Mawson'S Antarctic Diaries

Illustrated with original hand-tinted colour and black-and-white photographs, and complete with maps, this is the record of Sir Douglas Mawson's four trips to the Antarctic in the early twentieth century. The book brings together for the first time all of Mawson's descriptive writings while in the Antarctic, including his refusal to join the ill-fated Scott expedition in order to lead an Australasian team. The diaries reveal Mawson's innermost thoughts at times of great stress and conflict. They witness both the death of two companions and his own survival against all odds. They do not gloss over the unpleasant effects that stress and privation have on behaviour as well as on the human body, and they offer a unique account of the realities of surviving in the Antarctic. This book will interest all concerned with the history of exploration and with the human and natural history of the precious Antarctic wilderness. Dr Fred Jacka is Director of the Mawson Institute for Antarctic Research at the University of Adelaide. Eleanor Jacka now works as a research officer in medical ethics, but she and her husband worked on Mawson's diaries for over ten years.