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This day in history: the new Marion Island Research Base is officially opened in 2011
March 18, 2016 @ 1:00 am - 12:00 pm
On 18 March 2011 the new base at Marion Island was officially opened in a ceremony on the island. The new base was built over a number of years adjacent to the old base.
A special voyage of the S.A. Agulhas was laid on to take invited guests, including university researchers and media, south for the event. This was Voyage 155 of the ‘red taxi’, towards the end of its life as South Africa’s Antarctic research and supply vessel, which had commenced in 1978. A short trip, the S.A. Agulhas left Cape Town on 10 March and was back on the 24th, with just four days scheduled to be spent at Marion, including sailing round both islands in the group.
The official opening took place in the evening of the 18th, commencing with the National Anthem. Following a welcome, a technical background talk was given by Fred Johnston, Cape Town Regional Manager of the National Department of Public Works (NDPW; which body built the base). Dr Monde Mayekiso, Deputy Director-General, Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) then made an acceptance speech, after which the then Deputy Minister of Public Works, Ms Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu spoke. A plaque marking the official opening was then unveiled by the Deputy Minister.
Following thanks by DEA’s Departmental Coordinating Officer for the voyage, Adriaan Dreyer and the presentation of gifts and a toast by Henry Valentine, then Director of DEA’s Antarctica & Islands Directorate, the guests moved to the dining room for a “finger supper”, with champagne, wine and sherry.
Notably absent from the programme, given the reason Marion Island has a South African base in the first place, were addresses by a scientist or a representative of the South African Weather Service, notwithstanding the presence of two SANAP Principal Investigators with a long record of conducting and leading research on the island and guests from the SAWS.
Although the new base was officially opened (and had already been occupied by M68, the Marion Overwintering Team at the time), work on it was still required and so the ship left behind a 25-member NDPW construction team under the leadership of Heine Smith which stayed until the annual relief voyage a month later.
Opportunity was taken during the time ashore to place and dedicate a new cross made by the NDPW over the grave of Daniel Jacobs, who had drowned off Boulder Beach in January 1948 (click here). The previous cross, thought to be the second erected, had rotted and fallen down a few years before.
References:
Department of Environmental Affairs 2011. Sailing Instructions MV SA Agulhas: Marion island 10-24 March 2011. ms 21 pp.
Marsh, J.H. 1948. No Pathway Here. Cape Town: Howard B. Timmins. 200 pp.
van Sittert, L. 2015. ‘Ironman’: Joseph Daniels and the white history of South Africa’s deep south. Polar Record 51: 50-512.
John Cooper, Principal Investigator, Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, 18 May 2016