Shackleton: the inspiration for Mawson's Antarctic Expedition

Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922) was a key player in the Heroic Era of Antarctic exploration. An Irish-born merchant seaman, entrepreneur, lover of poetry and a born leader, he inspired the men who travelled with him on British expeditions to Antarctica. Douglas Mawson, then a young lecturer in geology from South Australia, was so inspired that he organised his own expedition, but with a greater scientific focus, to the southernmost continent. This carefully-researched essay explores Shackle…