What's It All About?
In 1969 I finished my degree in Physics and a Post-Graduate Diploma in computer science followed in 1971.
I then started
looking for a job. I found one as a Programmer In Training (PIT) with the Defence Department
in Canberra. This was okay (but not very interesting) until I saw an advertisement
in the paper for a job as Upper Atmosphere Research Physicist with the Australian
National Antarctic Expeditions (ANARE) for 1972.
To cut a longish story short I applied, did several interviews and was accepted! I then
had to get myself from Canberra to Melbourne (where ANARE was based then) and start training.
This set of pages is a short documentary of the trip and life at Casey Station in the
Australian Antarctic Territory as it was more than thirty years ago.
Many things have changed since I was there. Women now regularly staff bases both for the
summer research periods and for the winter. The old Casey Station has been demolished and
a new resort style building (the "Big Red Shed" I believe it is called) has been erected nearby.
On a sadder note the ships which were used by ANARE - the Nella Dan and the Thala Dan have gone.
In the case of the Nella, she went down off Maquarie Island when she was blown onto the rocks.
I have some photographs of the area where she was wrecked.
The Photographs
The photographs on this site were all taken by me during 1972 and early 1973. Most are scanned from
35mm slides on Ektachrome and Kodachrome. The Ektachrome slides were processed by me
at Casey (process E4). Monochrome images were also processed at Casey and either printed there
or back in Melbourne in the years since.
Some of the maps shown on this site have been adapted from two books. They are:
The Silence Calling - Australians in Antarctica 1947-97 by Tim Bowden.
This book is of particular interest to me as I appear in it (albeit with my name
spelt incorrectly).
Antarctica - The Complete Story by David McGonigal and Dr Lynn Woodworth.
[Back to the top]