Mapping Antarctica 2007

Acrylic and oil on primed fire paper
900mm x 1450 mm
Signed and dated

Artist's collection, Sydney

Data source: Antarctica: the extraordinary history
of man's conquest of the frozen continent
Pub. Reader's digest 1998, Fifth edition, p. 81, Illus.

The unveiling of Antarctica came only slowly.
The extensive pack ice and short summers
meant that the early discoveries
were little more than glimpses.

By 1900, however,
most geographers accepted
that the scattered landfalls
marked the edge of a continent.

The next 14 years
saw the first inland journeys,
but the advent of the aeroplane in 1926
changed everything.

More of Antarctica was seen in the next decade
than by all previous expeditioners.

But it was only after 1945
that the continent was thoroughly photographed.

Antarctica: the extraordinary history
of man's conquest of the frozen continent
Pub. Reader's digest 1998, Fifth edition, p. 81, Illustrations and caption