Tim Low travelled to Antarctic as an arts fellow in the summer of 03/04. Tim is a Brisbane-based nature writer and photographer with qualifications in both science and journalism. He has written extensively for Australian nature magazines and journals and three of his six books have won literary prizes. Currently with more than 100 000 book copies in print, Tim Low's proposal was to write two books as a result of a voyage to
Antarctica. He also proposed a 'store' of stories and photographs that will be used in future books and articles.
The proposed books A Naturalist in Gondwana and another (as yet untitled) about Australian and Antarctic birds will provide an original, big-picture perspective of the ecological and geological links between the two continents. Tim's writing style attracts readers from scientific and general backgrounds, with science, nature, anecdotes and travel experiences all woven together.
Author and biologist Tim Low found many firsts—
"A new continent, my first experience of the open ocean, and a subantarctic island. As an ecologist I experienced three major new habitats: The Great Southern Ocean, Antarctica, and a subantarctic island.
I was amazed to learn that the ridges around Casey match up with rock outcrops on the south coast of Western Australia. They mark a line where Antarctica and Australia sheared apart many millions of years ago. Only a couple of years ago I was standing on a rocky shore in Western Australia looking south into the ocean and thinking about Antarctica. On this trip I had the chance to stand on the opposing shore in Antarctica and recall that rocky place way to the north, trying to imagine them once joined together. The experience has greatly broadened my sense of Australia and Australian wildlife and I look forward to weaving in stories in future books and articles."
An article by Tim Low about Australia's islands appeared in the Australian Geographic magazine in June 2006, mentioning Tim's experiences on Macquarie Island
'Polar Invaders' appeared in the December 2004 issue of BBC Wildlife magazine, Britain's leading nature magazine. This article highlights the risk that tourists and tourist vessels can pose to Antarctica by unintentionally introducing exotic organisms such as weed seeds and insects.
'Growing Old in the Cold' appeared in the March 2005 issue of Nature Australia magazine, in Tim's regular column. This article discusses plants in Antarctica – lichens, mosses, algae, higher plants – and the extreme conditions they grows under.
Later in 2005, Tim also wrote an article for Nature Australia about plants on Macquarie Island.
