SGA Video Recordings - The South Georgia Association

Here is a collection of the online talks held by the South Georgia Association, with the most recent at the top:

SGA Talk 22 April 2022 – South Georgia Then and Now (1982 and All That)

22 April 2022

Bob Headland, Pat Lurcock, and Jamie Coleman tell us about how life on SG has changed since the brief Argentine occupation in 1982.

Editor’s Note: On the night, technical confloptions meant that we were unable to show Bob’s images. We have recorded his talk again, with images this time, and cut them into this edited version of the talk.

Chat Comments: The Chat comments made during the presentation can be downloaded here:

SG Then And Now Chat (6.95 KB)

Jamie mentions the Antarctic 48-hour Film Festival that is held every winter amongst the bases in and around Antarctica. Some of the entries from KEP and Bird Island have been uploaded to various YouTube channels, and can be seen here:

See Winter 48-Hour Film Festival Entries

Whaling on South Georgia – by a Man Who Was There

24 February 2022

John Alexander was an electrician with Christian Salvesen arriving at Leith Harbour in September 1954 and overwintering. He returned in September 1956 and overwintered again. He then spent the 1958-1959 season on the whaling factory ship Southern Harvester and the 1959-1960 season on Southern Venturer. His last season was back in Leith Harbour, arriving in September 1960 as an ASDIC electrician. Much later he returned to South Georgia in 2009 on Skip Novak’s yacht Pelagic Australis.

Chat Comments: The Chat comments made during the presentation can be downloaded here:

Whaling Talk Chat (13.67 KB)

At the end of the talk, John mentions that he has produced a CD of some of his photographs to raise funds for the South Georgia Heritage Trust. If you are interested you can follow this link:

Click here to shop for John’s CD at the SGHT online shop

Saving Ocean Wanderers

18 November 2021

Why Japan is important in the fight to save South Georgia albatross. Stephanie Prince and Yasuko Suzuki from Birdlife tell us about their project to educate Japanese tuna fishing fleets in the art of not killling albatross by accident.

The Shackleton Crossing by a Repeat Offender

21 August 2021

Robert Burton and Stephen Venables tell us about the history of Shackleton’s 1916 crossing of the island, and tales of repeating the crossing in modern times.

Archaeology Fieldwork on South Georgia

20 May 2021

Marcus Brittain from Cambridge University tells us about his 2019 expedition to South Georgia to investigate the remains of early sealers’ sites, and Bob Burton investigates why they went all that way to get fur. These talks were presented in association with the SGHT.

Giant Iceberg A68A – Possible Impacts on South Georgia

25 February 2021

Laura Gerrish and Sally Thorpe from the British Antarctic Survey tell us about the giant iceberg, the work being undertaken to study it, and its possible impacts on the island.

GSGSSI Update – Steve Brown

24 November 2020

GSGSSI Director of Operations Steve Brown gives us an update on Covid-19, tourism, and hydro-electric power plans.

Dias/Viola – Robb Robinson

24 November 2020

Robb Robinson from the Hull Maritime Museum tells the history of South Georgia Sealing vessel Dias, her early life as Hull Steam Trawler Viola, and plans to try and repatriate her to Hull.

Monitoring Wildlife with Drones – John Dickens

24 November 2020

John Dickens from the British Antarctic Survey tells us about the use of drones to monitor wildlife on South Georgia.

Rodent Monitoring – Pat Lurcock

9 November 2020

Pat Lurcock’s 30-minute talk about the monitoring project that confirmed the success of the SGHT rodent eradication project on South Georgia.