‘Islands of despair’

The Team from Alexander Turnbull Library

Date: Wednesday 18 March 2020, 5:30pm to 6:30pm
Cost: Free. Koha from non-members appreciated.
Location: Taiwhanga Kahau — Auditorium, National Library Wellington. Entrance on Aitken Street.
Part of the Friends of the Turnbull Public Programme — 2020 series

Sub-Antarctic voyagers Derek Lightbourne and Shona Riddell will take you on a fascinating journey to the wild sub-Antartic islands recalling the struggles of would-be settlers and shipwrecked castaways.

New Zealand’s fragile yet fearsome sub-Antartic
Fragile yet fearsome, New Zealand’s sub-Antarctic islands are home to otherworldly plants and wildlife. They have also seen two centuries’ worth of human triumphs and tragedies.

Would-be settlers and shipwrecked castaways
Three-time sub-Antarctic voyager Derek Lightbourne will take you on a fascinating journey to these wild islands via a slideshow that recalls the struggles of would-be settlers and shipwrecked castaways.

A personal perspective of a voyage south
Next, Wellington author Shona Riddell who was also on a 2016 voyage south, will share from a personal perspective. Shona was subsequently able to access the archives of the Alexander Turnbull Library in researching her latest book ‘Trial of Strength, adventures and misadventures of the wild and remote Subantarctic islands’.

She was able to obtain unpublished manuscripts and papers, including her great-great-grandmother Harriett Cripps’ 1852 certificate of baptism on the Auckland Island, as well as written accounts of life during the same era along with historical images of NZ’s sub-Antarctic islands.