The Frank Worsley Antarctic Research Library Trust
The Frank Worsley Antarctic Research Library Trust, registered charity CC63172, has the following trustees: – Richard McElrea QSO (chair), Sam Rofe, Heritage Building Restorer (deputy chair); Nicola Jackson, Deputy Chief Executive Operations, Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga; retired Professor Bryan Storey PM; Jane Ellis, director Earth Sea Sky; and Science Communicator Matthew Jordan. Co-patrons are Emeritus Professor Peter Barrett PM, NZAM and Dr Alan Cooper, US Geological Survey Emeritus Scientist. An important group of specialist advisors support the work of the trust.
The Frank Worsley Antarctic Research Library was set up to provide to interested persons access to a diverse library of books, journals, and other material meeting the Trust’s criteria. The Antarctic regions are the focus, with provision for some ancillary material. It is to be openly available for use by researchers, students, and the general public.
The library is also expected to:
- Preserve as a legacy a library of Antarctic -related books, journals, and other items including important scientific and historical materials that might otherwise be inaccessible.
- Educate and inspire people with and through the legacy of quality literature and scientific material principally focused on the Antarctic regions.
Formal opening of the Library
A gala evening on 24 August 2026 hosted by City of Christchurch Trust and attended by some 120 guests, witnessed the re-opening of the Old Municipal Chambers by Deputy Mayor Victoria Henstock, and the official opening of the Frank Worsley Antarctic Research Library by co-Patron, Emeritus Professor Peter Barrett.
Professor Barrrett also presented an historic United States 48-star flag flown at Camp Minnesota during the 1962-63 Ellsworth Mountains Expedition. He said it was a reminder of the collaboration between US and NZ researchers and reflecting the spirit of international partnership under the Antarctic Treaty System.
Sam Rofe, Chair of City of Christchurch Trust, addresses guests at the ceremony for the re-opening of the Old Municipal Chambers, 24 August 2026.
On the following night the Left Bank/Rive Gauche musicians from California, USA, presented the Frank Worsley Antarctic Research Library Inaugural Benefit Concert “Music of the Antarctic Expeditions – Capt. Cook (1770s) to the Antarctic Treaty (1959), Music’s roles in exploration, science and geopolitics”. This unique and magnificently presented evening of Historic Antarctic Music highlighted styles of music accompanying expeditions, and roles of music in exploration, science and geopolitics. The setting was superb as were the venerable quality grand piano owned by Sam Rofe and the musicianship of pianist, Nancy Whitecar.
Patrons
Emeritus Professor Peter Barrett PM, NZAM
Peter Barrett grew up on a Waikato farm, leading him to explore caves and geology at Auckland University to Antarctica, Ohio State University and the discovery of Antarctica’s first tetrapod fossil. He returned to New Zealand to become Founding Director of Victoria University’s Antarctic Research Centre (1972-2007). He led many expeditions and several offshore drilling projects to study Antarctic ice sheet behaviour as a guide to its future. His concern for this led to the film Thin Ice – the Inside Story of Climate Science (2013, 2015).
Dr. Alan Cooper
Dr. Cooper worked for the U.S. Geological Survey for over 50 years as a research and emeritus geoscientist. He is author of 200+ publications on the geophysics and paleoclimate history of the offshore Antarctic, circum-Pacific and Bering Sea (north polar) regions. He designed and led the Antarctic Seismic Data Library System for Cooperative Research within SCAR and under the Antarctic Treaty for 30 years. In 2002 his focus shifted to integrating cultural arts (as a violinist) with Antarctic studies.
Trustees
Richard McElrea QSO
Richard McElrea QSO (Chair) is a retired lawyer and coroner. In December 1971 he was a NZ Antarctic Society volunteer ‘hut caretaker’ at the historic sites of Scott and Shackleton on Ross Island, Antarctica. Richard is a former president of the NZ Antarctic Society and a founding trustee and a former chair of Antarctic Heritage Trust. He is an author in polar history including co-writing Polar Castaways; The Ross Sea Party (1914-17) of Sir Ernest Shackleton (2004). He has recently been a guest presenter on two cruise voyages to the Ross Sea region. He has assisted in the peer review of the Antarctic Heritage Trust’s 2026 Ross Island conservation management plans.
Sam Rofe (deputy chair)
Sam Rofe’s interests in history, architecture, commerce and heritage lead to a unique and successful bid to the Christchurch City Council in 2019 to enable the Old Municipal Chambers to be strengthened and repaired to the exacting standards first imagined in 1887 by then graduate architect Samuel Hurst Segar.
Sam is delighted that the fruit of many hands now culminates in not only the physical preservation of ‘Our City Otautahi’ , but more so, its activation through commercial and Non-For-Profit users – ensuring that the woven stories of our people will thrive into the future.
Nic Jackson
Nic Jackson is the Deputy Chief Executive Operations at Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga. She completed the Graduate Certificate in Antarctic Studies in 2003 and joined the NZ Antarctic Society (NZAS) in the same year. She has held official positions for the NZAS being Chair of the Wellington Branch and the North Island Vice President for several years. She was selected as one of the first NZAS volunteers to undertake maintenance for Antarctica NZ at Scott Base in 2007-8. She is particularly interested in polar history and has provided feedback on the Antarctic Heritage Trust’s conservation plans for historic huts on Ross Island.
Professor Bryan Storey PM
Bryan Storey PM, Polar Medal, is a retired Professor of Antarctic Studies and the first Director of Gateway Antarctica, the Centre for Antarctic Studies and Research at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch 2000-2017. Prior to this appointment, he spent 24 years as an Antarctic Researcher with the British Antarctic Survey leading and developing research programmes in Antarctica and pursuing research on the geological evolution of Antarctica within the Gondwana supercontinent. He was a vice President of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and has lectured on many Antarctic expedition ships.
Jane Ellis
Jane Ellis is co-owner and Operations Manager of Christchurch-based outdoor clothing company Earth Sea Sky, a family business passionately committed to designing and manufacturing high-performance clothing in New Zealand. Earth Sea Sky has supplied the clothing system for Antarctica New Zealand’s Scott Base programme for more than 17 years, designing and manufacturing garments used by personnel working on the Ice. Jane’s connection to Antarctica spans generations. Her father-in-law, Murray Ellis, was a member of the New Zealand team that reached the South Pole in January 1958. Following that expedition, the Ellis family business became involved in manufacturing clothing for New Zealand’s Antarctic programme, establishing a long association with Antarctic exploration. Jane brings experience in business leadership, governance and community engagement, and is committed to supporting initiatives that preserve and share Antarctica’s stories, achievements and heritage.
Matty Jordan
Matty Jordan has travelled to Antarctica eleven times, spending more than 500 days living and working on the Ice. His experiences include crossing the notorious Drake Passage, wintering at New Zealand’s Scott Base, and visiting the Geographic South Pole. As a former project manager for New Zealand’s Antarctic Programme, Matty worked alongside scientists and delivered construction projects in support of world-leading climate research. Matty has amassed over two million social media followers by sharing the wildlife, landscapes, history, science and human stories that make Antarctica unlike anywhere else on Earth. Nominated for the Shackleton Award in 2026, Matty has a mission to inspire one billion people to care about Antarctica. He is also a board director for the U.S. based Antarctican Society, and regularly organises community events on behalf of the New Zealand Antarctic Society.