Exploring the life and legacy of John Rae

John Rae 200, a three-day international conference, begins in Stromness today, Saturday, as part of the bicentenary celebrations of the explorer’s birth.

Through a number of presentations delivered by local and visiting speakers, as well as a tour of Stromness Museum and guided walks through the town, the conference will explore the life and legacy of John Rae under three themes — Artic Exploration, Museum collections and archive sources and The Hudson’s Bay Company and Orcadians in the Nor’ Wast.

Janette Park, one of the conference organisers, explained: “By organising the conference, we hope to gain national recognition for John Rae and his achievements, not only for the discovery of the North West Passage but also for charting 1,765 miles of previously unexplored Arctic coastline and for being one of the early pioneers of the most successful ways of exploring — to live off the land.”

For full details of the conference, see www.johnrae200.co.uk