Michael Louis Bernacchi CMG OBE (5 May 1911 –20 August 1983) was a British colonial administrator,who was the Resident Commissioner of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands from 1952 to 1961. [1]
Bernacchi also served as a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy,and as a district officer in the Colonial Office in British Malaya during the Malayan Emergency. [2]
He was the eldest son of Louis Bernacchi,an Australian physicist and astronomer best known for his role in several Antarctic expeditions. [3] He married Elaine Chapman from Navua,Fiji. Chapman was the granddaughter of Sir John Maynard Hedstrom,founder of Morris Hedstrom and Company,the largest trading corporation in Fiji. [4]
Between 1966 and 1983 he lived in Christchurch,New Zealand. He donated many of his father's Antarctic collection to the Canterbury Museum, [3] that related to the Carstens Borchgrevink's Southern Cross expedition (1898–1900) and the Discovery expedition led by Robert Falcon Scott (1901–1904).
Bernacchi died on 20 August 1983,at the age of 72. [5]
The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements,collectively known as the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS),regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica,Earth's only continent without a native human population. It was the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War,designating the continent as a scientific preserve,establishing freedom of scientific investigation,and banning military activity;for the purposes of the treaty system,Antarctica is defined as all the land and ice shelves south of 60°S latitude. Since September 2004,the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat,which implements the treaty system,is headquartered in Buenos Aires,Argentina.
The history of Antarctica emerges from early Western theories of a vast continent,known as Terra Australis,believed to exist in the far south of the globe. The term Antarctic,referring to the opposite of the Arctic Circle,was coined by Marinus of Tyre in the 2nd century AD.
The Ross Dependency is a region of Antarctica defined by a sector originating at the South Pole,passing along longitudes 160°east to 150°west,and terminating at latitude 60°south. It is claimed by New Zealand,a claim accepted only by the other six countries with territorial claims in Antarctica. Under the 1961 Antarctic Treaty,of which all territorial claimants are signatories,including New Zealand,all claims are held in abeyance. Article IV states:"No acts or activities taking place while the present Treaty is in force shall constitute a basis for asserting,supporting or denying a claim to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica or create any rights of sovereignty in Antarctica".
Mawson Station,commonly called Mawson,is one of three permanent bases and research outposts in Antarctica managed by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD). Mawson lies in Holme Bay in Mac. Robertson Land,East Antarctica in the Australian Antarctic Territory,a territory claimed by Australia. Established in 1954,Mawson is Australia's oldest Antarctic station and the oldest continuously inhabited Antarctic station south of the Antarctic Circle. It houses approximately 20 personnel over winter and up to 53 in summer.
Akaroa is a small town on Banks Peninsula in the Canterbury Region of the South Island of New Zealand,situated within a harbour of the same name. The name Akaroa is Kāi Tahu Māori for "Long Harbour",which would be spelled Whangaroa in standard Māori. The area was also named Port Louis-Philippe by French settlers after the reigning French king Louis Philippe I.
Louis Charles Bernacchi was an Australian physicist and astronomer best known for his role in several Antarctic expeditions.
Carsten Egeberg Borchgrevink was a Norwegian polar explorer and a pioneer of Antarctic travel. He inspired Sir Robert Falcon Scott,Sir Ernest Shackleton,Roald Amundsen,and others associated with the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.
Kyle Chapman is a New Zealand far-right political activist and the former national director of the white nationalist New Zealand National Front (NZNF). He has stood unsuccessfully three times for the Christchurch mayoralty:first for the NZNF (2004);then for the National Democrats Party (2007);and then for the Resistance Party (2013).
Levuka is a town on the eastern coast of the Fijian island of Ovalau,in Lomaiviti Province,in the Eastern Division of Fiji. Prior to 1877,it was the capital of Fiji. At the census in 2007,the last to date,Levuka town had a population of 1,131,about half of Ovalau's 8,360 inhabitants. It is the economic hub and the largest of 24 settlements on the island. Having been nominated decades prior,Levuka was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in June 2013,in recognition of the port town's exceptional testimony to the late colonial port towns in the Pacific.
Bernacchi Head is a precipitous cliff forming the southern extremity of Franklin Island in the Ross Sea of Antarctica. It was named "Cape Bernacchi" by the British Antarctic Expedition,1898–1900,for Louis C. Bernacchi,a member of the expedition. The generic name has been changed to "Head" by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names to avoid duplication with Cape Bernacchi on the coast of Victoria Land.
The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration was an era in the exploration of the continent of Antarctica which began at the end of the 19th century,and ended after the First World War;the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition of 1921–1922 is often cited by historians as the dividing line between the "Heroic" and "Mechanical" ages.
Cape Royds is a dark rock cape forming the western extremity of Ross Island,facing on McMurdo Sound,Antarctica. It was discovered by the Discovery Expedition (1901–1904) and named for Lieutenant Charles Royds,Royal Navy,who acted as meteorologist on the expedition. Royds subsequently rose to become an Admiral and was later Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police,London. There is a hut at Cape Royds built and used by Ernest Shackleton and his team during their 1907–1909 expedition.
John Riddoch Rymill was an Australian polar explorer,who had the rare second clasp added to his Polar Medal.
The Southern CrossExpedition,otherwise known as the British Antarctic Expedition,1898–1900,was the first British venture of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration,and the forerunner of the more celebrated journeys of Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton. The brainchild of the Anglo-Norwegian explorer Carsten Borchgrevink,it was the first expedition to over-winter on the Antarctic mainland,the first to visit the Great Ice Barrier—later known as the Ross Ice Shelf—since Sir James Clark Ross's groundbreaking expedition of 1839 to 1843,and the first to effect a landing on the Barrier's surface. It also pioneered the use of dogs and sledges in Antarctic travel.
The Statue of Robert Falcon Scott commemorates Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott. It is located at the intersection of Oxford Terrace and Worcester Street in the Christchurch Central City,New Zealand. The statue,carved by Scott's widow Kathleen Scott,is registered as a Category II historic place. The statue toppled off its plinth in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake and broke in two;it was temporarily on display in the Christchurch Earthquake Museum in City Mall. The Scott statue was reinstated in October 2017.
Clinton Coleridge Farr was a New Zealand geophysicist,electrical engineer and university professor.
Stephen Walker was an Australian sculptor who was made a member of the Order of Australia in 1985. In 2011,he was inducted into the Music Victoria Hall of Fame.
The majority of Fiji's islands were formed through volcanic activity starting around 150 million years ago. Today,some geothermic activity still occurs on the islands of Vanua Levu and Taveuni. Fiji was settled first by the Lapita culture,around 1,500–1,000 years BC,followed by a large influx of people with predominantly Melanesian genetics about the time of the beginning of the Common Era. Europeans visited Fiji from the 17th century,and,after a brief period as an independent kingdom,the British established the Colony of Fiji in 1874. Fiji was a Crown colony until 1970,when it gained independence as the Dominion of Fiji. A republic was declared in 1987,following a series of coups d'état.
The Antarctic gateway cities are five cities on the rim of the Southern Ocean through which nearly all cargo and personnel bound for Antarctica pass. From west to east,they are Punta Arenas,Chile;Ushuaia,Argentina;Cape Town,South Africa;Hobart,Australia;and Christchurch,New Zealand. As Antarctica is a low-resource environment with no major transportation infrastructure of its own,gateway cities are a necessary part of all Antarctic activities.