This book concerns the ANARE trip to Mawson in 1959. A somehwat odd book in that it is an epistolary account of a year at an Australian base by letters to a variety of friends and relatives, interspersed with a series of newsletters ostensibly for a public audience. He does tell some exciting stories as the base commander, but his references to reading are more utiitarian than inspirational, for example the use of The Australian Pilot to find repair facilities in various places (p. 24). A discussion of Plato and death is more speculative and a rarity for this book (p. 135). However, there are some quietly meditative passages that make the book valuable and are reproduced here even though unrelated to Antarctic reading.
Blizzard and Fire: A Year at Mawson, Antarctica.
Béchervaise, John. London: Angus and Robertson, 1964.
- 1959-60 Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Preview
Antarctic Odyssey.
Law, Phillip. Melbourne: Heinemann, 1983.
- 1952-53 Australian Heard Island Expedition; 1959-60 Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Preview
A history of the early years of ANARE, the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition, by its original Director, and starting with its two island stations at Macquarrie Island and Heard Island and later the Mawson station at Horseshoe Harbour. It’s not a particularly inspired account, and it exhibits a certain solemn narcissism. But it does have some dramatic moments (e.g. the Hurricane) and some useful chapters on issues of administration, the psychological aspects of personnel selection, and questions regarding design of materials to be used at ANARE bases, from prefabricated huts to clothing.