Antarctic Adventure # 19 - The Falklands Revisited
By Susan Ellis of keylifejourneys
There is a saying warning "you can't go back." Yet if that chapter has not closed and there are more pages to be written, of course you must go back. However I know I do not want to try to recapture what was once experienced and make it be repeated or elongated. Let it be a new experience, a "to be continued" episode in life. Indeed let every chapter or episode be one that is ended wanting more, rather than finished too late.
The Falkland Islands or the Maldeves as know to the Argentineans, mix the colonial past with the political present. The two came crashing together in 1982 when a war between the British Islander and the Argentinean mainlanders erupted, was fought and decisively concluded. But the Islands would never be the same again. Lives were lost - Islanders, Argentineans and British troops who had come to the rescue. Tracts of land have been lost to humans as they are filled with plastic land mines. Those which are made of metal can be detected and disarmed more easily. But these wait for some wandering penguin to set them off, fenced off from humans. In all wars there are winners and losers. The land mines stay because the Argentineans say the British must remove them. The British do not wish to risk and invest so much. 117 land mine fields remain fenced off limits.
It was almost as if we had come from our own war that morning as we sailed into the bay to approach Stanley with light winds and blue sky and an utterly deceptive ocean putting on her innocent face. We passed the wreck of the Lady Elizabeth in her current resting place since 1936. She had be damaged rounding the Horn in 1913 having seen the other face of the ocean. She remained moored in Stanley till another storm placed her in the current resting position.
We came ashore by zodiac to a town where terraces of decidedly British houses greeted us. The locals drove around in Land Rovers - driving on the left -and the Union Jack flew. The grass was green; the flowers from an English country garden. Most of the trees found in the Falkland Islands are in Stanley.
I walk through the town close to the water, heading towards the Museum. I had never got to the museum in 2006 as the rain had been unpleasant. But this day the sun shone and the breeze was bearable.
I passed Christchurch Cathedral, the foundation stone for which was laid in 1890 and the building consecrated two years later. In the front garden, the whalebone arch has stood since 1933. It is made from the jawbones of the blue whale. It is depicted in the Post Liberation memorial window in the Cathedral as also are the mountains of South Georgia and the Whalers church from Grytviken.
Government house is seen between the trees beyond which is the Battle Monument. honoring those who fell 26 years previously. First British sighting of the Falkland Islands was in 1592 with the first recorded landing in 1690. Ultimately settlers came from Britain as sheep farmers. Argentina has always maintained the island belong to that country. A crisis has always been waiting to unfold. I walked on.
A fellow Polar Star traveler stopped to take my photograph in front of the Jheum shipwreck. This ship was deserted by her crew in 1870 after being damaged rounding the Horn.
Finally to the Museum and the sun was warm enough for me to take off my parka. What a delightful museum with the history of the Islands and those who came to live. However the most recent addition is the history of the war of 1982.
It was on April 2nd 1982 that the invasion took place along with the occupation of South Georgia Island by Argentina.The British sent warships, nuclear submarines, helicopters and commandos, marines and paratroopers, The British lost 253 lives and 3 islanders died. Ships and helicopters were lost. Argentineans sacrificed 60 aircraft and over 900 lives. The surrender came 14th June. Evidence shows that the Argentineans on the ground were totally ill-equipped for a land battle. They hardly had clothes for the cold weather and certainly not enough food. The military had miscalculated. They had not expected Margaret Thatcher, the then Prime Minister of Great Britain, to send her troops so far to aid some small outpost of the Empire. But the residents of the Falkland Islands desired to remain British and did not want to become part of Argentina.
Where was I in my life at that time? At the beginning of July 1982 I had set off for Australia and New Zealand as a tourist and a lecturer. In the November I felt New Zealand and headed for Fiji, then to French Polynesia seeing Tahiti and Morea; Then to Easter Island and to Santiago Chile and my first visit to South America.
Chile was under the control of Pinochet. There had been an energy of oppression and fear in the air, in the streets and in the eyes if the people. My journey continued to Bolivia. But my plane had most of the passengers disembarking in Arica on the Chilean coast. We were forced off, given accommodation for two days until there were enough passengers to fly a plane up into the Andes to La Pas. From Bolivia I went to Peru and from Lima, home. Although I had used my British passport for my Australian and New Zealand work permits, I hid it out of sight and became the Canadian I really was. It was not safe in 1982 to be British traveling alone in South America as many countries had supported Argentina in its war against British occupation. Back in 1982 I don't think that the Falkland Islands were going to be on my "to do" list. Who would have thought these isolated Islands would hold my attention twice in the years to come?
In 1982 I was beginning a new life, testing out my skills as a workshop leader and lecturer on topics such as the management of people with Alzheimer's disease and handling grief. It was also the time when I was fitting into my new self image as a lesbian. So 26 years later I was feeling the breezes in gentle sunshine on a south Atlantic Ocean Island, no longer the neophyte.
Meanwhile from a flyer about the 1982 war obtained at the museum I am reassured that "Protected by a strong garrison, the Falkland Islanders are now enjoying greater security and affluence under a government of their choice. Long may it last." I think Argentina will be back - oil is below the ocean.
Currently the prosperity is mainly due to the selling of commercial fishing licenses and the major tourist industry from both the day trippers from cruise ships and those who stay longer to hike and observe the abundance of wildlife. (227 species of birds, 14 species of marine mammals, 348 species of plants)
Other relics of war are rusting on the treeless plains and hillsides, helicopters and armored vehicles remain where they stopped. They are shown off to the many tourists who come briefly from far off shores.
I had a choice of three excursions that afternoon. One was a visit to a cove to see penguins and other wildlife. Another was a bus trip to hear the story of the war and see the battlefields. But the trip I took was to Long Island Farm of 23,000 acres in East Falkland. Our journey there took us over the hills and indeed past many of the battle sites and rusting helicopters were visible as we drove by. Many hillsides were covered in stone "runs" where what looked like massive rocky avalanches had come to rest.
At the farm we were greeted by owners Neil and Glenda Watson. They breed 300 Corriedale/Polwarth sheep for wool and they have cattle, horses, sheepdogs, chickens and some cats. All farming is done in a traditional way with hand milking, sheep sheering, and hand cut peat for fuel. They maintain a veggie garden and make their own bread and butter.
We enjoyed tea and freshly made cakes in their living room after seeing demonstrations of peat cutting, sheep sheering and watching sheep dogs at work. Plenty of Upland geese wandered around and an adult Black Crowned Night Heron stood sentinel at a gate.
We sailed out of Stanley in the late afternoon heading to West Falkland into the eye of a storm.
There is a saying warning "you can't go back." Yet if that chapter has not closed and there are more pages to be written, of course you must go back. However I know I do not want to try to recapture what was once experienced and make it be repeated or elongated. Let it be a new experience, a "to be continued" episode in life. Indeed let every chapter or episode be one that is ended wanting more, rather than finished too late.
The Falkland Islands or the Maldeves as know to the Argentineans, mix the colonial past with the political present. The two came crashing together in 1982 when a war between the British Islander and the Argentinean mainlanders erupted, was fought and decisively concluded. But the Islands would never be the same again. Lives were lost - Islanders, Argentineans and British troops who had come to the rescue. Tracts of land have been lost to humans as they are filled with plastic land mines. Those which are made of metal can be detected and disarmed more easily. But these wait for some wandering penguin to set them off, fenced off from humans. In all wars there are winners and losers. The land mines stay because the Argentineans say the British must remove them. The British do not wish to risk and invest so much. 117 land mine fields remain fenced off limits.
It was almost as if we had come from our own war that morning as we sailed into the bay to approach Stanley with light winds and blue sky and an utterly deceptive ocean putting on her innocent face. We passed the wreck of the Lady Elizabeth in her current resting place since 1936. She had be damaged rounding the Horn in 1913 having seen the other face of the ocean. She remained moored in Stanley till another storm placed her in the current resting position.
We came ashore by zodiac to a town where terraces of decidedly British houses greeted us. The locals drove around in Land Rovers - driving on the left -and the Union Jack flew. The grass was green; the flowers from an English country garden. Most of the trees found in the Falkland Islands are in Stanley.
I walk through the town close to the water, heading towards the Museum. I had never got to the museum in 2006 as the rain had been unpleasant. But this day the sun shone and the breeze was bearable.
I passed Christchurch Cathedral, the foundation stone for which was laid in 1890 and the building consecrated two years later. In the front garden, the whalebone arch has stood since 1933. It is made from the jawbones of the blue whale. It is depicted in the Post Liberation memorial window in the Cathedral as also are the mountains of South Georgia and the Whalers church from Grytviken.
Government house is seen between the trees beyond which is the Battle Monument. honoring those who fell 26 years previously. First British sighting of the Falkland Islands was in 1592 with the first recorded landing in 1690. Ultimately settlers came from Britain as sheep farmers. Argentina has always maintained the island belong to that country. A crisis has always been waiting to unfold. I walked on.
A fellow Polar Star traveler stopped to take my photograph in front of the Jheum shipwreck. This ship was deserted by her crew in 1870 after being damaged rounding the Horn.
Finally to the Museum and the sun was warm enough for me to take off my parka. What a delightful museum with the history of the Islands and those who came to live. However the most recent addition is the history of the war of 1982.
It was on April 2nd 1982 that the invasion took place along with the occupation of South Georgia Island by Argentina.The British sent warships, nuclear submarines, helicopters and commandos, marines and paratroopers, The British lost 253 lives and 3 islanders died. Ships and helicopters were lost. Argentineans sacrificed 60 aircraft and over 900 lives. The surrender came 14th June. Evidence shows that the Argentineans on the ground were totally ill-equipped for a land battle. They hardly had clothes for the cold weather and certainly not enough food. The military had miscalculated. They had not expected Margaret Thatcher, the then Prime Minister of Great Britain, to send her troops so far to aid some small outpost of the Empire. But the residents of the Falkland Islands desired to remain British and did not want to become part of Argentina.
Where was I in my life at that time? At the beginning of July 1982 I had set off for Australia and New Zealand as a tourist and a lecturer. In the November I felt New Zealand and headed for Fiji, then to French Polynesia seeing Tahiti and Morea; Then to Easter Island and to Santiago Chile and my first visit to South America.
Chile was under the control of Pinochet. There had been an energy of oppression and fear in the air, in the streets and in the eyes if the people. My journey continued to Bolivia. But my plane had most of the passengers disembarking in Arica on the Chilean coast. We were forced off, given accommodation for two days until there were enough passengers to fly a plane up into the Andes to La Pas. From Bolivia I went to Peru and from Lima, home. Although I had used my British passport for my Australian and New Zealand work permits, I hid it out of sight and became the Canadian I really was. It was not safe in 1982 to be British traveling alone in South America as many countries had supported Argentina in its war against British occupation. Back in 1982 I don't think that the Falkland Islands were going to be on my "to do" list. Who would have thought these isolated Islands would hold my attention twice in the years to come?
In 1982 I was beginning a new life, testing out my skills as a workshop leader and lecturer on topics such as the management of people with Alzheimer's disease and handling grief. It was also the time when I was fitting into my new self image as a lesbian. So 26 years later I was feeling the breezes in gentle sunshine on a south Atlantic Ocean Island, no longer the neophyte.
Meanwhile from a flyer about the 1982 war obtained at the museum I am reassured that "Protected by a strong garrison, the Falkland Islanders are now enjoying greater security and affluence under a government of their choice. Long may it last." I think Argentina will be back - oil is below the ocean.
Currently the prosperity is mainly due to the selling of commercial fishing licenses and the major tourist industry from both the day trippers from cruise ships and those who stay longer to hike and observe the abundance of wildlife. (227 species of birds, 14 species of marine mammals, 348 species of plants)
Other relics of war are rusting on the treeless plains and hillsides, helicopters and armored vehicles remain where they stopped. They are shown off to the many tourists who come briefly from far off shores.
I had a choice of three excursions that afternoon. One was a visit to a cove to see penguins and other wildlife. Another was a bus trip to hear the story of the war and see the battlefields. But the trip I took was to Long Island Farm of 23,000 acres in East Falkland. Our journey there took us over the hills and indeed past many of the battle sites and rusting helicopters were visible as we drove by. Many hillsides were covered in stone "runs" where what looked like massive rocky avalanches had come to rest.
At the farm we were greeted by owners Neil and Glenda Watson. They breed 300 Corriedale/Polwarth sheep for wool and they have cattle, horses, sheepdogs, chickens and some cats. All farming is done in a traditional way with hand milking, sheep sheering, and hand cut peat for fuel. They maintain a veggie garden and make their own bread and butter.
We enjoyed tea and freshly made cakes in their living room after seeing demonstrations of peat cutting, sheep sheering and watching sheep dogs at work. Plenty of Upland geese wandered around and an adult Black Crowned Night Heron stood sentinel at a gate.
We sailed out of Stanley in the late afternoon heading to West Falkland into the eye of a storm.
Posted by Key Life Journey's Blog at 4/28/2010 9:58 PM 
Categories: Antarctica
Tags: The Maldeves peat cutting Long Island Farm The Falkland Islands Christchurch Cathedral Stanley
Categories: Antarctica
Tags: The Maldeves peat cutting Long Island Farm The Falkland Islands Christchurch Cathedral Stanley
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