Witness wild beauty and extreme hardships in photographs of two Antarctic voyages in the early 20th century.

Developed by the Australian National Maritime Museum, this exhibition features photographs by

• Herbert Ponting on Scott’s 1910–12 expedition
•  Frank Hurley on Shackleton's 1914–17 expedition

English-born Herbert Ponting (1870–1935) was a self-taught ‘camera artist’ who brought the first images of Antarctica's frozen landscapes to the rest of the world. Ponting built his own darkroom at Cape Evans to develop and store the thousands of pictures he took during his 14 months with Scott. He returned to New Zealand while Scott and his team made their disastrous attempt on the South Pole.

Australian Frank Hurley (1885–1962) went on three expeditions to Antarctica between 1911 and 1930. As a member of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s expedition he recorded the unfolding drama as the ship Endurance was trapped and crushed in ice and the expedition’s 28 men lived five months on moving ice floes before escaping to the relative safety of Elephant Island.

Physical Journeys – the Antarctic experience (PDF 186kb)

Visual arts and cross-curriculum – all states (PDF 867kb)