Training ponies, Quail Island

Training ponies, Quail Island

English explorer Robert Falcon Scott had family connections and friends in Christchurch, and so his Antarctic expeditions of 1901–4 and 1910–12 used Lyttelton as a base. For the second expedition, Scott had 20 Siberian ponies and 34 sledge dogs brought out to Lyttelton and quarantined at Quail Island. The ponies did not adapt to Antarctic conditions and died or were shot during the ill-fated expedition.