Ernest Shackleton’s journey captured on camera

UK arts historian Mark Cottle will be in Narrabri to present ArtsNational Narrabri’s latest arts talk ‘A Photographic Odyssey – Shackleton’s Endurance Expedition’ at The Crossing Theatre on Monday 17 August.

When Australian photographer Frank Hurley signed on to document British explorer Ernest Shackleton’s expedition to the South Pole in 1914, he knew he’d be capturing some of the earliest images of Antarctica’s bleak and beautiful unexplored terrain.

Ernest Shackleton possessed an uncanny knack of finding the best men from the ranks of rootless sailors, carefree adventurers and the downright curious. The men he picked were often the difference between life and death.

But after Shackleton’s ship, HMS Endurance, was trapped by pack ice – and slowly succumbed to its crushing pressure – the expedition’s fate and that of its crew looked bleak. Hundreds of miles from inhabited territory, and far from any well-travelled shipping lanes, they wouldn’t be rescued for more than a year and a half.

Right: ‘A Photographic Odyssey – Shackleton’s Endurance Expedition Captured on Camera’ will be in Cinema 1, The Crossing Theatre on Monday 17 August.

Hurley captured not only the desolate polar landscape but the grit and determination of the stranded crew members trying to stay warm in sub-zero temperatures, to stave off starvation and despair, and to pass time on an ice floe as they witnessed the slow-motion destruction of the Endurance, their only refuge. Yet every man survived.

Join us to hear this fascinating story of Hurley’s great talent behind the lens, in the first flush of human contact when the Antarctic remained essentially ‘terra incognita’.

Guest speaker Mark Cottle was born on the Isles of Scilly and was educated at Truro School, Cornwall, and Birmingham University. Photos supplied by ArtsNational. Right: Hurley had a great talent behind the lens in the first flush of human contact when the Antarctic remained essentially ‘terra incognita’.

Our guest speaker Mark Cottle was born on the Isles of Scilly and was educated at Truro School, Cornwall, and Birmingham University. He has enjoyed a career in education and training at home and abroad, lecturing at colleges and universities on medieval, Tudor, and Anglo Saxon England.

Hurley had a great talent behind the lens in the first flush of human contact when the Antarctic remained essentially ‘terra incognita’.

ArtsNational’s informative and entertaining lecture-style presentations, superbly illustrated in Cinema 1 at The Crossing Theatre, are delivered on diverse arts-related subjects by visiting national and international speakers. The talks last about one hour and are followed by drinks and canapes.

See classified ad this issue.