Rowan, thanks for the further information. Now, when you spend 14 months there??!!! Do tell!? Pretty please? Separate thread? I'd love to hear more!

and

Daisy Bates in the Desert :

Somehow I've missed this thread for a while (must have been all the stuff on the fires sidetracking me) so please accept my apologies, kat.

Second things first:
Daisy Bates was indeed a remarkable woman and the book on her was recently accompanied by a half hour program on Radio National (Oz ABC); you might find a podcast still there. At one stage she was married to Harry "Breaker" Morant who was a horse breaker who wrote quite a lot of "bush verse" as it's known in Australia. Kit Denton (the father of Andrew Denton, for those into Oz TV) wrote Breaker Morant's biography and it is a good read in itself. Morant was part of the Australian military contingent to the Boer War in South Africa (then formally known as the "U of SA", just to confuse you States-siders) and was courtmartialled by the British for following Kitchener's orders with more zeal than ethics. He was shot for it and Australians military forces personnel were never since allowed to be courtmartialled by the British. The events were made into a cracking film about 30 years ago.

First things second:
About my stay at Mawson,I can say, with a completely straight face, that I'm a sixtyniner. Our team left Oz before Christmas in 1968 and returned late in February 1970. There were lots of books in the station library and it was where I first encountered Shackleton's description of his "Endurance" expedition and the voyage from Elephant Island to South Georgia. Coincidentally, the trip across South Georgia, from west to east, which Shackleton and co did in three days with no proper gear, was repeated during 1969 by a special contingent of Royal Marines, who had the very latest of lightweight gear; they took three weeks to replicate Shackleton's three-day trip. And they had maps!

And, kat, whenever anyone asked "What was it like?" I'd reply, "Not in any particular order, it was cold, windy, isolated and celibate! And I would recommend anyone jump at the chance to go!"

Cheers, Rowan