Statue of Robert Falcon Scott, Christchurch

Scott had been to Antarctica before 1910. In 1901 he and his team had attempted to reach the south pole for the British National Antarctic Expedition. Ernest Shakleton's Nimrod Expedition had also made the attempt between 1901 and 1910. Both expeditions had failed. Now, in 1910, with his Terra Nova Expedition, Scott would try again.

Scott and his team reached the pole on January 12, 1912, only to find that Roald Amundsen with his Norwegian team had beaten them to the pole by 33 days. On their return journey, Scott and all his men perished.

Scott's widow, Kathleen, a gifted sculptor and artist, was commissioned to create a statue memorial of her husband. The year was 1915. The war was raging and bronze was out of the question. Instead she used Carrara marble. The statue was unveiled on the corner of Worcester Street and Oxford Terrace in 1917.

The statue showed Scott standing tall, facing north. The team was headed north at the time of their deaths. A plaque in the plinth carried a quote from Scott's journal: "I do not regret this journey, which shows that Englishmen can endure hardships, help one another and meet death with as great fortitude as ever in the past."

The statue was toppled from its plinth in the 2011 earthquake. It had broken in several places. It was restored and unveiled again on October 6th, 2017.