This is a timeline of the history of New Zealand's involvement with Antarctica.

Pre 1900s 1838–1840 French and American expeditions, led by Jules Dumont d'Urville and Charles Wilkes. John Sac, a Māori travelling with Wilkes, becomes the first New Zealander to cross the Antarctic Circle. p. 72. 1895 New Zealander Alexander von Tunzelmann becomes the first person to set foot on Antarctica, at Cape Adare. p. 73. 1899 February British expedition led by Carsten Borchgrevink, including several New Zealanders, establishes first base in Antarctica, at Cape Adare. This expedition becomes the first to winter over on the continent.

1900s 1902 Scott Island (formerly Markham Island), now part of the Ross Dependency, was discovered and landed upon by William Colbeck.

1910s 1910 Robert Falcon Scott leaves for Antarctica from Port Chalmers. Scott's party later died on the return journey after being delayed by a blizzard. 1911–1914 Four New Zealanders (H Hamilton, AJ Sawyer, EN Webb, and LA Webber) are members of Douglas Mawson's Australian Antarctic expedition. p. 74.

1920s 1923 Ross Dependency proclaimed on 30 July as a British Territory entrusted to New Zealand. 1928 US Navy Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd leaves Dunedin for the first sea-air exploration expedition to the Antarctic. As part of this expedition, Byrd took part in a flight over the South Pole with pilot Bernt Balchen on 28 and 29 November 1929. 1929 Combined UK-Australia-NZ expedition led by Douglas Mawson; New Zealand members include RA Falla and RG Simmers. p. 75.

1930s 1933 New Zealand Antarctic Society founded.

1940s 1946 New Zealand joins the International Whaling Commission to help oversee whaling in the southern ocean. 1949 First publication of New Zealand Antarctic Society quarterly journal, Antarctic

1950s 1955 In August, The New Zealand Government decide to establish an Antarctic base as part of its contribution to International Geophysical Year (1957–58). pp. 75–76. United States Operation Deep Freeze begins to use Christchurch as a launching point for flights to Antarctica. 1956 McMurdo Station established; construction of both Scott Base and Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station started. 1957 20 January: Scott Base established in Ross Dependency. The first New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition sets out to conduct explorations of the Ross Dependency. The expedition names several geographic features, including the Borchgrevink Glacier. Hallett Station South of Cape Adare is established as a joint New Zealand-United States operation. p. 76. Bill Cranfield, John Claydon, and a New Zealand scientist arrived at the South Pole by air aboard a US Navy airplane; 1958 4 January Edmund Hillary, leading an expedition using farm tractors equipped for polar travel, arrives at the Pole, the first expedition since Scott's to reach the South Pole over land; part of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Hillary was the first New Zealander to reach the South Pole overland. The second New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition (NZGSAE) names further features of the Ross Dependency, including the Mountaineer Range. 1959 1 December Antarctic Treaty signed with other countries involved in scientific exploration in Antarctica. New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) established an Antarctic Division.

1960s 1964 January Walter Nash becomes the first Prime Minister of New Zealand to visit Antarctica. Hallett Station destroyed by fire. It is not rebuilt but is used as a summer-only base until 1973. 1965 The first flight from New Zealand to Antarctica made by a Royal New Zealand Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft 1968 Marie Darby becomes first New Zealand woman to visit the Antarctic 1969 Final New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition, which visited the Scott Glacier and named features in that area 12 November South Pole visited for the first time by women – four Americans, an Australian, and New Zealander Pamela Young Vanda Station staffed for the first time

1970s 1970 Antarctic Amendment Act 1970 comes into force, providing protection for Antarctic flora and fauna within the Ross Dependency. 1972–1974 First solo voyage to Antarctica, by New Zealand-born yachtsman and author David Lewis p. 77. 1974 December Joint NZ-France expedition makes first ascent, and descent into crater, of Mount Erebus. Antarctic Museum Centre opened at Canterbury Museum in Christchurch. 1976 Thelma Rodgers, of New Zealand's DSIR, becomes the first woman to winter over on Antarctica. 1977 New Zealand proclaims Exclusive Economic Zone of 200 nautical miles (370 km), which provides for the zone to also include Ross Dependency's waters. 1979 Mount Erebus disaster: Air New Zealand Flight 901, a DC-10 on a sightseeing flight to Antarctica, crashes into Mount Erebus, killing all 257 people on board

1980s 1980 New Zealand is signatory to the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, which comes into effect in 1982. 1982 20 January Rob Muldoon becomes the first sitting Prime Minister of New Zealand to visit Antarctica. June Antarctic Treaty nations meet in Wellington to discuss the exploitation of Antarctica's minerals. 1987 Closure of Scott Base Post Office (reopened in 1994)

1990s 1995 Closure of New Zealand's Vanda Station 1996 Antarctica New Zealand established on 1 July to manage the Government's interest in Antarctica.

2000s 2006 October (to January 2007): New Zealanders Kevin Biggar and Jamie Fitzgerald become the first people to walk to the South Pole without the aid of any supply dumps. Their plan to parasail back is abandoned. 30 December: The New Zealand Antarctic Medal (NZAM) is awarded for the first time 2007 Prime Minister Helen Clark and Sir Edmund Hillary (aged 87) travel with an official party to Scott Base to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of its founding.

References

External links Antarctica New Zealand website New Zealand Antarctic Society New Zealand Antarctic Medal