Southern Ocean Adventure 

Museum Conservation Technician, Louise Piggin, shares her journey of a lifetime in the Subantarctic Ocean.

In late 2023, I was incredibly fortunate to be awarded a True Young Explorer Scholarship by Heritage Expeditions, which enabled me to join a 12-day adventure to the Subantarctic Islands of Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia.

We journeyed to the Galapagos of the Southern Ocean – Tini Heke/Snares Islands, Motu Maha/Auckland Islands, Macquarie Island and Motu Ihupuku/Campbell Island. As a young heritage professional working at Canterbury Museum, which has a collecting focus on the Subantarctic Islands, I was thrilled to be able to visit some of the isolated and special places linked to the collection.

Our first stop was Tini Heke/Snares Islands, a small group of rocky islands south of Rakiura Stewart Island. The steep cliffs and dense bush are absolutely teeming with life. Exploring the coastlines by Zodiac boat, we spotted New Zealand fur seals, sea lions and the Snares Island Tomtit.

The spectacular sloping Snares Crested Penguin colony was an absolute highlight. It was amazing to watch the penguins waddling down the guano-covered slope, catching the waves and diving down into the sea to hunt for kai.

Knowing the history of castaways and shipwrecks in this area, it was interesting to reflect on how we were experiencing these isolated and wild places. We were venturing here as tourists – whereas throughout the nineteenth century many sailors and passengers found themselves shipwrecked and marooned, surviving through provisions placed by the New Zealand Government in castaway depots. The Museum cares for a tweed suit, from around 1900 from a Snares Island castaway depot. It has a specific pattern recognisable to officials to stop theft by those who were not in desperate need!

Travelling further south through the night, we woke up off the coast of Motu Maha/Auckland Islands. We went on a full-day hike across the eastern coast of Enderby Island; staring out to sea over exposed cliffs scattered with megaherbs, creeping quietly past enormous and aggressive sea lions, and frozen in awe as Southern Royal Albatross swept by, gliding in the wind.

We walked across the reef where the Derry Castle barque was wrecked in 1887 and despite the sunny day, I could imagine how different it would be on a rough and stormy night. The Museum collection holds the figurehead from the Derry Castle, which once marked the graves of those who perished.

While anchored in the Auckland Islands I gave a talk to others on board about the shipwrecking of the Dundonald on Disappointment Island in 1907, the coracle built by the survivors, which is in the Museum collection, and their subsequent rescue by the NZGSS Hinemoa.

We spent a day at sea heading to our furthest point south, Macquarie Island which lies in Australian Territory (despite being closer to New Zealand). For many on board this was the highlight of the trip due to the sheer amount of wildlife, not least the enormous colonies of breeding Royal and King Penguins and blubbery groups of young weaning elephant seals.

The beaches of Macquarie were scattered with rusting digesters – used to extract oil from whales, seals and penguins – a hangover from the whaling and sealing industry which drastically decimated wildlife populations in the quest for their valuable oil. Beginning with the enormous elephant seals, the industry later turned its attention to more valuable penguin oil.

Joseph Hatch, a New Zealand politician, was one of the biggest players in the Macquarie oil industry. The sea elephant skeleton which was formerly displayed in the Victorian Museum at Rolleston Avenue is a female juvenile from Macquarie Island and was acquired by the Museum from Hatch & Company in 1897.

After sailing along the coast past the largest King Penguin colonies at Lusitania Bay and Herd Point, we set north for Motu Ihupuku/Campbell Island. This was the last stop on our journey and it felt bittersweet. Anchoring in Perseverance Harbour, we set off on another full day walk across the island to Northwest Bay. The brief snowfall was a wonderful December treat! We saw endemic flora and fauna – megaherbs, Campbell Island Teal, a very defensive New Zealand sea lion colony, Hoiho (Yellow-Eyed Penguins) and many nesting and soaring albatross of which there are six species on the island.

The New Zealand $5 note pays homage to Campbell Island, featuring the yellow and purple daisy megaherbs, the Hoiho and a view overlooking the island – and every time I use one, I think of my day spent there. I was also lucky enough to visit Venus Cove where French astronomers observed the Transit of Venus 150 years ago on 9 December 1874, an event I’m currently researching. 

My experience in the Subantarctic was truly unforgettable and I'm very grateful to Heritage Expeditions for the opportunity. The region is awash with intertwined human and natural histories, and some incredible environmental conservation work is being done to ensure it has a thriving and predator-free future.