1962 Working party led by Professor Knox (back middle).

1960's Kitchen interior

1965-6 Jack Kay (on bank) and Roy Thompson, Zoology technicians at Kaikoura

The Christchurch Star, Wed., Oct. 23, 1963. Examining the collections. Lance Bowring (left) Ian Mannering (3rd left) Peter Johns (5th left) KP Jansen (6th left background)

Professor George Knox and his wife Dorothy at the opening of the G.A.Knox Research Laboratory. 22 March, 1986.

Staff and students from the Zoology Department attending the opening of the G.A.Knox Research Laboratory. 22 March, 1986.

The Edward Percival Field Station was established in 1962 and its prime purpose was undergraduate teaching. Up till then field work for undergraduates had been undertaken at Menzies Bay, on Banks Peninsula, but as class sizes increased alternatives were sought. On one vacation zoology undergraduates stayed in the Kaikoura High School with a Mr George Knox, as he then was, and the class rated Kaikoura as an ideal place for a Field Station.

There is a delightful letter from Miss Cora Wilding to the University dated August, 1959 offering a site for the laboratory including details on sea water supply, Māori history and a map! (In later years Miss Wilding donated books, maps, pictures and planted many trees around the Field Station that are thriving today!).

George Knox looked around for a site and discovered the County Council's old powder (explosives) magazine tucked under the cliffs along the Esplanade. It was hilly and rough, but he saw it was one of the best sites anywhere in the world for a marine laboratory and for investigating the great diversity of habitats, fauna and flora about the Kaikoura Peninsula.

In his foreword to the special edition of Mauri Ora (Vol12, 1985) George Knox described the setting for the Teaching Laboratory as follows:

"Few laboratories in the world have such a unique setting. The Peninsula marks a transition zone between elements of northern and southern flora and fauna, e.g. it is the one place in New Zealand where all five species of intertidal limpets coexist. It is famed for the richness of its seaweed flora. There is an extensive range of intertidal platforms and reefs with varied exposure to wave action. The waters offshore are a complex mixture of sub-antarctic, subtropical and coastal water masses. Off the Peninsula there is a complex submarine canyon system with deep water (1000m) occurring within a few kilometers of the coast. The Kowhai Bush provides an accessible and unique environment for research of New Zealand native bird species, while the near-by mountain range give opportunities for work on a transact from the snowline to sea-level over a distance of a few kilometers. A number of streams and small lakes extends the research opportunities into freshwater habitats."

The land was Crown land and it was ceded to the University. The Golden Kiwi lottery provided some of the first funds for building a station on the site, but as usual there was insufficient money. A shell was therefore built and added to later as circumstances permitted. When it was first occupied, the bunkrooms had neither doors nor ceilings and students had to be diplomatic in their remarks about the staff when they went to bed. Their words traveled far.

Eventually there was living accommodation for 24 students and four staff together with a large laboratory, workshop and storerooms.

The Field Station was officially opened in 1963 and named after Edward Percival, who taught at Canterbury for 30 years much of the time as professor of biology but in his last five years as Head of the Zoology Department.

UC Chronicle article March 16, 1964

Staff and graduate students as well as visitors from overseas, were not slow to perceive the value of the Kaikoura Field Station as a centre of research, but as their numbers increased it became painfully obvious that long term scientific studies and short-term organized field courses were not ideal bedfellows. Indeed they were frequently incompatible. As a result proposals for a research annex were put forward and in 1984 the then University Grants Committee made funds available. Building commenced in 1985 and the George Knox Research Laboratory was opened on the 22nd of March 1986.

Emeritus Professor George Knox receives Anniversary Award by the Royal Society Committee of Antarctic Studies.