The South Georgia Association is delighted to announce the award of the Morag Husband Campbell medal for 2024 to Ian Hart, in recognition of his “outstanding and sustained support for the history, heritage and knowledge of South Georgia”
The Medal has been made possible by a generous bequest from a long-standing supporter of the Association, Miss Morag Husband Campbell. She was so enthralled when visiting South Georgia, she determined to leave a bequest to the SGA. The Medal comprises a Sterling silver relief medallion, 60mm in diameter. The name of the awardee is inscribed on the reverse.
The Recipient: Ian Hart is the leading historian of the Southern whaling industry which played a fundamental part in the history of the settlement of South Georgia and its economy. He assisted Nigel Bonner in establishing the South Georgia Whaling Museum at Grytviken in the early 1990s. Ian Hart undertook the first curatorial work creating a ledger for recording the artefacts and items for the emergent Museum in Grytviken from 1992 to 1995.
Ian has devoted many years of study in Britain and Norway tracing the development of the whaling industry from its pioneering days to its eventual decline and withdrawal from the Island in 1965. In addition to numerous articles, he has written a series of detailed and authoritative works on aspects of South Georgia’s history. These include:
2001 PESCA: The History of the Compañia Argentina de Pesca Sociedad Anónima of Buenos Aires. An Account of the Pioneer Modern Whaling Company in the Antarctic. [pub. Aidan Ellis: Revised edition 2003] & [Pequena: 2021. New extended edition of 675 pages]
2006 Whaling in the Falkland Islands Dependencies 1904-1931. A History of Shore and Bay-based Whaling in the Antarctic. [pub. Pequena]
2009 Antarctic Magistrate: A life through the lens of a Camera. (The life of Edward Beveridge Binnie). [pub. Pequena]
2014 VIOLA: From the Great War to Grytviken. The Life and Times of a Hull Steam Trawler. (Co-author with Robb Robinson). [pub. Lodestar Books]
Furthermore, he has written several other books in regard to whaling in and around Antarctica:
2014 A história da caça de baleias no Brasil: De peixe real a iguaria japonesa. (Co-author with William Edmundson). [pub. DISAL Editora, São Paulo, Brazil].
2016 Whale Factory Ships and Modern Whaling 1881-2016. [pub. Ships in Focus Publications]
2017 A History of Whaling in Brazil – From royal fish to Japanese delicacy. (Co-author with W. Edmundson). [pub. Pequena]
2020 Austral Enterprises – A History of shore, bay-based and pelagic whaling and sealing in the Southern Ocean encompassing The Southern Whaling & Sealing Company, The Kerguelen Sealing & Whaling Company and their associated enterprises at South Georgia, the Antarctic peninsula, the South Indian Ocean and South Africa. [pub. Pequena]
Ian has contributed 23 entries to The Dictionary of Falklands Biography (including South Georgia). From Discovery up to 1981. [edited by David Tatham] [Revised on-line with additional contributions https://falklandsbiographies.org to 2021]
The Award will be presented to Ian Hart at the next meeting of the Association in July 2024.
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