Aurora Australis

by Ernest Shackleton, Mary P. Goodwin (Introduction)

In an age when it is fashionable to forget the achievements of the great explorers of the heroic age, comes the timely rebirth of this legendary book, penned by a band of brave British men whose wit and wisdom blazes like a sun beside today¿s lesser stars. In 1907 Ernest Shackleton led the Nimrod Expedition to Antarctica. He established a base camp at Cape Royds on Ross Island and built a wooden hut to serve as headquarters. Because of his prior experience with Robert Scott¿s first expedition, Shackleton knew the sunless winter months spent in these cramped quarters would test the morale of his men, so he set several of them to work writing and printing the first book ever produced on the Antarctic continent. Containing fact, fiction, humour, prose and poetry, Aurora Australis, is one of the most extraordinary travel books ever written. It contains stories about the Antarctic wildlife, describes the harsh conditions suffered by the explorers and recounts their journey to the top of Mount Erebus, a nearby active volcano surrounded by ice. An estimated one hundred copies were originally ¿Printed at the Sign of the Penguin¿ by these gifted authors, the result of which is a unique symbol of the heroic age of exploration. Because of its rarity a first edition of Aurora Australis recently sold for more than $100,000. This special edition is being produced in an effort to raise awareness of the need to conserve the four huts used by the British explorers, along with the remarkable memorabilia and icebound supplies preserved within their frozen walls. Having endured nearly a century of harsh weather, these huts still symbolise the nobler aspects of human nature which took these talented and brave men to Antarctica. The buildings are now considered to be some of the most endangered historic structures in the world.

Genres: Nonfiction

182 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1908

About the author

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922) was an Anglo-Irish merchant naval officer who made his reputation as an explorer during what is known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, a period of discovery characterised by journeys of geographical and scientific exploration in a largely unknown continent, without any of the benefits of modern travel methods or radio communication.

Reviews

[Preethi · Rating 5 out of 5]

First read through the University of Cambridge Digital Library: https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-AA...

[ö · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aurora Australis is a fascinating book, and I can only recommend the read. It is fascinating, however, for very unusual reasons. It lacks an overarching message or story arc: Elements that traditionally make a book engaging. Instead, it offers a unique window into history and a particular and unimaginable circumstance. Aurora Australis is the first book ever written, printed, illustrated, and bound in the Antarctic. Its production happened during the Nimrod expedition when a group of men led by Ernest Shackleton overwintered there in 1908-1909 at Cape Royds.

It consists of ten different sections written by different members of the expedition. There is no encompassing story, instead the sections are vastly different and independent from each other. The book begins with a recounting of the first ever ascent of Mount Erebus and ends with a story about Bathybia, an imaginary ice-free utopia full of mushroom jungles and gigantic water bears in the middle of the continent. Despite their differences, all the sections give an impression of living in and exploring the inhospitable and icy landscapes of the southernmost continent. I think this is where the book truly shines. If someone is interested in the living condition of early Antarctic expeditions, this book will be a blast. The first story about the ascent of a nearby volcano is especially illuminating in that regard.

While I would recommend the book mainly due to its historical value, it can certainly be enjoyed by its literary merits alone. All the sections are short, concise, and usually written with a good sense of humor. Before starting, I thought the book would be a dense and exhausting read but I was pleasantly surprised that this is not the case. Instead, I read it in about three sittings without ever having the desire to put it down. Taking the circumstances of production into account, that is a remarkable achievement. Still, it is by no means a masterpiece. Personally, I did not enjoy the fictional sections as much but that might be due to my interest in the historical setting in which the book was written.

For further readings regarding the Nimrod exploration and the creation of this book, I can recommend the book ‘The Heart of the Antarctic’ by Ernest Shackleton. There, more, and extended information about the expedition and the creation of ‘Aurora Australis’ can be learned. There is also the book ‘Scott’s Last Expedition’, where the tragic tale of a previous expedition is recounted which is referenced at various places within ‘Aurora Australis’.

[T Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ernest Shackleton led an expedition to Antartica in 1907. He knew that the men would become restless in the long, dark winter days and nights so he decided they would not only write a book but they would print, produce and publish it in the wooden hut they had built as their shelter. The frozen ink had to be warned to be workable by the heat of candles, the books were boarded with wood from the packaging crates that held their rations and then bound in seal skin. Unsurprisingly this was the first book to be created on Antartica

The writing, mainly prose but some poetry, and the drawings are decidedly amateurish. These men were explorers not artists. It reads rather like a6th form or University magazine or review. This is not a book about the 1907 expedition, it is a creative distraction from the dark of those nights.

But what a story, enriched by a short foreword by the great Edmund Hilary which confirms that proceeds from the book are being used to help save Shackleton's hut for future generations.