The man whose paint job took two years to dry at Scott Base 66 years ago, had hoped the research facility’s new build would see New Zealand’s home on the ice returned to one of its former colours.
A nationwide call for Kiwis to vote for one of three colours, kikorangi, karaka or kākāriki (blue, orange or green) for the $344 million Scott Base rebuild, brought the memories flooding back for Bob Pinker who helped paint the original buildings during nine trips to Antarctica – his first trip as a 16-year-old.
“It took two years to dry,’’ he said of the original job.
Pinker, 83, said part of his job as a tradesman in the NZ Navy was to paint the buildings, in a mixture of colours, including International Orange – using linseed oil-based paint – which did not dry below freezing level.
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The original colour of Scott Base was beige and not good for navigation purposes, he said.
“We painted it orange for navigation. Everything we had was orange – for visuals.’’
It was repainted green in 1965 to remind people of New Zealand, and has remained that colour since.
But Pinker, who lives in Paeroa, is adamant the new build should be orange.
On Wednesday afternoon he heard Kiwis had voted green as the colour for the new build.
“I’m not disappointed, I’m just happy to be alive.”
However, he did question the practicality of the choice.
“Green is no good. It reflects the radiation, orange absorbs it.
“What if there is an electrical outage? That could happen at anytime, and you need to be able to see.’’
However, on Wednesday Antarctica New Zealand released the official results of a vote showing, of the 10,830 people who voted, kākāriki/green was the chosen colour with 4514 votes, with Pinker’s preferred colour in second place with 3742 votes, followed by kikorangi/blue with 2574 votes.
An earlier Stuff reader poll attracted around 1000 votes – 38% voting for orange, 32% for green and 30% for blue.
Scott Base, officially opened on January 20, 1957, was built by Sir Edmund Hillary and his team on Ross Island, and was constructed for New Zealand’s participation in the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition.
Timaru won the contract to host the multi-million dollar redevelopment, due to start later this year, with the base to be built at the town’s port before being shipped south to Antarctica in eight modules.
And Pinker has no need to worry about drying times for the new build – Antarctica New Zealand senior project manager Simon Shelton said a powder coat-type paint will be used which will be applied at a factory which produces insulated freezer panels.
Growing up in Whangārei, and later joining the NZ Navy as a tradesman, Pinker still remembers boarding the ship to the Antarctic, from Bluff, for his first trip there in December 1956.
“We had 18 dogs on board and half a truck load of mutton to feed them.’’
Between 1956 and 1965, Pinker did nine trips to the South Pole, including the Trans-Antarctic Expedition, and said he was the only diesel-electric mechanic in the Navy.
He has many stories of adventure and camaraderie from his trips, including when the team realised they had forgotten to take a flagpole to erect at Scott Base.
“We had to get a flagpole from Scott’s old hut and take it over [to Scott Base] to use.’’
Pinker said he was proud of his time in the Antarctic and had a lifetime of memories to look back on.
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