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Penguins parade in exhibition

Central City Library hosts free exhibition: Emperor penguins and pressure-ice at Cape Crozier taken in 1902 forms part of the Antarctica: A Tale to Tell exhibition.

From City Scene, published on 20 July, 2008

This photo, taken in October 1902 from Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic expedition (1901-1904), captures the first breeding colony of Emperor penguins discovered at Cape Crozier, on Ross Island.

The photo is part of Antarctica: A Tale to Tell, a free exhibition at the Central City Library, from 9am to 5pm weekdays, and 10am to 4pm on weekends. Although preserved specimens of Emperor penguins had been collected on earlier 19th-century voyages, it was only the discovery of this breeding colony that confirmed that these penguins, the largest penguin species, actually bred and reared their chicks on sea ice, in the depths of the Antarctic winter.

The Central Libraries' Special Collections exhibition features the photograph as it was reprinted in Gordon Hayes's 1928 book, Antarctica: a treatise on the southern continent.

The book attempted a summary of the scientific information known about Antarctica for the "ordinary educated reader", including facts about penguins. The exhibition covers a wide range of themes - from exploration to environmental issues.