Syd Kirkby’s biography

In October, former Australian Antarctic Arts Fellow Lynette Finch, published the first full biography of Syd Kirkby, an extraordinary modern day explorer who mapped vast tracks of Antarctica.

Fixing Antarctica: Mapping the Frozen South tells the story of the surveyor and explorer, who began his Antarctic journey at Mawson in 1956, spending 15 months with 14 other scientists on the isolated rock outcrop at the edge of the Antarctic plateau. Over the next 20 years Syd Kirkby explored and mapped more unknown regions in the world than any other person in history.

Ms Finch travelled to Mawson in 2008 to gain a sense of place to better explain her subject. Fixing Antarctica is told through interviews with Syd’s contemporaries, personal diaries and the diaries of other Antarctic explorers. 

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