Journal
Articles
Among ancient moss forests
IT WAS FEBRUARY 2022 when I started writing this essay, and I was returning from three weeks in Antarctica....
Game theory on ice
It’s no surprise...that many analysts think the Antarctic Treaty can serve as a template to solve modern-day territorial disputes. But how realistic is that?
Postcards from the frontline
The Antarctic Treaty was negotiated between May 1958 and June 1959, an impressively short period of time given formidable geopolitical issues that needed to be addressed: the status of sovereign claims and Cold War competition.
Blinding whiteness
Stories of animal migration to Antarctica, such as yalingbila, are reminders of global Indigenous connections to the frozen continent. As our kin traverse Antarctic waters, they too connect with the myriad creatures carving a living out of the ice.
The face of the Earth at the end of the world
Antarctica has withstood many acquisitive claims. If the era of the Antarctic Treaty has ostensibly elevated the idea of co-operation as humanity’s guiding ideal in the south, possessive urges tenaciously remain.
Red heart, red ship
When I was twelve years old, I was head over heels in love with a little red ship, the Danish polar vessel Nella Dan. She worked for the Australian Antarctic Division for twenty-six years, and in the 1980s Hobart was her home away from home.
White day dreaming
We linger together well past bedtime, talking of our children. The sun plays its part by refusing to set, doing an orbit around the horizon and waltzing shadows across the lounge. Below us are about eighty metres of ice floating on the waters of the Ross Sea. Further towards the mainland and buried some sixteen metres down in the ice are Scott, Bowers and Wilson, frozen into their sleeping bags and wrapped in their tent.
Observing life on the edge
I KNOW THESE things. A recognisable and deep clunk as I walk along the cobble beach, its round rocks...
Leading down south
We were using the Italian station as a jumping-off point to inspect some of the nearby stations – the German Gondwana Station and, for the first time, the Korean Jang Bogo Station, as well as China’s temporary station on the site of the proposed new Chinese station planned for Inexpressible Island in Terra Nova Bay. This is a truly remarkable part of Antarctica...
Coming soon to a beach near you
IN THE ROOM with pictures of Antarctica on the walls the scientists sit around the table and talk about...
Understanding interconnectivity
THERE’S NO EXPERIENCE on Earth like diving under the ice in Antarctica. On life support and in an uninhabited...
Audacious visions for the Antarctic
IT WAS EARLY 1984. It started with a phone call: can you do an environmental impact assessment of the...
