Shackleton Autumn School has Australian connection

The 13th Ernest Shackleton Autumn School gets under way next weekend in Athy, writes Brian Byrne.

The event will be launched on Friday evening at a reception in Athy Heritage Centre & Museum, by the Australian Ambassador to Ireland, Her Excellency Dr Ruth Adler.

On display for the first time in Ireland, in the Athy Heritage Centre, an exhibition — Mawson's Men — gives a rare glimpse into the daily lives of the men of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911-1914) led by Sir Douglas Mawson.

The exhibition showcases the lives of the 32 men who took part in the Expedition which set out to investigate a section of the ‘practically unknown Antarctic coast’ and conduct numerous scientific studies.

The exhibition features photographs taken by some of the expeditioners, Frank Hurley and Xavier Mertz, who died during the expedition, and Frederick Gillies.

Mawson's first experience of Antarctica was as member of the scientific team on Shackleton's Nimrod expedition (1907-1909), where he was part of the three man team to reach the magnetic South Pole.