May 25, 2025 • 47 mins
Douglas Mawson wasn’t just a survivor—he was a scientific powerhouse who helped put Australia on the map of polar exploration. His adventures began with the 1907–1909 Nimrod Expedition under Ernest Shackleton, during which he became one of the first to reach the Magnetic South Pole and climb Mount Erebus. But it was his own Australasian Antarctic Expedition from 1911 to 1914 that sealed his place in history.
Mawson’s leadership, grit, and heartbreak defined that journey. Stranded alone after the deaths of his companions, he hauled himself across 160 kilometres of ice, surviving crevasses, starvation, and the brutal cold. His story isn't just about endurance—it's about the pursuit of knowledge at the edge of the world.
Join Holly & Matthew as they explore the trials, triumphs, and enduring legacy of Douglas Mawson—Australia’s Antarctic hero.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/weird-crap-in-australia--2968350/support.
Mawson’s leadership, grit, and heartbreak defined that journey. Stranded alone after the deaths of his companions, he hauled himself across 160 kilometres of ice, surviving crevasses, starvation, and the brutal cold. His story isn't just about endurance—it's about the pursuit of knowledge at the edge of the world.
Join Holly & Matthew as they explore the trials, triumphs, and enduring legacy of Douglas Mawson—Australia’s Antarctic hero.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/weird-crap-in-australia--2968350/support.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
A strange, spiraling white light was spotted in the early
morning sky over Sydney, with even skeptical witnesses wondering if
it was a UFO. They were last seen on the
beach with the tall man and that's the best description
police have ever had of it.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
More than seventeen years after Harold Holt disappeared into raging
surf at Chevy A Beach, his widow has finally revealed
his last romantic words docky, terrifying, mesmerizing.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
That's the way a number of Australians have described the
alleged encounter with the Yowi. It's time for the Weird
Crap in Australia Podcast. Welcome to the Weak Crap in
(00:45):
Australia Podcast. I'm your host Matthew Sol Joining me, of
course for another episode is the one and only Holy
Soul Me and today we're going to be discussing the
man who wanted his face on the one hundred dollar bill. No,
we're not talking about nineteen eighty nine's Jack Nicholson's joker.
We are in fact talking about the one, the only,
the intrepid explorer Douglas Mawson. Before we get too far
(01:10):
into the weeds on this let me introduce my co host,
researcher extraordinary and overall wonderful individual, poly Soul.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
These episodes made me feel much better about working in
a point two degree fridge.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
I mean, I've always liked working in the cold, so
it's never bothered me. But I have a feeling that
we're not talking about working at you know, minus one
minus two. We're talking about your fingers freezing off, your
yearine turning into a solid brick, and o's falling off. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Not fun. Times.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Well, let's ladies and gentlemen get into the life and
times of one Douglas Mawson. Holy take it away.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Douglas Mowson was born May fifth, eighteen eighty two in Shipley,
West York, Dear. He was the second son of cloth
merchant Rupert Ellis Mowson and his wife in More. When
he was two years old, his family migrated to Australia
and settled in the bush town of Rudy Hill, just
outside Sydney. Matthew and I were just talking. I showed
him a map of Sydney and you see where Rudy
(02:12):
Hill is, Yeah, you see where Penrith is, Well, Penroth
is now the western part of Sydney. It is southwest Sydney, southwest.
Over the time I was in high school, it went
from being Campbelltown to Campbell suburb.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Now it's almost a small city onto itself.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yeah, Buxton and Picton and all that are creeping onto
the edge of Sydney now.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
And yeah, when you pointed out the picture of the
it was a township that Mawson grew up in.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, it was a town, just a little satellite city
about an hour out of Sydney at that point.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Which was Ruty Hill, which is named for the foud Lide.
Not a greater stream pastimes as far as I know,
But now it is now part of you know, greater Sydney,
isn't it.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
It has well and truly been enveloped by Sydney.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
And you think about that development over the last hundred years.
So when we're talking about these particular episodes, because it's
going to be a multi part series, absolutely we're talking
about a completely different world. It's going to be very
I think it's going to be interesting pointing out some
of those differences as we look at the bravery question mark,
(03:22):
stupidity question mark, or the just.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
The irreverence of nature.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Almost it almost is like that, isn't it just that
arrogance of I can do this, I can beat this,
And in some cases I think that sort of thinking
has led to some of the most amazing challenges being
overcoming and in human history. But then also I think
(03:49):
it is a wise man pays deference to the forces
of nature around him and works with them as opposed
to working against them. But yes, let's continue.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Hill wasn't glamorous, but it offered open space, sunshine and
crucially opportunities. These are all things that were not available
in England at that point in time.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
The sun hits differently. I know, I think we've perhaps
talked about this before, but that was one thing that
I actually missed when I was over in London for
We were there for nearly a month.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
We were in London itself for two weeks, we went
to Edinburgh for three days and then we hit Paris
for a week and it was during Paris that we
saw sunlight for the first time.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
But it was it was murky sunlight. It wasn't like
Australian sunlight.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
It was a week winter sunlight.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
It was yeah, it was really a week winter sunlight
and it just hit differently and yeah, the vitamin D. Man,
that's what I that's what I missed. Settled down perverts, No,
I'm one of you.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Mawson showed early promise as a student. It was methodical,
serious and quietly ambitious. He enrolled at the University of
Sydney in eighteen ninety nine and a degree in mining
engineering in nineteen oh two, later switching focus to geology.
In nineteen oh three, he took six months off work
on a geological survey of the New Hebrides which his
(05:10):
modern name is Vanuatu, working under Captain E. G. Ranson,
the British Deputy Commissioner.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
This was Mawson's introduction to scientific exploration, carried out in
rugged country with Danis jungle and among hostile inhabitants. His report,
The Geology of the New Hebrides was one of the
first major works on the geology of Melanesia. Sir Douglas
Mawson eighteen eighty two to nineteen fifty eight. F. J.
Jacker Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume ten, nineteen eighty six.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
In nineteen oh five, Mawson began lecturing in mineralogy and pederrology,
minerals and petrified things at the University of Adelaide, aged
twenty three, under the mentorship of Professor Sir Edgeworth David,
one of the leading geologists in the Southern Hemisphere.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Poor, I am Sir Edward Edgeworth David, and I am
a famous exploring man.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
At that point, he wasn't explorer. You just spent a
lot of time digging in the ground.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Sounds like a Matt Berry character.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
It was David who first took notice of Morson's particular
talents patient observation, precision, and an unnerving tolerance for hardship.
I wonder how many different explorers that succeeded around the
world succeeded because they're actually quietly autistic. Have the feeling
it's a lot.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
So do you think there is a link between being
able to get through hardship and being on the autism spectrum?
Is that the link we're making here.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
I know a few autistic people, and all of them,
as long as they're on their hyperfocus, they will not fail.
They will succeed coming hellow high water.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
You know, one of my very good friends, Race was
Well was is on the autism spectrum. To an extent
that he needed early childhood intervention. And Rees always amazed
me that if you kept his routine consistent he could
overcome challenges very easily as long as you can. So
(07:09):
it makes a lot of sense that his mentors like,
I think, I know where I can put this guy.
And it makes a lot of sense that some of
those traditional explorers all had a little bit of that
you know, that flare for hyper focusing on things. I
mean when we talked about Captain Cook, it was exact same.
He had a knack for navigation. That's what he was
(07:32):
interested in, not necessarily being on a boat. He loved navigation,
he loved moving something from point A to point B.
That was his strength. And in the case of Moreson,
he liked rocks.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
So let's go go to the end of the world
for fucking rocks.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
He will be able to put up with bullshit if
there's a rock at the end of it.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
We have another quote here.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
He immediately became interested in the glacial geography of South Australia,
also continuing his interest in radioactivity, he identified and first
described the mineral davidite containing titanium and uranium in specimens
from the region now known as Radium Hill. That deposit
was the first major radioactive all body discovered in Australia.
(08:20):
That quote comes from the same source as the previous one.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
While other young men of the time were looking for gold,
Mawson was looking at rocks. He conducted field work in
Broken Hill, studied glacial valleys, and developed a fascination with
how landscapes formed and how they changed over time. His
early research into the geology of South Australia earned him
academic attention, but it was the lure of the far
(08:45):
South that turned him from scientists into explorer.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
The major work of his early South Australian period was
his investigation of the highly mineralized Precambrian rocks of the
Barrier Range, extending from the northern Flinders Range through Broken Hill,
New South Wales. The country is a complex of metamorphized,
igneous and sedimentary rocks with varying degrees of mineralization. Mawson
(09:12):
identified two groups, an older Biana Hayen series in a
newer Proterozoic series. This investigation led to the publication of
his geological investigations in the Broken Hill area. He had
previously submitted the substance of this work to the University
of Adelaide. Quote from Sir Douglas Mowson eighteen eighty two
(09:34):
to nineteen fifty eight.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
In November nineteen oh seven, Ernest Shackleton's British Antarctic expedition,
the Nimrod Expedition.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
H Nimrod isn't language interesting? Nimrod evolved into a derogatory
term four people who showed intellectual document and then became
an x Men villain.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Nimrod was the ship that they've traveled on.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
And Nimrod has that when I when I think of that,
it like there has to be some sort of Greek
character or you know, from the Odyssey or something named Nimrod,
or some god of discovery or some shit like that. Right,
it's biblical. But it's biblical, is it about it? From
the Christian Bible?
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Or Testament New Testament Genesis right right right, that bit
at the start, yes, right right? Yeah. I love. I
love things like that. I really do. It's like in
ship names, like anyone who loves loves their ship history,
and there are lots of you who listen to this
who absolutely love your ship history. I really love the
(10:44):
I think the word is entomology the origin of names. Yes,
I really love the entomology of ship names.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Well, they all mean something, so yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Yeah, exactly. If you had an exploration versus Holly, what
would you call it the let's go the hmas let's go.
You know, I don't mind that. I don't mind that because.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
It depends on whether there's an apostrophe in it. What
it means let us go or let's go as in
let's go something.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
See, I'm going to be very stereotypical here. It's got
to be the enterprise, right, it.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Have to be h M, a s USS enterprise. Oh,
I get you in Trouble.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Well, the the USS part doesn't doesn't exist in the
real world, remember.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
No, but it would be taken as a designation. We
have a few nautical men on the listenership who know
this stuff. How much trouble wo with Matthew B.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
And if you named your ship, well, that have to
be enterprises all over the place, weren't.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
They, I mean the USS part, Well, the US there
are enterprises everywhere.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
The Nimrod Expedition was gearing up to head south and
was set to travel through Adelaide on their way.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Although funds were tired. Shackleton recruited fourteen men who would
make up the shore party of the expedition and purchased
the two hundred ton Nimrod. Sorry. He also produced a
specifically designed prefabricated hut plus fifteen and Sturian ponies, nine dogs,
and an air called four cylinder eleven killawatt fifteen horsepower
(12:28):
motor car. The new Arrol Johnston Nimrod sailed from Torquay, England,
bound for New Zealand on the thirtieth of July nineteen
oh seven. Quote from the history of Shackleton's expedition, The
British Antarctic Expedition nineteen oh seven to nine, Cape Royds
Antarctic Heritage Trust, twenty twenty four. Now keep in mind,
(12:49):
ladies and gentlemen, that as we progress, you know, between
the late eighteen hundreds into the sorry, the late nineteen
hundreds into the twentieth century, there was that really interesting
period where people were still getting around on boats, wooden boats,
but you could have a motor car inside them.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Yeah. Pirate ship with a motor car on the deck.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Yeah, And that's really interesting. And then our technological progression
happens basically because of World War One and World War Two,
and that's when you jump straight into the modern era
post World War Two. So in that very brief period
of time, we literally go from we are exploration, we
are scientists, we are on a big wooden boat too.
(13:33):
Suddenly we now have mechanical inventions and we have yeah,
the U boat side, and the idea of the submarine
and all of that sort of stuff happens in a
very brief period of time. So it's going to feel
a little bit odd to you when we talk about
a big wooden explorationship that has a car inside it.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
In nineteen oh second Edworth David was invited to join
the expedition as the senior scientist and he took Mawson
to meet Shackleton before they sailed. While talking to Shackleton,
Mawson requested to join the round trip to Antarctica on
the Nimbron Chaculin ship.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
And Shackleton himself, And no doubt there are many many
podcasts on him. Now we wouldn't cover Shackleton, would we, Holly,
because he's not His connection to Australia outside of Mawson
is limited, Yes, very much so.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
But I've covered a little bit of what he did
in Antarctica, just because it does impact on what Mawson
is doing.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Yep. So in that regard, if you'd like to learn
more about Tackleton.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
It is called the Heart of the Antarctic. That's his
actual account of what he did while he was down there.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
So that's worth checking out. And there are going to
be numerous podcasts who have delved into the history of Shackleton,
but we won't outside of his connection to Mawson, this
is not part of our purview.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
So and then we have another quote.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Professor David, in response to an unpathic goal by the audience,
said that he regarded it as the high honor that
could have been paid him to have been singled out
from so many applicants to accompany Lieutenant Shackleton on the expedition.
It was also a high compliment to their state and
to the university that Lieutenant Sheckleton had since chosen a
(15:15):
university student, mister Douglas Mawson, to accompany him. He felt
confident that everything possible would be done to ensure success.
The enthusiasm of that evening would be a great incentive
to the leader of the party to endeavor to plant
the Queen's flag at the South Pole, and he Professor
(15:36):
David believed most firmly that with a kind providence, and
supposing that no accident occurred, that Lieutenant Shackleton would absolutely
succeed in accomplishing this feat. Quote from the Daily Telegraph, Saturday,
the seventh of December nineteen oh seven, page sixteen, Holly
down for the pole.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
There's going to be a few headlines like that.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Stop giggling, all of you, how rude, yep, perverts. I'm
right there with you, guys. I'm trying not to kick
on myself.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
The Queen at that point in time was still Queen Victoria,
so that will also help to mess up your mind
on where the history we sit.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Also, Holly rooty Hill down for the pole.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Yeah, yeah, where Australian? What else are we going to do?
At just twenty five, Douglas Mowson became one of the
youngest members of the team. He wasn't joining for glory,
for the headlines, not even really for the pole. Morson's
motivation was a quieter one, grounded in scientific curiosity, a
(16:41):
love of geology, and a desire to go where no
geologist had cracked rocks before the nim Rod was converted
ceiling bark built in eighteen sixty seven, and it wasn't
exactly state of the arm but it was sturdy enough
to make the long journey sense. In order to save
on fuel and costs for the voyage, the ship was
taken to New Zealand to get up supplies, as this
(17:01):
is the lowest latitude with significant land mass on this
side of the planet. The crew gathered there to climb
aboard the ship and set sail. David Mawson and another
university geology student, Arthur Cotton, left Sydney on December nineteen,
nineteen oh seven, and headed to New Zealand. The Nimrod
and its passengers departed Littleton, New Zealand on January first,
(17:21):
nineteen oh eight, overloaded with coal, dogs, ponies, and enough
scientific equipment to output a smaller university.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
The ship was dangerously overloaded with two hundred and fifty
five tons of coal, equipment and food and had just
one meter of free board. Now I'm going to assume here, Holly,
that freeboard meant free space on board.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Yeah, anywhere they could actually walk in the hull in
the hold.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
To save her limited cargo of coal. She was cowed
south by Kunya, a steel built steamer. See that again.
See this is what we're talking about.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Right, so pirate ship pulled along by a tugboat.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
On this wooden ship have a car. The car is
being tugged along by a steamboat. Right that that this
hybridization of technologies. I love this period of time. It's
very interesting. You go from Jack the Ripper on the
cobbled stone streets eighteen eighty eight, two cars and steamboats.
(18:22):
You know, within twenty.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Years central combustion engineer.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
It is so close. And that that that industrialization happens
so quickly, and that technological you know, run happens so
so very very quickly, And we're now experienced that in
even faster time. Now, with the exponential growth of computing power,
very shortly, we may actually move into a new industry
(18:46):
of quantum computers, if Microsoft and Google are to be
believed legitimately, there are researchers out there. Oxford produced some
very interesting research on what they believe is actual credible
quant some teleportation which I'm not going to go into.
Your brains will slide out of your ears, but it's
I love these periods of time with rapid growth. Within days,
(19:11):
Nimrod was taking on water through the scupper holes and washports.
It was an arduous trip, which Shackinson likened to a
reluctant child being dragged to school. Finally, the toe of
one five hundred and ten miles, which today in Australian
terms and well most of the world sorry America, was
twenty four hundred and ten kilometers, which finished on the
(19:32):
fifteenth of January with the sighting of the first Sbergs.
Quote from history of Shackleton's expedition, the British Antarctic Expedition
nineteen oh seven to nine cap Roids Antarctica Heritage Trust,
twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
The crowd of people who saw the Nimrod off to
the horizon would give a modern BTS concert a run
for its money.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
BTS capop bam. Oh.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
You know in Fortnite where you have the sparkly emote
that I use a lot. They sign that song diamonds.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Yeah, no, I don't. When it comes to music, kaypop
is a little outside my wheelhouse.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Your music is my kind of field.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Anyway, we have another quote here. Promptly at four o'clock
the start was made. The Nimrod went out under her
own steam, and her journey from her birth at the
wharf out to the heads was a triumphal procession. There
was a dense crowd at every vantage point on the
Wolves and Hills. Lieutenant Shackleton, provided with a megaphone, led
(20:30):
the expedition's reply. This expedition will never forget to send
off you have given us. He said later to a reporter.
I think that the enthusiasm displayed today is unparalleled in
history of polar exploration. I am deeply touched to say more.
(20:52):
Would simply be painting the rose. What a lovely speaker.
Clarence and Richmond Examiner, Tuesday, fourteenth January nineteen o eight,
page three, Nimrod Expedition. I am going to take the
saying of painting the rose Holly. I really like that.
Have you ever heard that expression before?
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Yeah, I would assume it means that when something is
set enough, when something is beautiful enough to you know,
to continue to add flourishers to it as rather pointless.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Exactly the same sentiment as and rose by any other
name would smell us weep.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Yeah, absolutely, I really like that saying. I'm going to
use it.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
The expedition was initially towed out to the point where
they began coming across icebergs and sea ice. As the
Nimrod was traveling south in January. It was the middle
of summer and the sea ice was at its lowest point.
Once the Nimrod was released, the crew board sent their
mail back with the towing ships, and they continued on alone.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
And we have here a quote from a letter from
Professor David. We have had somewhat drying time. Is the
fates were against us for the first weekend. During the
week we had three gales which tumbled up boat about
a good deal. But we affected don't damage to speak
of the seaman on board or gave it as their
(22:14):
verdict that the Nimrod is a splendid sea boat, though
she rolls rather more than as comfortable. We're all rather
illed from the first day or two, but everyone seems
under the present benign conditions of sky and sea. Quote
from the Daily Telegraph, Friday, thirty first of January nineteen
oh eight, to page nine The Antarctic.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Uh, the Nimrod rolled and tossed so much that even
the horses got season. I'm not joking.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
The poor things. They're not used to that sort of nonsense.
They haven't been on a boat since now was hark.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Or at least the initial ones came out allegedly Holy
the Nimrod made for the Ross Sea, sailing past the
pack Ice and skirting the eastern edge of Antarctica, well
relatively eastern, considering as the bottom of the world. Mawson
took it all in. He wasn't seasick. He was prepared,
focused and precise.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
I mean, he'd already been described as a very hardy person,
so this sort of, you know, adds credibility to that
statement from earlier.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
He was already taking geological notes from the moment Land
came into sight. He wasn't the only one. All of
the scientific staff on the crew were taking as many
notes as they put just in case. Many of them
would go on to publish many research papers regarding the trip.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
And now we have an excerpt here from Fackleton's diary.
We steamed fairly close in along the coast, and at
three a m. January twenty eighth, we're abreast of Erebus Bay.
To the northwest of US was Beaufort Island, showing a
perceptuous rock face on its eastern side. Cape Bird was
just on our port bound. The weather was overcast and snowy.
(23:56):
As we turned to Cape Bird at five point thirty
am on January twenty ninth, we hoped to reach our
new winter quarters without more opposition from the ice. As
we steamed down the McMurdo Sound, we passed through occasional
loose patches of black ice on which immense numbers of
penguins were congregated. There was a great deal more ice
(24:17):
to the west than a strong ice blink gave indication
that it must be heavenly packed right up to the
western shore. Passing down the sound and keeping well to
the east and close under the land, we observed a long,
low sandy beach terminating landwards in a steep slope. The
whole place, for an area of about two square miles,
(24:38):
yellow and pink with penguin guano. It was a large
penguin rookery. We passed but little ice until about ten o'clock,
but within an hour after that we could see the
fast ice ahead of us, and by half past eleven
we were brought up against it. That it was now
January twenty ninth and some twenty miles of frozen separated
(25:01):
us from Hut Point, where we hoped to make our
winter quarters. The ice at the spot at which we
were first stopped by it was very much decayed and
covered with about a foot of snow. We tried to
break through it by ramming, but the attempt was not
a success. Well. The ship entered about half her length
into the sludgy mass and then stuck without producing a
(25:23):
crack in the front. Were backed out again, and when
some little distance away, put on full speed ramming the
ship up against the ice edge. This second attempt was
equally futile, so the ice anchor was made first to
the floe while we considered some better plan in action.
Quote from Sorry It's I forget to jump out of
(25:46):
it The Heart of the Antarctic, volume one, and at Shackleton,
page eighty two. You know why I also like Arctic Exploration.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Because they're very fluffy with their language. And also your
entire idea is just hit it, it'll stop.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
All of those most captains had that beautiful way of writing,
you know, that really poetic way of writing. And even
though I put on a bit of an upper class
British accent to sort of make it work that way.
I still think that they have a beautiful way of writing.
But what's really interesting here, and people who love their
boats would want us to at least address this a
(26:23):
little bit. In order to explore the Antarctic, what you
needed was the specialized ice breakers. So now we have
modern ice breakers. You know, there's a lot of technology
that goes into building those boats, but back then they
also had their own technologies, and essentially what they would
do is they would build these ships like battering rams,
and they would get up a lot of you know,
(26:45):
they would basically ram the ice shelf as hard as
they as hard as they could to try and crack
it apart. And when those cracks emerged, they sort of
started to push through. So there was sort of a
you know, a reinforced point at the front of the
boat to push it further and further. And I started
sort of falling in love with these adventures and this
(27:06):
idea of early Antarctic exploration because of a couple of influencers,
And the earliest influence was in my favorite novel, my
absolute favorite novel, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Because doctor Frankenstein's obsession
with creating life is juxtaposed with the recollection of the
(27:29):
story from a boat captain and his absolute pursuit of
his scientific goal, which is, I believe in the book
and this is really bad that I can't remember this specifically.
He's either trying to map or circumnavigate a part of
the It's either the North or the South Pole that
hasn't been investigated yet, and.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Considering the era that Mary Shelley wrote it in, it
would be the North Pole. They only just found the
North Passage somewhere in the eighteen seventies that was unexplored.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Thank you for providing that context. And you know, the
captain is willing to pursue it to the death of everybody.
And now there are a lot of YouTube videos and
YouTube documentaries that explore those early expeditions and how often
things would go wrong. There's a fantastic Canadian YouTuber with
a channel called Scary Interesting, and he has documented many, many,
(28:24):
many cases of the ships essentially running aground and dying
in the snow.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Can I just correct myself a little bit here?
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah, go for it.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
So I just looked it up. The Northwest Passage is
the passage across the top of Canada get from Western
America through Europe. They didn't actually cross it in ships
until nineteen oh three. Wow, So before that it was
a mixture of ship and horse yep. So yeah, it's
all happening at the same time.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Now, Yeah, it's crazy and so yeah, you have these
intrepid explorers who build these insane boats smash into the ice.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
You know, it's almost intentionally causing it.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Yeah, it's really interesting that sort of that you need
a certain level of arrogance and humorous and violence in
order to, you know, to smash these things apart to
penetrate the natural world in the pursuit of science, and
realistically too, we're talking about this level of isolation that
(29:30):
you could, in my opinion, comfortably compared to something like
going to the moon. These people are on their own.
There is no instantaneous communication.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
And they're doing all the math themselves.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
They're doing all that. They are literally a community in
and of themselves, and their own expertise is what's going
to get them through these situations. So I find Arctic,
early Arctic exploration very very fascinating, and to this day,
Antarctica is still a very fascinating place. And the way
that they establish themselves is incredible. You can go on
(30:05):
Antarctic voyages. It helps to self fund the scientific endeavors.
I've actually looked into it. Unfortunately, it's about thirteen thousand
dollars to get a really good to get on a
really good boat, to get really really close. I would
love to do it one day.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
It's a business class flight to Europe.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. The biggest problem is still the isolation
right now, what's happening on the South African side of Antarctica.
It's not that there aren't really territories. It's sort of
an agreement that it's only there for science, and so
there are a lot of different countries. But the idea
(30:42):
is that they still follow maritime law sort of. You know,
if someone is in trouble, you're meant to go and
help them. Right now, the South African scientific team, I believe,
have to essentially monitor one of their own group who
is now being accused of of aggressive assault and gravded
(31:04):
sexral assault as well. You've essentially got five people in
a very isolated part of Antarctica in communication with the
South African government and they have to keep one eye
on this person constantly. So if you've seen the movie
The Thing, which is also another reason why I love
Antarctic exploration, it is essentially that situation. You know, these
(31:30):
other four scientists are now stuck with this person, so
the situation has been constantly monitored, but they can't get
help out to.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Them because it's now winter and there's a lot more
ice in the water.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
They were meant to be isolated for six months, you know,
and apparently this is not the first time it's happened
with the South African scientific team that they're sent out there,
So maybe there needs to be a look into that.
But go check out those documentaries on how people survive
out in Antarctica. Like just the calorie consumption alone is amazing.
(32:02):
Because it is so cold, they actually have to eat more.
I think they're on a routine of anywhere between four
thousand and six thousand calories. Sometimes I could be wrong. No,
it is that much, holly because the average adult, oh.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
I mean it's not that much. I'm sure there are
lots of people who are not in Antarctea who consume
that many calories a.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Day and it leads to morbid obesity. But because you know,
they're constantly burning through their fuel. They have to have
a lot of stuff, and there's this great PBS documentary
where they go through, you know, all the confectionery they have.
They have more confectionery than a supermarket because it's easy
to like eat three chocolate bars, have like a full pizza,
(32:44):
a thing of spaghetti for all those carbohydrates. It's really fascinating.
But yeah, that's why I have this real interest and
this love of Antarctic exploration. Now back to where our
regularly schedule program. Sorry for the diversion.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Unable to reach their intended destination, the Nimrod continued its
journey on, heading further south. The ship reached Cape Royd's
on Ross Island on February first, nineteen oh eight. It
was too late in the season to push further inland,
as illustrated by the issues they'd had with breaking the ice,
so Shackleton chose to establish a step just a few
(33:17):
kilometers north of Captain Robert Falcon Scott's old camp at
hut Point, despite being told not to go near it.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Why were they told to avoid.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Because it's a British naval base technically.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Yeah, but it's in Antonica.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
But it's still a British naval base, and by gosh,
you were not going to go presspassing on that British
naval base.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
But they were a British ship, No.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
They were. Technically there were Australian flying under Astrainan flags
at that point.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Oh okay, but Shackleton was a British Yeah, like he
was part of the British Navy.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Right and technically, considering the citizenship laws of Australia at
that point in time, all the rest were there British citizens.
But that's a lot of the care because there was
a British military installation.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Can tell anyone go ask.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
A British person if they're allowed to walk on a
British naval installation.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
I mean yes, like I agree with you in principle,
but in.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
The you're just broken in and who the fuck would
have known? No one would have cared, No one would
have known.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
You know. Oh, you turn around and you see two
navy boats following you, and they're wagging, wagging their fingers
as you get closer and closer.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
It's a megaphone. Or get away from that.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
Why what are you doing over there? You know you're
not supposed to go over there? The Queen told you
not how to go over there. That's Queen Victoria.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
That is Matthew's only got two English accents.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
I can speak like this, I can speak like a
very elegant British gentleman. Or I can tell a Ruffian.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
He's got to British. He's got two English accents.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
Oh I got I've got two.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
And sometimes a Scottish accent.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Sometimes when I'm trying to do an Irish Scottish accent.
And look, most of it's informed by pop culture as well.
So that's Americans doing those accents. Because we've been watching
Buffy the Vampire Sla Slayer, it gets closer to the
revival series and two of the American accents. Two of
the American acts actors being James Marsters and the lady
(35:11):
who plays Drusiller. I can't remember her name, which is
a disservice to her because she's fantastic. She does that
like alo, you know, I don't quite know what's going on,
sort of fore In Masters does the nineteen eighties like, hey,
you know what you're standing around? Ear four? You know that,
but with the Texan accent over with a Texan accent
(35:33):
over the top so it sounds like a punk rocker
from the eighties.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Her name is Juliet Lando.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Thank you. So those where a lot of my accents
are just informed by pop culture. So as what I got,
I got two, I got this, and I have this,
which makes me think of an aristocrat to a dandeer
a French gentleman.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Sometimes ever, the gentleman Jackleton left a note for Scott
explaining his choice, hoping that there'd be no offense.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
I love it. I love it. He's like, I better
apologize for this one would have not.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
The note was found years later. Captain Scott was not
impressed at this infringement of British naval holdings.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Jackelton headed for an inlets on the edge of the
Ross ice Shelf, where he intended to establish his base,
But since his last visit, many kilometers of the ice
shelf had caved into the sea, faced by impenetrable pack ice,
who was forced ahead for McMurdo Sound despite his promise
to Scott to avoid it again. He was frustrated by
pack ice and unable to reach Hart Point, near the
(36:33):
side of the present day United States McMurdo Station. Finally,
he selected a site to winter over thirty two kilometers
further north. Cape Royd's named by Captain Scott's Discovery Expedition
after its meteorologist, Lieutenant Charles Royd's quote from History of
Shackleton's Expedition, the British Antarctic Expedition nineteen oh seven to nine.
(36:55):
Cape Royd's Antarctic Heritage Trust twenty twenty four, the.
Speaker 2 (36:59):
Team said up about building their winter quarters. The prefabricated
hut that arrived flat packed in crates from a camp
assembled by freezing hands in brutal wind. It took over
two weeks to complete. Morson Handy and Tireless joined the
construction effort without complaint. The heart was insulated with seaweed
and canvas, heated by a small stove, and barely big
(37:21):
enough for the entire crew. But it was now home
and they were very optimistic about their chances.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
This most interesting feature is undoubtedly the use of a
motor car instead of rubber, which would perish in the
extreme cold. The wheels and tires are made of hickory
and steel, and if we encounter soft snow, the front
pair of wheels can be locked and wide sledge runners
screwed on The rear wheels, which are the driving ones,
are fitted with very wide rims on which can be
(37:49):
screwed knobs and spikes of varying length according to the
nature of the snow encountered. It's air cooled and the
exhaust gases are brought round in a pipe, warming up
the carpilator an engine, then passing to a footwarmer in
the body of the car, and from thence into a
snow melter, so that we can obtain water when required
(38:09):
for cooking purposes. The car will carry sufficient petrol to
reach the pole from our winter quarters, and will not
breeze in the temperatures that we expect to have in
the summer, not lower than minus tan fahrenheit. We can
carry besides the petrol sixteen cwt, provisions and equipment on
the car. The second nude departure will be the use
(38:31):
of the Menturian ponies to drag the sledges, instead of
depending entirely upon dogs. We have fifteen of these hardy
little animals on board. Quote from the Daily Terror Telegraph, Friday,
thirty first of January nineteen oh eight, to page nine.
The Antarctic little bit.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
Of foreshadowing here that minus ten degrees fahrenheit translates in
Australian terms to minus twenty three degrees celsius.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
Fuck that Shitini gets fucked ONNS colder than that, I think,
what's what's the coldest? We usually get to ninus seven? Yeah,
minus seven. I definitely had a minus eight morning one
morning where it was warmer in the fridges than it
was on the loading dock. But we haven't seen those
sort of conditions for a long time.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
We're about due for another one.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Actually, I don't think we are anymore.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
Winter set in fast from March through August. The crew
were locked in place, the sea froze, the sun vanished,
and temperatures dropped below fifty degrees celsius. Mowson worked alongside
the other scientists to prepare for spring sledging journeys. He
cataloged rock samples from nearby ridges, measured magnetic variations, and
even assisted in collecting marine specimens from under the ice.
(39:42):
His field notes from this period are meticulous. He never
stopped recording.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
As winter closed in Wiwlson occupied himself taking wind speed
readings at his annometer on a nearby ridge, carrying out
structural analyzes of varieties of ice and snow. Studying the
Aurora Australia and building his geo biological collections later supply
important scientific indicies for Shackleton's account of the expedition, The
(40:08):
Heart of the Antarctic. Chackleton had brought along a printing
press and the men amused themselves writing chapters for a
book they printed, Aurora Australia, to which Mawson contributed a
dream fantasy titled Bathibia, about an expedition which discovers an
alternative Atlantic world of exotic plant life and giant insects.
(40:29):
Quote from mawson A Life, Philip Ayre's Melbourne University Press,
nineteen ninety nine, page nineteen. And at the end of
the day, these scientific explorations would often inform science fiction,
you know. So they went to explore, and then they thought,
wouldn't it be amazing if we found like giant bugs
and then a secret Antarctic are hidden under the ground.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
Dinah Toopia, I think came from one of those thought.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
Exercises potentially, and a lot of the scientific community would
abble in modern science fiction and outside of science fiction.
Even the book that I brought up earlier in the
podcast Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Shelly was fascinated herself with a
process called galvanization, where you would take something that was
dead and you would shove a bunch of electricity through
(41:17):
it and make the nerve endings, you know, activate, And
at the time they were like, look, you know, it's
a small step from this to reanimating dead flesh. Of
course they were very, very wrong, but that's what informs
Shelley's book. So science and science fiction, of course, go
hand in hand. That's why when you read something like
(41:39):
nineteen eighty four, it feels like we've created the technology today.
And it's often because the people with that sort of
inclination think a little bit further ahead, you know. Even
with myself, like, you know, if I was writing a
book set in a science fiction reality, I would take
what we have now, what we consider to be able
(41:59):
to official intelligence today, and you can extrapolate it and go, okay,
so what's it look like combined with social media in
twenty years, in thirty years, in forty years, and fifty years.
And that's why science fiction and science generally hold hands
together as both progress forward. Science inform science fiction, science
fiction inform science and then we go back and forth
and back and forth back.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
The expedition was optimistic even in March, when the worst
of the cold was still to come. Antarctica routinely hits
minus seventy four degrees celsius in winter with no sunlight,
but lots of penguins. Do you know what the coldest
place on Earth is and what temperature it was?
Speaker 1 (42:38):
I would assume it's somewhere in Antarctica, but I don't
know what temperature it would be.
Speaker 2 (42:42):
It was Vostocks Station on July twenty first, nineteen eighty three,
and it was minus eighty nine point two celsius.
Speaker 1 (42:50):
Jesus, that is fucking cold. I feel sorry for the
poor people who recorded.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
That, yeh, we have one more quaite.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
The winter, four hundred miles further south than any man
had wintered before, was passed pleasantly by all, great feature
being the appearance of the South Polytimes, which owed much
of its attractiveness to the editorship of E. H. Shackleton
and to the art of E. A. Wilson quote from
the Heart of the Antarctic Volume one, ear A. Shackleton,
(43:19):
page eighty two.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
Then came spring, and the race was on.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
And ladies and gentlemen, that's where we'll leave it for
this episode The Week Crap In Australia Podcast. Thank you
so much for joining us as we journey together with
Douglas Mawson on his first Antarctic expedition but certainly not
his last, and will go a long way in explaining
why that man is sitting on that green one hundred
dollars Australian bill, which may end up being something that
(43:48):
we don't really see much anymore, oh sees the now anyway.
I mean, number one, most of us don't get paid
one hundred dollar notes anymore. And number two, the you know,
the Australian system is moving further and further away from
physical currency and more into digital currency. And I'm not
going to get into the debate about whether this is
(44:09):
good or bad. You know, people don't like change. That's
well established. But he is still to this day the
face of the one hundred dollar bill and there is
very good reason for that, which we're going to explore
in the next subsequent episodes. Well, if you'd like to
reach out to the Weak Crap In Australia Podcast, we
have a couple of ways. First and foremost being our email.
You can send an email through to weak crap in
(44:29):
Australia at gmail dot com. Just try and be nice,
that's all we ask. You can also reach out to
us on various social media platforms. Just type in week
crap In Australia into the search bar of your social
media of choice and if we don't pop up, treat
us an email. Let us know where you are missing us.
You can also help out the week crap In Australia podcast.
We have a picatreon service, so for only five dollars
(44:50):
USD a month, you get access to add to these
episodes early and completely uncut out freak, and you're also
provided with a little bonus minisode each week out of
a list. Couple of weeks we've been talking about the
strange developments in Australian politics, but we also talk about
true crimecases, and funnily enough, some of those true crime
cases and up being episodes. So if you want our
(45:11):
hot takes on some of those stranger headlines, head on
over to our patreon Again, were Craping Australia into the
search engine. You can also help us out by grabbing
the wee crap in Australia book series from our great
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those out all across the country and mal is very
appreciative of the business that you have been sending their way.
(45:31):
It's very difficult for small businesses in this day and age.
You can also grab the book internationally from Lulu dot
com and you can check out the digital version on
the Amazon Kindle Store. Of course, at the moment, considering
the current political climate in America, Amazon has been self
centering media content. If that happens to us as well,
(45:52):
we'll find an alternate destination for you to pick up
the book digitally. Even if we have to set up
a website and sell it directly to you ourselves, we're
happy to do that. You can also grab it yourself
some weird crap in Australian merchandise from our Red Bubble
and Tea public stores. Just typing weir craping Australia into
those search engines for a variety of signs that you
can slap on T shirts, mugs and all sorts of
(46:13):
fun things for your home. Otherwise, as our customer, we
give Pully the final words.
Speaker 2 (46:19):
The entire title of part of the Antarctic is the
heart of the Antarctic being the story of the British
Antarctic Expedition nineteen oh sevens and ninety oh iron by E. H.
Shackleton CVO, with an introduction by Hugh Robert Mill DSc.
On account of the First Journey of the South made
Netty Pole by Professor T. W. Edgworth David FRS. Oh
(46:40):
my god, Why did they have such long titles way
back when.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
They have a run on sentence that makes sense? Why
in all of my assessments for counseling they're constantly saying,
please make this concise, Please make this concise for seventy
five words, please, seventy five words please. It makes a
lot of sense. Well, thank you so much for joining us,
ladies and gentlemen. As always, please be safe, be very
kind to each other, and we will see you all
(47:04):
next week for more We'd Crap in Australia. Until then,
bye for now. By The Weird Crap In Australia podcast
(47:25):
is produced by Holly and Matthew Soul for the Modern Meltdown.
If you've enjoyed this podcast, please rate and review on
your favorite podcatching app.
A strange, spiraling white light was spotted in the early
morning sky over Sydney, with even skeptical witnesses wondering if
it was a UFO. They were last seen on the
beach with the tall man and that's the best description
police have ever had of it.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
More than seventeen years after Harold Holt disappeared into raging
surf at Chevy A Beach, his widow has finally revealed
his last romantic words docky, terrifying, mesmerizing.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
That's the way a number of Australians have described the
alleged encounter with the Yowi. It's time for the Weird
Crap in Australia Podcast. Welcome to the Weak Crap in
(00:45):
Australia Podcast. I'm your host Matthew Sol Joining me, of
course for another episode is the one and only Holy
Soul Me and today we're going to be discussing the
man who wanted his face on the one hundred dollar bill. No,
we're not talking about nineteen eighty nine's Jack Nicholson's joker.
We are in fact talking about the one, the only,
the intrepid explorer Douglas Mawson. Before we get too far
(01:10):
into the weeds on this let me introduce my co host,
researcher extraordinary and overall wonderful individual, poly Soul.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
These episodes made me feel much better about working in
a point two degree fridge.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
I mean, I've always liked working in the cold, so
it's never bothered me. But I have a feeling that
we're not talking about working at you know, minus one
minus two. We're talking about your fingers freezing off, your
yearine turning into a solid brick, and o's falling off. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Not fun. Times.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Well, let's ladies and gentlemen get into the life and
times of one Douglas Mawson. Holy take it away.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Douglas Mowson was born May fifth, eighteen eighty two in Shipley,
West York, Dear. He was the second son of cloth
merchant Rupert Ellis Mowson and his wife in More. When
he was two years old, his family migrated to Australia
and settled in the bush town of Rudy Hill, just
outside Sydney. Matthew and I were just talking. I showed
him a map of Sydney and you see where Rudy
(02:12):
Hill is, Yeah, you see where Penrith is, Well, Penroth
is now the western part of Sydney. It is southwest Sydney, southwest.
Over the time I was in high school, it went
from being Campbelltown to Campbell suburb.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Now it's almost a small city onto itself.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yeah, Buxton and Picton and all that are creeping onto
the edge of Sydney now.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
And yeah, when you pointed out the picture of the
it was a township that Mawson grew up in.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, it was a town, just a little satellite city
about an hour out of Sydney at that point.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Which was Ruty Hill, which is named for the foud Lide.
Not a greater stream pastimes as far as I know,
But now it is now part of you know, greater Sydney,
isn't it.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
It has well and truly been enveloped by Sydney.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
And you think about that development over the last hundred years.
So when we're talking about these particular episodes, because it's
going to be a multi part series, absolutely we're talking
about a completely different world. It's going to be very
I think it's going to be interesting pointing out some
of those differences as we look at the bravery question mark,
(03:22):
stupidity question mark, or the just.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
The irreverence of nature.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Almost it almost is like that, isn't it just that
arrogance of I can do this, I can beat this,
And in some cases I think that sort of thinking
has led to some of the most amazing challenges being
overcoming and in human history. But then also I think
(03:49):
it is a wise man pays deference to the forces
of nature around him and works with them as opposed
to working against them. But yes, let's continue.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Hill wasn't glamorous, but it offered open space, sunshine and
crucially opportunities. These are all things that were not available
in England at that point in time.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
The sun hits differently. I know, I think we've perhaps
talked about this before, but that was one thing that
I actually missed when I was over in London for
We were there for nearly a month.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
We were in London itself for two weeks, we went
to Edinburgh for three days and then we hit Paris
for a week and it was during Paris that we
saw sunlight for the first time.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
But it was it was murky sunlight. It wasn't like
Australian sunlight.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
It was a week winter sunlight.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
It was yeah, it was really a week winter sunlight
and it just hit differently and yeah, the vitamin D. Man,
that's what I that's what I missed. Settled down perverts, No,
I'm one of you.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Mawson showed early promise as a student. It was methodical,
serious and quietly ambitious. He enrolled at the University of
Sydney in eighteen ninety nine and a degree in mining
engineering in nineteen oh two, later switching focus to geology.
In nineteen oh three, he took six months off work
on a geological survey of the New Hebrides which his
(05:10):
modern name is Vanuatu, working under Captain E. G. Ranson,
the British Deputy Commissioner.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
This was Mawson's introduction to scientific exploration, carried out in
rugged country with Danis jungle and among hostile inhabitants. His report,
The Geology of the New Hebrides was one of the
first major works on the geology of Melanesia. Sir Douglas
Mawson eighteen eighty two to nineteen fifty eight. F. J.
Jacker Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume ten, nineteen eighty six.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
In nineteen oh five, Mawson began lecturing in mineralogy and pederrology,
minerals and petrified things at the University of Adelaide, aged
twenty three, under the mentorship of Professor Sir Edgeworth David,
one of the leading geologists in the Southern Hemisphere.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Poor, I am Sir Edward Edgeworth David, and I am
a famous exploring man.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
At that point, he wasn't explorer. You just spent a
lot of time digging in the ground.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Sounds like a Matt Berry character.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
It was David who first took notice of Morson's particular
talents patient observation, precision, and an unnerving tolerance for hardship.
I wonder how many different explorers that succeeded around the
world succeeded because they're actually quietly autistic. Have the feeling
it's a lot.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
So do you think there is a link between being
able to get through hardship and being on the autism spectrum?
Is that the link we're making here.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
I know a few autistic people, and all of them,
as long as they're on their hyperfocus, they will not fail.
They will succeed coming hellow high water.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
You know, one of my very good friends, Race was
Well was is on the autism spectrum. To an extent
that he needed early childhood intervention. And Rees always amazed
me that if you kept his routine consistent he could
overcome challenges very easily as long as you can. So
(07:09):
it makes a lot of sense that his mentors like,
I think, I know where I can put this guy.
And it makes a lot of sense that some of
those traditional explorers all had a little bit of that
you know, that flare for hyper focusing on things. I
mean when we talked about Captain Cook, it was exact same.
He had a knack for navigation. That's what he was
(07:32):
interested in, not necessarily being on a boat. He loved navigation,
he loved moving something from point A to point B.
That was his strength. And in the case of Moreson,
he liked rocks.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
So let's go go to the end of the world
for fucking rocks.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
He will be able to put up with bullshit if
there's a rock at the end of it.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
We have another quote here.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
He immediately became interested in the glacial geography of South Australia,
also continuing his interest in radioactivity, he identified and first
described the mineral davidite containing titanium and uranium in specimens
from the region now known as Radium Hill. That deposit
was the first major radioactive all body discovered in Australia.
(08:20):
That quote comes from the same source as the previous one.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
While other young men of the time were looking for gold,
Mawson was looking at rocks. He conducted field work in
Broken Hill, studied glacial valleys, and developed a fascination with
how landscapes formed and how they changed over time. His
early research into the geology of South Australia earned him
academic attention, but it was the lure of the far
(08:45):
South that turned him from scientists into explorer.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
The major work of his early South Australian period was
his investigation of the highly mineralized Precambrian rocks of the
Barrier Range, extending from the northern Flinders Range through Broken Hill,
New South Wales. The country is a complex of metamorphized,
igneous and sedimentary rocks with varying degrees of mineralization. Mawson
(09:12):
identified two groups, an older Biana Hayen series in a
newer Proterozoic series. This investigation led to the publication of
his geological investigations in the Broken Hill area. He had
previously submitted the substance of this work to the University
of Adelaide. Quote from Sir Douglas Mowson eighteen eighty two
(09:34):
to nineteen fifty eight.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
In November nineteen oh seven, Ernest Shackleton's British Antarctic expedition,
the Nimrod Expedition.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
H Nimrod isn't language interesting? Nimrod evolved into a derogatory
term four people who showed intellectual document and then became
an x Men villain.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Nimrod was the ship that they've traveled on.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
And Nimrod has that when I when I think of that,
it like there has to be some sort of Greek
character or you know, from the Odyssey or something named Nimrod,
or some god of discovery or some shit like that. Right,
it's biblical. But it's biblical, is it about it? From
the Christian Bible?
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Or Testament New Testament Genesis right right right, that bit
at the start, yes, right right? Yeah. I love. I
love things like that. I really do. It's like in
ship names, like anyone who loves loves their ship history,
and there are lots of you who listen to this
who absolutely love your ship history. I really love the
(10:44):
I think the word is entomology the origin of names. Yes,
I really love the entomology of ship names.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Well, they all mean something, so yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Yeah, exactly. If you had an exploration versus Holly, what
would you call it the let's go the hmas let's go.
You know, I don't mind that. I don't mind that because.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
It depends on whether there's an apostrophe in it. What
it means let us go or let's go as in
let's go something.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
See, I'm going to be very stereotypical here. It's got
to be the enterprise, right, it.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Have to be h M, a s USS enterprise. Oh,
I get you in Trouble.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Well, the the USS part doesn't doesn't exist in the
real world, remember.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
No, but it would be taken as a designation. We
have a few nautical men on the listenership who know
this stuff. How much trouble wo with Matthew B.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
And if you named your ship, well, that have to
be enterprises all over the place, weren't.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
They, I mean the USS part, Well, the US there
are enterprises everywhere.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
The Nimrod Expedition was gearing up to head south and
was set to travel through Adelaide on their way.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Although funds were tired. Shackleton recruited fourteen men who would
make up the shore party of the expedition and purchased
the two hundred ton Nimrod. Sorry. He also produced a
specifically designed prefabricated hut plus fifteen and Sturian ponies, nine dogs,
and an air called four cylinder eleven killawatt fifteen horsepower
(12:28):
motor car. The new Arrol Johnston Nimrod sailed from Torquay, England,
bound for New Zealand on the thirtieth of July nineteen
oh seven. Quote from the history of Shackleton's expedition, The
British Antarctic Expedition nineteen oh seven to nine, Cape Royds
Antarctic Heritage Trust, twenty twenty four. Now keep in mind,
(12:49):
ladies and gentlemen, that as we progress, you know, between
the late eighteen hundreds into the sorry, the late nineteen
hundreds into the twentieth century, there was that really interesting
period where people were still getting around on boats, wooden boats,
but you could have a motor car inside them.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Yeah. Pirate ship with a motor car on the deck.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Yeah, And that's really interesting. And then our technological progression
happens basically because of World War One and World War Two,
and that's when you jump straight into the modern era
post World War Two. So in that very brief period
of time, we literally go from we are exploration, we
are scientists, we are on a big wooden boat too.
(13:33):
Suddenly we now have mechanical inventions and we have yeah,
the U boat side, and the idea of the submarine
and all of that sort of stuff happens in a
very brief period of time. So it's going to feel
a little bit odd to you when we talk about
a big wooden explorationship that has a car inside it.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
In nineteen oh second Edworth David was invited to join
the expedition as the senior scientist and he took Mawson
to meet Shackleton before they sailed. While talking to Shackleton,
Mawson requested to join the round trip to Antarctica on
the Nimbron Chaculin ship.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
And Shackleton himself, And no doubt there are many many
podcasts on him. Now we wouldn't cover Shackleton, would we, Holly,
because he's not His connection to Australia outside of Mawson
is limited, Yes, very much so.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
But I've covered a little bit of what he did
in Antarctica, just because it does impact on what Mawson
is doing.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Yep. So in that regard, if you'd like to learn
more about Tackleton.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
It is called the Heart of the Antarctic. That's his
actual account of what he did while he was down there.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
So that's worth checking out. And there are going to
be numerous podcasts who have delved into the history of Shackleton,
but we won't outside of his connection to Mawson, this
is not part of our purview.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
So and then we have another quote.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Professor David, in response to an unpathic goal by the audience,
said that he regarded it as the high honor that
could have been paid him to have been singled out
from so many applicants to accompany Lieutenant Shackleton on the expedition.
It was also a high compliment to their state and
to the university that Lieutenant Sheckleton had since chosen a
(15:15):
university student, mister Douglas Mawson, to accompany him. He felt
confident that everything possible would be done to ensure success.
The enthusiasm of that evening would be a great incentive
to the leader of the party to endeavor to plant
the Queen's flag at the South Pole, and he Professor
(15:36):
David believed most firmly that with a kind providence, and
supposing that no accident occurred, that Lieutenant Shackleton would absolutely
succeed in accomplishing this feat. Quote from the Daily Telegraph, Saturday,
the seventh of December nineteen oh seven, page sixteen, Holly
down for the pole.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
There's going to be a few headlines like that.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Stop giggling, all of you, how rude, yep, perverts. I'm
right there with you, guys. I'm trying not to kick
on myself.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
The Queen at that point in time was still Queen Victoria,
so that will also help to mess up your mind
on where the history we sit.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Also, Holly rooty Hill down for the pole.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Yeah, yeah, where Australian? What else are we going to do?
At just twenty five, Douglas Mowson became one of the
youngest members of the team. He wasn't joining for glory,
for the headlines, not even really for the pole. Morson's
motivation was a quieter one, grounded in scientific curiosity, a
(16:41):
love of geology, and a desire to go where no
geologist had cracked rocks before the nim Rod was converted
ceiling bark built in eighteen sixty seven, and it wasn't
exactly state of the arm but it was sturdy enough
to make the long journey sense. In order to save
on fuel and costs for the voyage, the ship was
taken to New Zealand to get up supplies, as this
(17:01):
is the lowest latitude with significant land mass on this
side of the planet. The crew gathered there to climb
aboard the ship and set sail. David Mawson and another
university geology student, Arthur Cotton, left Sydney on December nineteen,
nineteen oh seven, and headed to New Zealand. The Nimrod
and its passengers departed Littleton, New Zealand on January first,
(17:21):
nineteen oh eight, overloaded with coal, dogs, ponies, and enough
scientific equipment to output a smaller university.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
The ship was dangerously overloaded with two hundred and fifty
five tons of coal, equipment and food and had just
one meter of free board. Now I'm going to assume here, Holly,
that freeboard meant free space on board.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Yeah, anywhere they could actually walk in the hull in
the hold.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
To save her limited cargo of coal. She was cowed
south by Kunya, a steel built steamer. See that again.
See this is what we're talking about.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Right, so pirate ship pulled along by a tugboat.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
On this wooden ship have a car. The car is
being tugged along by a steamboat. Right that that this
hybridization of technologies. I love this period of time. It's
very interesting. You go from Jack the Ripper on the
cobbled stone streets eighteen eighty eight, two cars and steamboats.
(18:22):
You know, within twenty.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Years central combustion engineer.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
It is so close. And that that that industrialization happens
so quickly, and that technological you know, run happens so
so very very quickly, And we're now experienced that in
even faster time. Now, with the exponential growth of computing power,
very shortly, we may actually move into a new industry
(18:46):
of quantum computers, if Microsoft and Google are to be
believed legitimately, there are researchers out there. Oxford produced some
very interesting research on what they believe is actual credible
quant some teleportation which I'm not going to go into.
Your brains will slide out of your ears, but it's
I love these periods of time with rapid growth. Within days,
(19:11):
Nimrod was taking on water through the scupper holes and washports.
It was an arduous trip, which Shackinson likened to a
reluctant child being dragged to school. Finally, the toe of
one five hundred and ten miles, which today in Australian
terms and well most of the world sorry America, was
twenty four hundred and ten kilometers, which finished on the
(19:32):
fifteenth of January with the sighting of the first Sbergs.
Quote from history of Shackleton's expedition, the British Antarctic Expedition
nineteen oh seven to nine cap Roids Antarctica Heritage Trust,
twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
The crowd of people who saw the Nimrod off to
the horizon would give a modern BTS concert a run
for its money.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
BTS capop bam. Oh.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
You know in Fortnite where you have the sparkly emote
that I use a lot. They sign that song diamonds.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Yeah, no, I don't. When it comes to music, kaypop
is a little outside my wheelhouse.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Your music is my kind of field.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Anyway, we have another quote here. Promptly at four o'clock
the start was made. The Nimrod went out under her
own steam, and her journey from her birth at the
wharf out to the heads was a triumphal procession. There
was a dense crowd at every vantage point on the
Wolves and Hills. Lieutenant Shackleton, provided with a megaphone, led
(20:30):
the expedition's reply. This expedition will never forget to send
off you have given us. He said later to a reporter.
I think that the enthusiasm displayed today is unparalleled in
history of polar exploration. I am deeply touched to say more.
(20:52):
Would simply be painting the rose. What a lovely speaker.
Clarence and Richmond Examiner, Tuesday, fourteenth January nineteen o eight,
page three, Nimrod Expedition. I am going to take the
saying of painting the rose Holly. I really like that.
Have you ever heard that expression before?
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Yeah, I would assume it means that when something is
set enough, when something is beautiful enough to you know,
to continue to add flourishers to it as rather pointless.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Exactly the same sentiment as and rose by any other
name would smell us weep.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Yeah, absolutely, I really like that saying. I'm going to
use it.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
The expedition was initially towed out to the point where
they began coming across icebergs and sea ice. As the
Nimrod was traveling south in January. It was the middle
of summer and the sea ice was at its lowest point.
Once the Nimrod was released, the crew board sent their
mail back with the towing ships, and they continued on alone.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
And we have here a quote from a letter from
Professor David. We have had somewhat drying time. Is the
fates were against us for the first weekend. During the
week we had three gales which tumbled up boat about
a good deal. But we affected don't damage to speak
of the seaman on board or gave it as their
(22:14):
verdict that the Nimrod is a splendid sea boat, though
she rolls rather more than as comfortable. We're all rather
illed from the first day or two, but everyone seems
under the present benign conditions of sky and sea. Quote
from the Daily Telegraph, Friday, thirty first of January nineteen
oh eight, to page nine The Antarctic.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Uh, the Nimrod rolled and tossed so much that even
the horses got season. I'm not joking.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
The poor things. They're not used to that sort of nonsense.
They haven't been on a boat since now was hark.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Or at least the initial ones came out allegedly Holy
the Nimrod made for the Ross Sea, sailing past the
pack Ice and skirting the eastern edge of Antarctica, well
relatively eastern, considering as the bottom of the world. Mawson
took it all in. He wasn't seasick. He was prepared,
focused and precise.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
I mean, he'd already been described as a very hardy person,
so this sort of, you know, adds credibility to that
statement from earlier.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
He was already taking geological notes from the moment Land
came into sight. He wasn't the only one. All of
the scientific staff on the crew were taking as many
notes as they put just in case. Many of them
would go on to publish many research papers regarding the trip.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
And now we have an excerpt here from Fackleton's diary.
We steamed fairly close in along the coast, and at
three a m. January twenty eighth, we're abreast of Erebus Bay.
To the northwest of US was Beaufort Island, showing a
perceptuous rock face on its eastern side. Cape Bird was
just on our port bound. The weather was overcast and snowy.
(23:56):
As we turned to Cape Bird at five point thirty
am on January twenty ninth, we hoped to reach our
new winter quarters without more opposition from the ice. As
we steamed down the McMurdo Sound, we passed through occasional
loose patches of black ice on which immense numbers of
penguins were congregated. There was a great deal more ice
(24:17):
to the west than a strong ice blink gave indication
that it must be heavenly packed right up to the
western shore. Passing down the sound and keeping well to
the east and close under the land, we observed a long,
low sandy beach terminating landwards in a steep slope. The
whole place, for an area of about two square miles,
(24:38):
yellow and pink with penguin guano. It was a large
penguin rookery. We passed but little ice until about ten o'clock,
but within an hour after that we could see the
fast ice ahead of us, and by half past eleven
we were brought up against it. That it was now
January twenty ninth and some twenty miles of frozen separated
(25:01):
us from Hut Point, where we hoped to make our
winter quarters. The ice at the spot at which we
were first stopped by it was very much decayed and
covered with about a foot of snow. We tried to
break through it by ramming, but the attempt was not
a success. Well. The ship entered about half her length
into the sludgy mass and then stuck without producing a
(25:23):
crack in the front. Were backed out again, and when
some little distance away, put on full speed ramming the
ship up against the ice edge. This second attempt was
equally futile, so the ice anchor was made first to
the floe while we considered some better plan in action.
Quote from Sorry It's I forget to jump out of
(25:46):
it The Heart of the Antarctic, volume one, and at Shackleton,
page eighty two. You know why I also like Arctic Exploration.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Because they're very fluffy with their language. And also your
entire idea is just hit it, it'll stop.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
All of those most captains had that beautiful way of writing,
you know, that really poetic way of writing. And even
though I put on a bit of an upper class
British accent to sort of make it work that way.
I still think that they have a beautiful way of writing.
But what's really interesting here, and people who love their
boats would want us to at least address this a
(26:23):
little bit. In order to explore the Antarctic, what you
needed was the specialized ice breakers. So now we have
modern ice breakers. You know, there's a lot of technology
that goes into building those boats, but back then they
also had their own technologies, and essentially what they would
do is they would build these ships like battering rams,
and they would get up a lot of you know,
(26:45):
they would basically ram the ice shelf as hard as
they as hard as they could to try and crack
it apart. And when those cracks emerged, they sort of
started to push through. So there was sort of a
you know, a reinforced point at the front of the
boat to push it further and further. And I started
sort of falling in love with these adventures and this
(27:06):
idea of early Antarctic exploration because of a couple of influencers,
And the earliest influence was in my favorite novel, my
absolute favorite novel, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Because doctor Frankenstein's obsession
with creating life is juxtaposed with the recollection of the
(27:29):
story from a boat captain and his absolute pursuit of
his scientific goal, which is, I believe in the book
and this is really bad that I can't remember this specifically.
He's either trying to map or circumnavigate a part of
the It's either the North or the South Pole that
hasn't been investigated yet, and.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Considering the era that Mary Shelley wrote it in, it
would be the North Pole. They only just found the
North Passage somewhere in the eighteen seventies that was unexplored.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Thank you for providing that context. And you know, the
captain is willing to pursue it to the death of everybody.
And now there are a lot of YouTube videos and
YouTube documentaries that explore those early expeditions and how often
things would go wrong. There's a fantastic Canadian YouTuber with
a channel called Scary Interesting, and he has documented many, many,
(28:24):
many cases of the ships essentially running aground and dying
in the snow.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Can I just correct myself a little bit here?
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah, go for it.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
So I just looked it up. The Northwest Passage is
the passage across the top of Canada get from Western
America through Europe. They didn't actually cross it in ships
until nineteen oh three. Wow, So before that it was
a mixture of ship and horse yep. So yeah, it's
all happening at the same time.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Now, Yeah, it's crazy and so yeah, you have these
intrepid explorers who build these insane boats smash into the ice.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
You know, it's almost intentionally causing it.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Yeah, it's really interesting that sort of that you need
a certain level of arrogance and humorous and violence in
order to, you know, to smash these things apart to
penetrate the natural world in the pursuit of science, and
realistically too, we're talking about this level of isolation that
(29:30):
you could, in my opinion, comfortably compared to something like
going to the moon. These people are on their own.
There is no instantaneous communication.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
And they're doing all the math themselves.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
They're doing all that. They are literally a community in
and of themselves, and their own expertise is what's going
to get them through these situations. So I find Arctic,
early Arctic exploration very very fascinating, and to this day,
Antarctica is still a very fascinating place. And the way
that they establish themselves is incredible. You can go on
(30:05):
Antarctic voyages. It helps to self fund the scientific endeavors.
I've actually looked into it. Unfortunately, it's about thirteen thousand
dollars to get a really good to get on a
really good boat, to get really really close. I would
love to do it one day.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
It's a business class flight to Europe.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. The biggest problem is still the isolation
right now, what's happening on the South African side of Antarctica.
It's not that there aren't really territories. It's sort of
an agreement that it's only there for science, and so
there are a lot of different countries. But the idea
(30:42):
is that they still follow maritime law sort of. You know,
if someone is in trouble, you're meant to go and
help them. Right now, the South African scientific team, I believe,
have to essentially monitor one of their own group who
is now being accused of of aggressive assault and gravded
(31:04):
sexral assault as well. You've essentially got five people in
a very isolated part of Antarctica in communication with the
South African government and they have to keep one eye
on this person constantly. So if you've seen the movie
The Thing, which is also another reason why I love
Antarctic exploration, it is essentially that situation. You know, these
(31:30):
other four scientists are now stuck with this person, so
the situation has been constantly monitored, but they can't get
help out to.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Them because it's now winter and there's a lot more
ice in the water.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
They were meant to be isolated for six months, you know,
and apparently this is not the first time it's happened
with the South African scientific team that they're sent out there,
So maybe there needs to be a look into that.
But go check out those documentaries on how people survive
out in Antarctica. Like just the calorie consumption alone is amazing.
(32:02):
Because it is so cold, they actually have to eat more.
I think they're on a routine of anywhere between four
thousand and six thousand calories. Sometimes I could be wrong. No,
it is that much, holly because the average adult, oh.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
I mean it's not that much. I'm sure there are
lots of people who are not in Antarctea who consume
that many calories a.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Day and it leads to morbid obesity. But because you know,
they're constantly burning through their fuel. They have to have
a lot of stuff, and there's this great PBS documentary
where they go through, you know, all the confectionery they have.
They have more confectionery than a supermarket because it's easy
to like eat three chocolate bars, have like a full pizza,
(32:44):
a thing of spaghetti for all those carbohydrates. It's really fascinating.
But yeah, that's why I have this real interest and
this love of Antarctic exploration. Now back to where our
regularly schedule program. Sorry for the diversion.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Unable to reach their intended destination, the Nimrod continued its
journey on, heading further south. The ship reached Cape Royd's
on Ross Island on February first, nineteen oh eight. It
was too late in the season to push further inland,
as illustrated by the issues they'd had with breaking the ice,
so Shackleton chose to establish a step just a few
(33:17):
kilometers north of Captain Robert Falcon Scott's old camp at
hut Point, despite being told not to go near it.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Why were they told to avoid.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Because it's a British naval base technically.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Yeah, but it's in Antonica.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
But it's still a British naval base, and by gosh,
you were not going to go presspassing on that British
naval base.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
But they were a British ship, No.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
They were. Technically there were Australian flying under Astrainan flags
at that point.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Oh okay, but Shackleton was a British Yeah, like he
was part of the British Navy.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Right and technically, considering the citizenship laws of Australia at
that point in time, all the rest were there British citizens.
But that's a lot of the care because there was
a British military installation.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Can tell anyone go ask.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
A British person if they're allowed to walk on a
British naval installation.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
I mean yes, like I agree with you in principle,
but in.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
The you're just broken in and who the fuck would
have known? No one would have cared, No one would
have known.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
You know. Oh, you turn around and you see two
navy boats following you, and they're wagging, wagging their fingers
as you get closer and closer.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
It's a megaphone. Or get away from that.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
Why what are you doing over there? You know you're
not supposed to go over there? The Queen told you
not how to go over there. That's Queen Victoria.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
That is Matthew's only got two English accents.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
I can speak like this, I can speak like a
very elegant British gentleman. Or I can tell a Ruffian.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
He's got to British. He's got two English accents.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
Oh I got I've got two.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
And sometimes a Scottish accent.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Sometimes when I'm trying to do an Irish Scottish accent.
And look, most of it's informed by pop culture as well.
So that's Americans doing those accents. Because we've been watching
Buffy the Vampire Sla Slayer, it gets closer to the
revival series and two of the American accents. Two of
the American acts actors being James Marsters and the lady
(35:11):
who plays Drusiller. I can't remember her name, which is
a disservice to her because she's fantastic. She does that
like alo, you know, I don't quite know what's going on,
sort of fore In Masters does the nineteen eighties like, hey,
you know what you're standing around? Ear four? You know that,
but with the Texan accent over with a Texan accent
(35:33):
over the top so it sounds like a punk rocker
from the eighties.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Her name is Juliet Lando.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Thank you. So those where a lot of my accents
are just informed by pop culture. So as what I got,
I got two, I got this, and I have this,
which makes me think of an aristocrat to a dandeer
a French gentleman.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Sometimes ever, the gentleman Jackleton left a note for Scott
explaining his choice, hoping that there'd be no offense.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
I love it. I love it. He's like, I better
apologize for this one would have not.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
The note was found years later. Captain Scott was not
impressed at this infringement of British naval holdings.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Jackelton headed for an inlets on the edge of the
Ross ice Shelf, where he intended to establish his base,
But since his last visit, many kilometers of the ice
shelf had caved into the sea, faced by impenetrable pack ice,
who was forced ahead for McMurdo Sound despite his promise
to Scott to avoid it again. He was frustrated by
pack ice and unable to reach Hart Point, near the
(36:33):
side of the present day United States McMurdo Station. Finally,
he selected a site to winter over thirty two kilometers
further north. Cape Royd's named by Captain Scott's Discovery Expedition
after its meteorologist, Lieutenant Charles Royd's quote from History of
Shackleton's Expedition, the British Antarctic Expedition nineteen oh seven to nine.
(36:55):
Cape Royd's Antarctic Heritage Trust twenty twenty four, the.
Speaker 2 (36:59):
Team said up about building their winter quarters. The prefabricated
hut that arrived flat packed in crates from a camp
assembled by freezing hands in brutal wind. It took over
two weeks to complete. Morson Handy and Tireless joined the
construction effort without complaint. The heart was insulated with seaweed
and canvas, heated by a small stove, and barely big
(37:21):
enough for the entire crew. But it was now home
and they were very optimistic about their chances.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
This most interesting feature is undoubtedly the use of a
motor car instead of rubber, which would perish in the
extreme cold. The wheels and tires are made of hickory
and steel, and if we encounter soft snow, the front
pair of wheels can be locked and wide sledge runners
screwed on The rear wheels, which are the driving ones,
are fitted with very wide rims on which can be
(37:49):
screwed knobs and spikes of varying length according to the
nature of the snow encountered. It's air cooled and the
exhaust gases are brought round in a pipe, warming up
the carpilator an engine, then passing to a footwarmer in
the body of the car, and from thence into a
snow melter, so that we can obtain water when required
(38:09):
for cooking purposes. The car will carry sufficient petrol to
reach the pole from our winter quarters, and will not
breeze in the temperatures that we expect to have in
the summer, not lower than minus tan fahrenheit. We can
carry besides the petrol sixteen cwt, provisions and equipment on
the car. The second nude departure will be the use
(38:31):
of the Menturian ponies to drag the sledges, instead of
depending entirely upon dogs. We have fifteen of these hardy
little animals on board. Quote from the Daily Terror Telegraph, Friday,
thirty first of January nineteen oh eight, to page nine.
The Antarctic little bit.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
Of foreshadowing here that minus ten degrees fahrenheit translates in
Australian terms to minus twenty three degrees celsius.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
Fuck that Shitini gets fucked ONNS colder than that, I think,
what's what's the coldest? We usually get to ninus seven? Yeah,
minus seven. I definitely had a minus eight morning one
morning where it was warmer in the fridges than it
was on the loading dock. But we haven't seen those
sort of conditions for a long time.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
We're about due for another one.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Actually, I don't think we are anymore.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
Winter set in fast from March through August. The crew
were locked in place, the sea froze, the sun vanished,
and temperatures dropped below fifty degrees celsius. Mowson worked alongside
the other scientists to prepare for spring sledging journeys. He
cataloged rock samples from nearby ridges, measured magnetic variations, and
even assisted in collecting marine specimens from under the ice.
(39:42):
His field notes from this period are meticulous. He never
stopped recording.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
As winter closed in Wiwlson occupied himself taking wind speed
readings at his annometer on a nearby ridge, carrying out
structural analyzes of varieties of ice and snow. Studying the
Aurora Australia and building his geo biological collections later supply
important scientific indicies for Shackleton's account of the expedition, The
(40:08):
Heart of the Antarctic. Chackleton had brought along a printing
press and the men amused themselves writing chapters for a
book they printed, Aurora Australia, to which Mawson contributed a
dream fantasy titled Bathibia, about an expedition which discovers an
alternative Atlantic world of exotic plant life and giant insects.
(40:29):
Quote from mawson A Life, Philip Ayre's Melbourne University Press,
nineteen ninety nine, page nineteen. And at the end of
the day, these scientific explorations would often inform science fiction,
you know. So they went to explore, and then they thought,
wouldn't it be amazing if we found like giant bugs
and then a secret Antarctic are hidden under the ground.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
Dinah Toopia, I think came from one of those thought.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
Exercises potentially, and a lot of the scientific community would
abble in modern science fiction and outside of science fiction.
Even the book that I brought up earlier in the
podcast Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Shelly was fascinated herself with a
process called galvanization, where you would take something that was
dead and you would shove a bunch of electricity through
(41:17):
it and make the nerve endings, you know, activate, And
at the time they were like, look, you know, it's
a small step from this to reanimating dead flesh. Of
course they were very, very wrong, but that's what informs
Shelley's book. So science and science fiction, of course, go
hand in hand. That's why when you read something like
(41:39):
nineteen eighty four, it feels like we've created the technology today.
And it's often because the people with that sort of
inclination think a little bit further ahead, you know. Even
with myself, like, you know, if I was writing a
book set in a science fiction reality, I would take
what we have now, what we consider to be able
(41:59):
to official intelligence today, and you can extrapolate it and go, okay,
so what's it look like combined with social media in
twenty years, in thirty years, in forty years, and fifty years.
And that's why science fiction and science generally hold hands
together as both progress forward. Science inform science fiction, science
fiction inform science and then we go back and forth
and back and forth back.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
The expedition was optimistic even in March, when the worst
of the cold was still to come. Antarctica routinely hits
minus seventy four degrees celsius in winter with no sunlight,
but lots of penguins. Do you know what the coldest
place on Earth is and what temperature it was?
Speaker 1 (42:38):
I would assume it's somewhere in Antarctica, but I don't
know what temperature it would be.
Speaker 2 (42:42):
It was Vostocks Station on July twenty first, nineteen eighty three,
and it was minus eighty nine point two celsius.
Speaker 1 (42:50):
Jesus, that is fucking cold. I feel sorry for the
poor people who recorded.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
That, yeh, we have one more quaite.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
The winter, four hundred miles further south than any man
had wintered before, was passed pleasantly by all, great feature
being the appearance of the South Polytimes, which owed much
of its attractiveness to the editorship of E. H. Shackleton
and to the art of E. A. Wilson quote from
the Heart of the Antarctic Volume one, ear A. Shackleton,
(43:19):
page eighty two.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
Then came spring, and the race was on.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
And ladies and gentlemen, that's where we'll leave it for
this episode The Week Crap In Australia Podcast. Thank you
so much for joining us as we journey together with
Douglas Mawson on his first Antarctic expedition but certainly not
his last, and will go a long way in explaining
why that man is sitting on that green one hundred
dollars Australian bill, which may end up being something that
(43:48):
we don't really see much anymore, oh sees the now anyway.
I mean, number one, most of us don't get paid
one hundred dollar notes anymore. And number two, the you know,
the Australian system is moving further and further away from
physical currency and more into digital currency. And I'm not
going to get into the debate about whether this is
(44:09):
good or bad. You know, people don't like change. That's
well established. But he is still to this day the
face of the one hundred dollar bill and there is
very good reason for that, which we're going to explore
in the next subsequent episodes. Well, if you'd like to
reach out to the Weak Crap In Australia Podcast, we
have a couple of ways. First and foremost being our email.
You can send an email through to weak crap in
(44:29):
Australia at gmail dot com. Just try and be nice,
that's all we ask. You can also reach out to
us on various social media platforms. Just type in week
crap In Australia into the search bar of your social
media of choice and if we don't pop up, treat
us an email. Let us know where you are missing us.
You can also help out the week crap In Australia podcast.
We have a picatreon service, so for only five dollars
(44:50):
USD a month, you get access to add to these
episodes early and completely uncut out freak, and you're also
provided with a little bonus minisode each week out of
a list. Couple of weeks we've been talking about the
strange developments in Australian politics, but we also talk about
true crimecases, and funnily enough, some of those true crime
cases and up being episodes. So if you want our
(45:11):
hot takes on some of those stranger headlines, head on
over to our patreon Again, were Craping Australia into the
search engine. You can also help us out by grabbing
the wee crap in Australia book series from our great
mates at Impactcomics dot com dot Au. They are shooting
those out all across the country and mal is very
appreciative of the business that you have been sending their way.
(45:31):
It's very difficult for small businesses in this day and age.
You can also grab the book internationally from Lulu dot
com and you can check out the digital version on
the Amazon Kindle Store. Of course, at the moment, considering
the current political climate in America, Amazon has been self
centering media content. If that happens to us as well,
(45:52):
we'll find an alternate destination for you to pick up
the book digitally. Even if we have to set up
a website and sell it directly to you ourselves, we're
happy to do that. You can also grab it yourself
some weird crap in Australian merchandise from our Red Bubble
and Tea public stores. Just typing weir craping Australia into
those search engines for a variety of signs that you
can slap on T shirts, mugs and all sorts of
(46:13):
fun things for your home. Otherwise, as our customer, we
give Pully the final words.
Speaker 2 (46:19):
The entire title of part of the Antarctic is the
heart of the Antarctic being the story of the British
Antarctic Expedition nineteen oh sevens and ninety oh iron by E. H.
Shackleton CVO, with an introduction by Hugh Robert Mill DSc.
On account of the First Journey of the South made
Netty Pole by Professor T. W. Edgworth David FRS. Oh
(46:40):
my god, Why did they have such long titles way
back when.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
They have a run on sentence that makes sense? Why
in all of my assessments for counseling they're constantly saying,
please make this concise, Please make this concise for seventy
five words, please, seventy five words please. It makes a
lot of sense. Well, thank you so much for joining us,
ladies and gentlemen. As always, please be safe, be very
kind to each other, and we will see you all
(47:04):
next week for more We'd Crap in Australia. Until then,
bye for now. By The Weird Crap In Australia podcast
(47:25):
is produced by Holly and Matthew Soul for the Modern Meltdown.
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