Antarctic

Antarctica

David Day
ISBN  9781741669091
Trade paperback 2013
Price $AU 34.99
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A groundbreaking history of human interaction with Antarctica, the last continent on earth. For centuries it was suspected that there must be an undiscovered continent in the southern hemisphere. But explorers failed to find one. On his second voyage to the Pacific, Captain James Cook sailed further south than any of his rivals but failed to sight land. It was not until 1820 that the continent's frozen coast was finally discovered and parts of the continent began to be claimed by nations that were intent on having it as their own. That rivalry intensified in the 1840s when British, American and French expeditions sailed south to chart further portions of the continent that had come to be called Antarctica. On and off for nearly two centuries, the race to claim exclusive possession of Antarctica has gripped the imagination of the world. Science was enlisted to buttress the rival claims as nations developed new ways of asserting territorial claims over land that was too forbidding to occupy.

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South Pole

Elizabeth Leane
ISBN 9781780235967
Paperback 2016
Price $AU 37.99
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The geographic South Pole is a place of paradox. It is a point around which the Earth, quite literally, pivots; yet it has a habit of falling off the edge of our maps. An invisible spot on a high, featureless ice plateau, the Pole has no obvious material value, but is nonetheless a much sought-after location. The endpoint of exploration's most famous 'race' between teams led by Robert F. Scott and Roald Amundsen, the Pole has more recently become a favoured destination of 'extreme' tourists. The Pole is a deeply political place. In South Pole Elizabeth Leane explores the important challenges that this strange place poses to humanity. Along the way, she considers the absurdities and banalities of human engagement with the Pole. Ranging from the ancient Greeks to the present, and featuring spectacular images of the South Pole, this book offers a fascinating history of the symbolic 'heart' of the Antarctic.

Shortlisted for the Premier's Literary Awards 2017.

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Fixing Antarctica: Mapping the Frozen South

Lynette Finch
ISBN 9781493577309
Paperback 2014
Price $AU 29.95
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1956, Sydney Lorrimar Kirkby will go on to clock up extraordinary achievements but already he has achieved the impossible. He had polio as a child so how could he hope to pass the Commonwealth medical test to be stationed in Antarctica? It took a bit of cunning but he got through. The age requirement for any member of an Australian Antarctic team is twenty-six years old. Syd is twenty-one. He's not a fully qualified surveyor but he will be when the ship leaves for Mawson with him on board. Over the next twenty years Syd Kirkby will explore and map more unknown regions in he world than any other person in history. Fixing Antarctica is the first full biography of this important twentieth century explorer. Told through the interviews with his contemporaries, personal diaries and the diaries of other Antarctic explorers, this account establishes Kirkby in his rightful place as one of the great polar explorers.

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Arctic Dreams

Barry Lopez
ISBN 9780099583455
Paperback 2014
Price $AU 24.95
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WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ROBERT MACFARLANE Lopez's journey across our frozen planet is a celebration of the Arctic in all its guises. A hostile landscape of ice, freezing oceans and dazzling skyscapes. Home to millions of diverse animals and people. The stage to massive migrations by land, sea and air. The setting of epic exploratory voyages. And, in crystalline prose, Lopez captures the magic of the Arctic the essential mystery and beauty of a continent that has enchanted man's imagination and ambition for centuries.

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The Last Expedition

Captain Robert Falcon Scott
Vintage Publishing
ISBN 9780099561385
Paperback 2012
Price $AU 22.99
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WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY SIR RANULPH FIENNES The Last Expedition is Captain Scott's gripping account of his expedition to the South Pole in 1910-12. It was meant to be a voyage of scientific discovery and a heroic exploration of the last unconquered wilderness. Scott's expedition, carried in the Terra Nova, pitted him and his team not only against the elements but also against the Norwegian explorer, Amundsen. Ultimately, Scott was beaten by both. The journals are full of incident and drama, courage and endurance, hope and bitter disappointment. His journals were found, along with Scott's body, several months after his death and just 11 miles from base camp and safety.

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The Last Explorer: Hubert Wilkins - Australia's Unknown Hero

Simon Nasht
ISBN 9780733622427
Paperback 2007
Price $AU 24.99
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Hubert Wilkins was truly the last - and one of the greatest - explorers. And much more than that. Born in South Australia, he spent much of his life outside the country - but always remained an Australian. He travelled through every continent and was a pioneer of aviation. He survived crashes and disasters, firing squads and sabotage, living long enough to be honoured by kings, presidents and dictators. He was a frontline photographer in World War I - and was twice decorated. He took the first ever film of battle and took the first moving images from an aircraft. He was the first man to fly across the Arctic Ocean, the first to fly in the Antarctic - and the first to fly from America to Europe across the then unknown Arctic (the New York Times called this 'the greatest flight in history'). In the 1030s he spent several years travelling in western Queensland and the Northern Territory - where many of his observations and views were ahead of their time. In the later years of his life he did work for the US military and intelligence - and in 1958 was buried at sea at the North Pole by the US Navy.

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Crossing of Antarctica: Original Photographs from the Epic Journey That Fuelled Shackleton's Dream

George Lowe
Thames and Hudson
ISBN 9780500252024
Hardback 2014
Price $AU 49.99
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The first crossing of Antarctica in 1957/58 by the Trans-Antarctic Expedition, led by Sir Vivian 'Bunny' Fuchs, was one of the twentieth century's great triumphs of exploration. Sir Ernest Shackleton famously attempted to cross the great white continent during his ill-fated Endurance voyage, and now, one hundred years after he set out, this beautifully illustrated volume celebrates the men who succeeded where he had failed and rewrote the history books. With exclusive access to the spectacular images and private archives of key member George Lowe, photographer and Everest veteran, and items from the Fuchs family collection, there has never been a book on Antarctica quite like this. An outstanding team of explorers and polar experts also provide their reflections and tributes, contributing to a remarkable visual and personal testimony of this historic event.

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No Return: Captain Scott's Race to the Pole

Peter Gouldthorpe
Lothian
ISBN: 9780734412799
Paperback 2012
Price $AU 17.99
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Illustrated children's book.

Peter Gouldthorpe lives in Tasmania, and is recognised as one of Australia's most versatile and skillful illustrators.

In the age of discovery, Antarctica remained an unknown quantity amongst the world's scientists and explorers. Robert Falcon Scott was amongst the pioneers who penetrated the ice and cruel weather. This is the story of his journey from England culminating in the ill-fated final march to his goal, only to be beaten by the Norwegians and to suffer terrible loss - and death.

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