In 2000 Brigadier Nicholls retires as Commander British Forces Falkland Islands and approaches Professor Elaine Shemilt with a proposal to create a research and consultancy unit at the University of Dundee, initially named Project Atlantis and established with funding from Frederik Paulsen. In collaboration with the Government of South Georgia…
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SGHT is established by Brigadier David Nicholls RM, in close partnership with Prof. Elaine Shemilt at the University of Dundee and with Norwegian representation through Stig Tore Lunde and with GSGSSI support. Other founding Trustees besides David Nicholls are Bjorn Basberg (Norway), Dr. Michael Moore (USA), Prof. John Croxall (UK),…
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After David Nicholls’ untimely death in July 2006 at the age of 57, Alison Neil (who began work for the Trust three weeks earlier) takes over as CEO. Trustee David Munro becomes acting Chairman Former Governor of the Falkland Islands and Commissioner SGSSSI Howard Pearce is appointed as Chairman in…
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First major donation of US$750,000 for Habitat Restoration from the Island Foundation, USA. HRH The Princess Royal agrees to become Patron of SGHT. Tim and Pauline Carr, who carefully curated South Georgia Museum from 1992-2006, organised a US lecture tour to raise awareness of SGHT and South Georgia SGHT takes…
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The interior of Husvik Manager’s Villa is renovated to allow it to be used as an expedition base. A new Maritime Gallery is created at the South Georgia Museum containing a replica of the James Caird lifeboat, commissioned from a USA boat builder Robert Wallace using funds raised by a…
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The expedition cruise ship Grigoriy Mikheev is chartered by SGHT to take HRH The Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, Trustees, passengers and staff of SGHT to South Georgia, where HRH opens the new Maritime Gallery. The Habitat Restoration Steering Committee is formed, chaired by Trustee Prof. Mike…
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Friends of South Georgia Island (FOSGI) is established by SGHT Trustee Denise Landau and immediately begins fundraising for the HR project, enticing US supporters through tax receipt incentives to support its work. FOSGI Board Members include Michael Moore, Peter Harrison, Lisa Kelley, Kim Heacox, Marilyn Rudne, and Denise Landau. Following…
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“Team Rat” (the Rodent Eradication team) gets to work and the first phase of fieldwork to eradicate rats from South Georgia is completed in March 2011. In just 28 days a team of eleven experts led by Project Director Tony Martin treats an area of 12,500 hectares. Although this first…
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Alastair Fothergill, Executive Producer of the BBC’s Frozen Planet Documentary and Honorary President of SGHT, gives an illustrated talk in Cambridge on the acclaimed Frozen Planet series in support of the Trust. An independent expert group is invited by the Chair of the Habitat Restoration Steering Committee to assess the …
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SGHT and FOSGI charter the British Antarctic Survey vessel, the RRS Ernest Shackleton, to take helicopters and equipment from the UK and Falkland Islands to South Georgia in February 2013 for the Habitat Restoration project. The vessel is used to deploy fuel and bait at Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) at…
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An SGHT monitoring team revisits the areas baited in 2013, led by Rob Webster, Deputy Director of the Habitat Restoration project. The team discovers no evidence of remaining rats or mice SGHT (through the generosity of Trustee Frederik Paulsen) sponsors the Scott Polar Research Institute’s digitisation of the slide collection…
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The first South Georgia Pipit nest in living memory is discovered by wildlife expert and Team Rat veteran Sally Poncet, in an area cleared in Phase 2 of the HR project The third and final baiting phase of the HR project takes place from 23 January to 23 March 2015,…
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Howard Pearce steps down as Chairman of SGHT after 10 years of service and is succeeded by Philippa Foster Back This is a year of planning and fundraising for the final Phase of the Habitat Restoration project, with the vast majority of Phase 4 funded by FOSGI. Planning also takes…
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The Island Invasives 2017 conference takes place from the 10ᵗʰ to the 14ᵗʰ of July, 2017, opened by SGHT’s Patron HRH The Princess Royal. The conference is organised by SGHT in partnership with the host venue, the University of Dundee. The conference is attended by 275 delegates from 44 different…
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SGHT, FOSGI and GSGSSI hold a press conference to declare that South Georgia is now rodent free. Following the Island Invasives 2017 conference the proceedings are edited and published. In April 2018 SGHT, FOSGI and GSGSSI commission a joint survey of the Main Store and Flensing Plan at Grytviken, with…
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In February and March 2019, detailed archaeological surveys are carried out of the beaches where sealing took place on South Georgia. The South Georgia Museum team accessions and cares for the artefacts retrieved during the project, helping to arrange for items requiring specialist care to be loaned or relocated to…
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Michael Visocchi’s artwork Commensalis is commissioned by SGHT in collaboration with GSGSSI, as part of the reinterpretation of the flensing plan at Grytviken Whaling Station. SGHT and FOSGI raise funds for the trial of a GSGSSI biosecurity dog team. SGHT and FOSGI support an RSPB/BAS project to fund a ‘bycatch…
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An online exhibition on the life of Sir Ernest Shackleton is created during the pandemic, and is displayed at the South Georgia Museum when it reopens in late 2021 SGHT and FOSGI support research into whale ecology in the Southern Ocean, including the use of acoustics to detect and distinguish…
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A survey of South Georgia’s whaling stations takes place, to consider how best to conserve the Manager’s Villa at Stromness Whaling Station. The international team of 11 specialists contracted by the Trust spends 17 days at South Georgia (12 days at Stromness, two days at Grytviken, two days at Leith…
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In-principle approval is given by GSGSSI Commissioner Alison Blake for the stabilisation of the Stromness Manager’s Villa Artist Michael Visocchi and Stewart Garden (a structural engineer providing in-kind support for Commensalis) visit the island in February, to start to plan the installation in detail. The ‘Sponsor a rivet’ campaign is…
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In partnership with several Scottish museums and with funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Dynamic Collections Campaign, the Binks Trust and the Adrian Swire Charitable Trust, the creation of a “Whalers’ Memory Bank” by the South Georgia Museum begins, with events for ex-whaling communities in Shetland and Orkney Rivets…
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The sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia is one of nature’s paradises and is rich in cultural heritage. We exist to protect South Georgia’s environment and to preserve its history SGHT has shown outstanding dedication to protecting the pristine environment of the South Georgia Islands, actively supporting conservation projects, sustainable practices,…
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