Ross Dependency

The Ross Dependency is an area of Antarctica (and other land masses in the Southern Ocean) claimed by New Zealand. The Dependency takes its name from Sir James Clark Ross, who discovered the Ross Sea.

The Dependency includes part of Victoria Land, and most of the Ross Ice Shelf. Ross Island, Balleny Islands and the small Scott Island also form part of the Dependency, as does the ice-covered Roosevelt Island.

The scientific bases of Scott Base (New Zealand) and McMurdo Station (USA) are the only permanently occupied human settlements in the area – apart from the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station at the very edge of the territory.  The Dependency has a snow runway at Williams Field, and depending on conditions and time of year, two ice runways.  This allows wheeled and ski equipped aircraft to come and go, year round.

 Jurisdiction 
The British government took possession of the territory in 1923 and entrusted it to the administration of New Zealand. Under the provisions of the Antarctic Treaty System, to which New Zealand is a signatory, no nation may make efforts to enforce sovereignty or territorial claims over the Antarctic continent proper.  If one accepts the claim, the Ross Dependency comprises the bulk of the territory of New Zealand, far larger than the North Island and the South Island combined. However, the actual amount of land mass claimed is not large; most of the area defined as being in the Ross Dependency is either in the Ross Sea or the Antarctic Ocean.  It is the smallest of the claims which were made prior to the implementation of the Antarctic Treaty System and the suspension of all territorial claims to Antarctica proper.

The Governor-General of New Zealand is also the Governor of Ross Dependency. Officers of the Government of the Ross Dependency are annually appointed to run the Dependency.

In the late 1980s, the British non-governmental exploratory vessel Southern Quest sank in the Ross Sea, United States Coast Guard helicopters rescued the crew, who were taken to McMurdo Station.

 References 

Other websites
 Government of the Ross Dependency — official description
 Antarctica New Zealand — Crown entity charged with administering, developing and managing Ross Dependency
 50 years of Scott Base 
 History - From University of Canterbury
 http://www.south-pole.com/homepage.html
 Stamps of Ross Dependency 
 map of Ross Dependency (central part) 

Category:Commonwealth dependent states
Category:Antarctic territorial claims
Category:Geography of New Zealand
Category:Antarctica
Category:Ross Dependency