The Endurance, in ice. The ship sank in the Antarctic Weddell Sea during Ernest Shackleton's voyage, in 1915. Photo: Supplied/ Canterbury Museum
Canterbury Museum has secured a rare medal, which the British government fought to keep in the UK.
On Wednesday morning the museum unveiled the Sir Ernest Shackleton's Polar Medal, which was gifted by the Adson Trust.
Former UK Conservative arts and heritage minister Stephen Parkinson barred the export of the medal, which was valued at £1.76 million, in February.
But the Adson Trust - which was established with a posthumous $10 million bequest left to the museum by Arthur Henry Harrison, a retired company secretary from Blenheim - had bought the medal in a private sale.
Sir Ernest Shackleton wearing The Polar Medal. Photo: Supplied/ Canterbury Museum
Given its historic significance, Sir Ernest's medal had to be offered to UK institutions before the sale could proceed and an export licence granted.
The purchase price and seller were confidential under the terms of the sale agreement.
The Polar Medal was awarded to Shackleton by Edward VII in 1905 for his participation in Sir Robert Falcon Scott's Discovery Expedition.
He was awarded a second bar in 1909 for his Nimrod Expedition, which was the first expedition to come within 100 miles of the South Pole, and a third in 1917 for the Endurance Expedition.
The Polar Medal Photo: Supplied/ Canterbury Museum
Museum Director-Tumuaki Anthony Wright said without Harrison's generosity, Sir Ernest's Polar Medal would have been beyond the country's financial reach.
"This cements Canterbury Museum's international standing as the repository of one of the most significant collections of heroic age Antarctic objects in the world, and it underscores Ōtautahi Christchurch's pivotal role as a gateway to the great southern continent for well over a century," he said.
"The value of the medal to the museum is immense. It is an iconic object of enormous interest worldwide. As far as we know it has only been exhibited twice - both times in London - since Shackleton died over 100 years ago.
"The redeveloped Canterbury Museum will be the only place that Antarctic enthusiasts, researchers and tourists will be able to see the Polar Medals awarded to two of Antarctica's most widely recognised explorers, Captain Robert Falcon Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton."
The medal would be displayed in the Antarctic Gallery, when the museum is reopened in late 2028, after a major five-year redevelopment.
Ernest Shackleton on board the Endurance. Photo: Supplied/ Canterbury Museum
Canterbury Museum had a strong association with expeditions that headed to the Antarctic in the early 1900s and was now home to the largest collection of heroic age artefacts in the Southern Hemisphere and one of the most significant in the world, the museum said.
Its collection included objects left with the museum by Antarctic explorers and scientists on their way home.
"Shackleton is one of the greatest and, arguably, the most revered Antarctic explorers of all time," Wright said.
"His dogged determination to save his men after the Endurance was trapped in pack ice, and the epic voyage of the James Caird lifeboat from Elephant Island to South Georgia - without loss of life - secured his place in history as a great leader.
"Shackleton and the remarkable tale of the Endurance Expedition will be a pivotal story in the museum's new Antarctic Gallery."
The Endurance Photo: Supplied/ Canterbury Museum
In 2015, Canterbury Museum acquired nine of Sir Ernest's full-sized medals at auction in London and his set of 12 miniature medals in 2022.
The museum had an example of every medal awarded to the explorer by heads of state and governments. None had yet been on public display in the museum.
