The South Georgia museum |

The fact that there is a fully-staffed museum on South Georgia makes me so incredibly happy 😊 This is an island without any permanent inhabitants (unless you count the penguins), no hotels, no eateries, no shops; in fact, there are barely any buildings at all. A few lodges and houses exist for researchers, there's a storehouse, a small chapel, the remnants of a whaling station and, of course, the museum.

The museum doesn't charge an entrance fee and the staff's commute to the island for the summer season (the only time of year that South Georgia is occasionally accessible to the cruise liners that stop by) can take months, relying on borrowed passage onboard coastguard patrol vessels, fishing boats, and the local navy. Once on the island, there's no real chance to leave, very little contact with the outside world, and a general feeling of just having to get stuck into whatever island life throws at you.

Unsurprisingly, jobs at the museum are targeted at those who are "happy with intense solitude" and "are able to wear whatever hat is needed for the day". Possible tasks include graveyard maintenance, petrol tank pumping, aiding scientific research, and, of course, manning the gift shop. Because even at the end of the world, a museum isn't truly a museum without a gift shop.

It's utterly mad and completely wonderful. I desperately want to visit!

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  • The fact that there is a fully-staffed museum on South Georgia makes me so incredibly happy 😊 This is an island without any permanent inhabitants (unless you count the penguins), no hotels, no […]
  • Murray Adcock.
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