Scott loses pole in vandal attack

Vandals have attacked the newly repaired statue of Antarctic explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott, snapping off his walking pole.

Captain Robert Falcon Scott has nothing to hang onto after vandals snapped off his walking pole.

The thin brass shaft was found broken into two bits in a nearby garden bed by Christchurch City Council staff on Monday but the round basket fitting at the base of the pole has not been recovered.

“It is possible that whoever vandalised the statue took it as a souvenir or that they tossed it into the river,’’ says Council Acting Head of Parks Brent Smith.

“It is really disappointing that this has happened less than a month after the statue was reinstated on its plinth.

“Years of work went into repairing the statue after the earthquakes and to have it attacked so mindlessly by vandals is distressing for all those involved in the project and for the Scott family,’’ Mr Smith said.

The Council was determined to get the statue repaired as quickly as possible.

“We’ve got finishing work to do on the statue over the next few weeks which is going to require some scaffolding to be erected around statue. We’re hoping we can reinstate the pole at that point but that may depend on whether we can find the missing piece.

“If we can’t find it, we will have to get it re-cast and that could take some time,’’ Mr Smith says.

This photo taken during the repair of the Scott statue shows the missing piece of the pole.

"If anyone knows where it might be or has any information about the attack on the statue we would really appreciate hearing from them,’’ Mr Smith says.

Parks staff were going to have another search of the grounds around the statue to see if they could find it.

Scott was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two Antarctic expeditions, the Discovery Expedition, 1901–1904, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–1913.

The statue serves as a memorial to those who died with Scott on his return journey from the South Pole in 1912.
Scott’s widow Kathleen sculpted the 2.5 tonne, 2.6 metres high statue, which has become a symbol of Christchurch's important links to Antarctica and Antarctic exploration.

The statue was shaken from its plinths in the 22 February 2011 earthquake and only reinstated at the beginning of this month.

The Scott Statue before the vandal attack.