proceedings B of the Royal Society (http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org//content/152/949/434.full.pdf).
Martin Holdgate deposited some maps and aerial photographs at the Royal Geographical Society (1959). See the Royal Geographical Society for more information: http://www.rgs.org/ourwork/collections/collections.htm
Film footage from the Chile and Alacluf expeditions can be found under reference number AV/3. |