2018 Ross Dependency - Aircraft.

        Throughout New Zealand’s Antarctic presence, aircraft have provided transport both to and across the icy continent. Land and sea-based alternatives are highly time consuming or unsafe. Much of Antarctica’s surface is covered by crevassed ice and coastal areas by seasonal sea ice.
        The basic principles of Antarctic aircraft operations haven’t changed much in their 60-year history. First is the connection between New Zealand and Antarctica and second is the support of operations within Antarctica. 
        Transport from New Zealand is provided by the RNZAF (New Zealand Air Force) using the Lockheed C130 Hercules and more recently the Boeing 757. USA aircraft also provide assistance in this connection with both the USA and NZ aircraft flying out of Christchurch.        
        Science teams based in Antarctica rely on the collective capability of the aircraft type and their crews to reach areas not easily accessible by other modes of transport. Whilst technological advances assist in navigation, aircraft reliability and weather forecasting, Antarctica remains a demanding and unpredictable environment in which to operate. Without aircraft for transport, the important scientific research localities of Antarctica would be practically inaccessible.

2008 Sir Edmund Hillary

         Sir Edmund Percival Hillary KG, ONZ, KBE (20th July 1919 – 11th January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer and explorer. On the 29th of May 1953, he and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest.

2009 Preserve the Polar Regions and Glaciers

International Polar Year 2007 - 2009.

2017 Ross Dependency - Historic Huts.

Captain Robert Falcon Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton have had their names and their achievements forever immortalised in history. The heroic feats of both of these men helped to pave the way for future exploration and study of the icy continent in the Geographic South Pole. The huts left behind from their various explorations have now been taken into the care of the Antarctic Heritage Trust. A plan was made to restore and conserve the individual huts, each one needed weatherproofing and repairs of some sort. Terra Nova, the largest of the three huts took seven years to be fully repaired, and all of its 11,000 artefacts conserved.

2010 Ross Dependency - Whales of the Southern Ocean.

I like whales, watching them on TV, seeing how beautiful, almost graceful as they move through the water. It is hard to imagine that creatures that large could move like that. Once, during one of our regular trips to visit family in the South Island, we did a whale watching boat trip. This was from Kaikoura, before the earthquakes when whale watching was a big tourist attraction. I was surprised how many we saw and how they allowed the tourist boat to venture so close. Watching these large animals as they slowly moved was the highlight of that trip.

         'Whales' is the name given to the group of carnivorous marine mammals that spend their entire lives in the sea (or sometimes rivers). There are two groups of modern whale: the filter-feeding baleen whales, and the echo-locating toothed whales.

         Three families of baleen whale are represented in the Southern Ocean (rorqual, right whale and pygmy right whale), and five families of toothed whale (sperm whale, diminutive sperm whale, beaked whale, dolphin and porpoise).  These fascinating mammals are the focus of the Ross Dependency 2010 stamp issue. Consisting of five large stamps (50mm x 30mm) and a range of collectable stamp products, it’s an issue that’s sure to impress.

2007 50th Anniversary Scott Base.

       Officially opened on 20 January 1957, Scott Base is New Zealand’s permanent research support station in Antarctica. It was originally designed to last just a year or two, but its enormous value as a centre for scientific research has seen it grow and flourish.

The five stamps.

2009 Ross Dependency - 50th Anniversary Antarctic Treaty

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. For the purposes of the treaty system, Antarctica is defined as all of the land and ice shelves south of 60°S latitude. The treaty, entering into force in 1961 and having 53 parties as of 2016, sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, establishes freedom of scientific investigation and bans military activity on that continent. The treaty was the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War. The Antarctic Treaty Secretariat headquarters have been located in Buenos Aires, Argentina, since September 2004.

         The main treaty was opened for signature on December 1, 1959, and officially entered into force on June 23, 1961. The original signatories were the 12 countries active in Antarctica during the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957–58. The twelve countries that had significant interests in Antarctica at the time were: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States. These countries had established over 50 Antarctic stations for the IGY. The treaty was a diplomatic expression of the operational and scientific cooperation that had been achieved "on the ice".

2008 Ross Dependency - 100th Anniversary British Antarctic Expedition

Each year the Ross Dependency issues a set of stamps, used for postage but also aimed at the collector market. The subjects shown either relate to the history, scenery or wild life of the dependency.

The 2008 Ross Dependency stamp issue marked the 100th anniversary of the British Antarctic Expedition 1907 - 1909. The issue consisted of five values showing scenes from various stages of the expedition. In this post, the stamps have been arranged as how they fit into the story, rather than by value as we usually do. They can be seen arranged by value in the strip above.

The British Antarctic Expedition 1907 - 1909, also known as the Nimrod Expedition, was the first of three expeditions to the Antarctic led by Ernest Shackleton. It was financed without governmental or institutional support and relied on private loans and individual contributions. Its ship, Nimrod, was a small, 40-year-old wooden sealer of 334 gross register tons, and the expedition's members generally lacked relevant experience. On New Year’s Day 1908, Nimrod departed from the South Island port of Lyttelton.

2007 Ross Dependency - 50th Anniversary Trans-Antarctic Expedition

       The 1955–58 Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (CTAE) was a Commonwealth-sponsored expedition that successfully completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica, via the South Pole. It was the first expedition to reach the South Pole overland for 46 years, preceded only by Amundsen's and Scott's respective parties in 1911 and 1912.
        In keeping with the tradition of polar expeditions of the "heroic age" the CTAE was a private venture, though it was supported by the governments of the United Kingdom, New Zealand, United States, Australia and South Africa, as well as many corporate and individual donations, under the patronage of Queen Elizabeth II. It was headed by British explorer Dr Vivian Fuchs, with New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary leading the New Zealand Ross Sea Support team. The New Zealand party included scientists participating in International Geophysical Year (IGY) research while the UK IGY team were separately based at Halley Bay.

2006 Ross Dependency 50th Anniversary Antarctic Programme

        For the few inhabitants of a wedge-shaped piece of land at the very bottom of the world, 2007 marked a very significant milestone. The land is the Ross Dependency, the people are the teams at New Zealand's Scott Base and USAs McMurdo Sound Base, and the milestone is the 50th anniversary of the New Zealand Antarctic Programme, which continues to maintain a unique focus on scientific research in the area.

2005 Ross Dependency Through the Lens.

          Antarctica is well known as one of the most starkly desolate places on earth – a vastly inhospitable expanse of land permanently cloaked in ice. Yet for all its frozen isolation, the continent’s landscapes and wildlife are also breathtakingly beautiful, inspiring some of New Zealand’s greatest photographers to create some of their finest works.

          In 2005, New Zealand Post invited five professional photographers to submit their personal favourites of the Ross Dependency – and the results are simply stunning. That was how NZ Post described this issue but I have to admit that personally, I was disappointed with the stamps.  

2004 Ross Dependency Emperor Penguins

        For human beings, Antarctica is a vast, icy and perennially inhospitable land, approached and inhabited by only the hardiest of souls. But for the Emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri), the continent is truly home – even in winter, when it’s the only animal to spend the season breeding on the open ice.
        Every winter, once the sea ice has formed, they gather at their breeding ground, the mates of the previous year seeking each other out and spending several weeks renewing their acquaintance. Once the eggs are laid (one for each pair), the male becomes the official incubator, balancing the egg on top of his feet and covering it with a warm fold of skin and feathers. He huddles with other penguins to preserve warmth in this chilly environment, where temperatures can fall below -60 degrees Celsius. Two months later, the male half his former weight, the egg hatches and a new penguin life begins – joining the battle for survival in one of the most desolate parts of the world.

2003 Ross Dependency Marine Life

        

Dive beneath the thick expanse of ice covering the continent of Antarctica, and you'll be amazed at the abundance and variety of colourful marine life that lives in this cold, forbidding environment. Sea snails, starfish, crabs, sponges and many more eke out a meagre existence many hundreds of metres below sea level - far from the inquisitive eyes of the world's scientists and researchers, eager to learn more about them.

2002 Ross Dependency Discovery Expedition

         The British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–04, generally known as the Discovery Expedition, was the first official British exploration of the Antarctic regions since James Clark Ross's voyage sixty years earlier. Organised on a large scale under a joint committee of the Royal Society and the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), the new expedition carried out scientific research and geographical exploration in what was then largely an untouched continent.
          It launched the Antarctic careers of many who would become leading figures in the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, including Robert Falcon Scott who led the expedition, Ernest Shackleton, Edward Wilson, Frank Wild, Tom Crean and William Lashly.
         Its scientific results covered extensive ground in biology, zoology, geology, meteorology and magnetism. The expedition discovered the existence of the only snow-free Antarctic valleys, which contain Antarctica's longest river. Further achievements included the discoveries of the Cape Crozier emperor penguin colony, King Edward VII Land, and the Polar Plateau (via the western mountains route) on which the South Pole is located. The expedition tried to reach the South Pole travelling as far as the Farthest South mark at a reported 82°17′S before being forced to turn back.

2001 Ross Dependency Penguins

         The 2001 Ross Dependency stamps, issued on the 7th November 2001, featured penguins found in the Ross Dependency area. On the same day New Zealand also issued a set of six stamps, also featuring penguins, 2001 Penguins. but this time penguins from around New Zealand. There have been occasions when these two sets have been confused but it must be remembered that they are independent of one another, released by two different postal administrations.  

         But it also must be acknowledged that these two stamp issues are also linked, through their designer, their printer and their subject of penguins.

The six value Ross Dependency Penguin issue.

2000 Ross Dependency Transport on Ice.

Transport on the Ice includes six stamps and a first day cover that depicts the rugged nature of the Antarctic terrain and the transportation challenges.

1999 Ross Dependency Night Skies

New Zealand's territory in the Antarctic, the Ross Dependency is justly famous for the diversity of its weather phenomena.

1998 Ross Dependency Ice Formations

Antarctica is roughly twice the size of Australia – some 14 million square kilometres. Massive glaciers flow down from the ice cap to merge into flat-topped ice shelves. One of these is the Ross Ice Shelf on what is known as the Ross Sea. This shelf is moving, pressing forward all the time. The airfields on the ice have to be move regularly, keeping then from drifting way from the bases on land. Relentless activity takes place all year round on this huge shelf, as nature creates daunting shapes and fascinating colours. This issue features examples of some of the ice formations that have been captured on film.

1997 Ross Dependency Antarctic Birds

Six Antarctic sea birds are depicted on the 1997 Ross Dependency stamp issue. While the stamps were issued in sheets with the World Wildlife Fund logo printed on four of the six values, however all six stamps are available without the logo from the se-tenant block as can be seen above and on the First Day Cover below.

1996 Ross Dependency Antarctic Landscapes.

          The Ross Dependency issued it second annual stamp issue on the 13th November 1996. In this case, the theme was Antarctic Landscapes, a popular theme that has appeared often in the Ross Dependency stamp issue series.

          New Zealand's claimed territory in the Antarctic, the Ross Dependency, is justly famous for the variety and beauty of its wilderness landscape. From the ice-choked shores of the Ross Sea to the buckled pressure ridges on the fringe of the massive Ross Ice Shelf the Ross Dependency's landscape changes dramatically towards the interior of the 'seventh continent'. The Transantarctic Mountains, with peaks rising to over 4000 metres and all extensively glaciated, dissect Ross Dependency separating the coastal region from the high ice plateau of the East Antarctic Ice Shelf. Active volcanoes, like Mount Erebus, are also important features of the Ross Dependency.