The statue reflects Christchurch's connection with Antarctica and the British Empire and is also recognised by Heritage New Zealand as a Category II historic place.

[7][8] Scott and his companions were welcomed by locals and conducted research and analyses at the Canterbury Museum and tested their equipment at a meteorological hut in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens.

[9][10] Locals also helped supply their expeditions and gathered on 28 November 1910 to bade farewell to the explorers before preceding to Port Chalmers to make their final stop before continuing to Antarctica.

[17][16] A search party consisting of the crew of the Terra Nova departed their camp in late October in hopes of sighting Scott and his companions that were missing for several months.

[20][21] On 12 February, the ship arrived to Lyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō, where the men of the expedition were surprised to see the city in mourning and flags flying at half-mast.

[2][23] The Statue of Robert Falcon Scott is located on the corner of Worcester Street and Oxford Terrace in Christchurch Central City, New Zealand.

He holds a bronze alpenstock in his right hand, facing north towards the Old Municipal Chambers building, on top of a concrete foundation, and a stone plinth made of several granite pieces that had been mortared together.

[27][36] The first proposal for a memorial of Captain Scott was put forward by a local bishop who suggested "that some great monument, placed right on the summit of the Port Hills, would be very suitable and it would be visible from both Lyttelton, with all its shipping, and from Christchurch and the plains".

[35] The Christchurch City Council and the committee later commissioned Kathleen to create a replica of the bronze statue in Waterloo Place in London, England that was erected in 1915.

[37][26] In February 1916, the committee decided the statue would be positioned on a grass plot beside the Avon River / Ōtākaro and opposite the Clarendon Hotel facing the Old Municipal Council building.

[37][41] A large crowd gathered at the intersection of Worcester Street and Oxford Terrace on 9 February 1917 to witness the unveiling of the memorial with several speakers who reflected on the explorers' scientific contributions.

The statue was unveiled by the Governor-General of New Zealand, The Earl of Liverpool who stated "Captain Scott represented everything best in the traditions of the British Navy, and were he alive today".

Mayor Henry Holland stated that "the memorial to Captain Scott would remain a permanent reminder to the generations of the future that the Englishmen of these days were worthy upholders of the noblest traditions of their race".

[43][26] The inscription reads: ROBERT FALCON SCOTTCAPTAIN ROYAL NAVY Who died returning from the South Pole, 1912, with A. E. Wilson, H. R. Bowers, L. E. G. Oates, E. Evans.