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The Southern Frontier: Australia, Antarctica and Empire in the Southern Ocean World
Antarctica looms large in the Australian psyche – as a place of science, adventure and peril. Our romantic entanglement with this unique environment is deep and enduring.
The Southern Frontier traces Australia’s Antarctic obsession from its origins in the nineteenth century to the creation of the Australian Antarctic Territory and a permanent national Antarctic program in the 1930s and 1940s. It reconstructs Australian ideas, beliefs and anxieties about the Antarctic and shows how Australians came to imagine their nation as having a natural right – perhaps even a destiny – to explore, exploit and control the world to their south. By examining how and why Australia relentlessly pursued the acquisition of its Antarctic Territory, Rohan Howitt recovers a forgotten way of thinking about this as one frontier of an Australian empire stretching from the equator to the South Pole.
At a time when the Australian Government is ramping up its investment in Antarctica and geopolitical tensions are on the rise, The Southern Frontier provides the historical explanation for how Australians came to see the world to their south as a natural extension of the nation’s territory.
The Southern Frontier traces Australia’s Antarctic obsession from its origins in the nineteenth century to the creation of the Australian Antarctic Territory and a permanent national Antarctic program in the 1930s and 1940s. It reconstructs Australian ideas, beliefs and anxieties about the Antarctic and shows how Australians came to imagine their nation as having a natural right – perhaps even a destiny – to explore, exploit and control the world to their south. By examining how and why Australia relentlessly pursued the acquisition of its Antarctic Territory, Rohan Howitt recovers a forgotten way of thinking about this as one frontier of an Australian empire stretching from the equator to the South Pole.
At a time when the Australian Government is ramping up its investment in Antarctica and geopolitical tensions are on the rise, The Southern Frontier provides the historical explanation for how Australians came to see the world to their south as a natural extension of the nation’s territory.
384 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 14, 2025
17 people want to read
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May 22, 2025
This is a meticulously researched book about Australia’s relationship to Antarctica, as part of an aspiration to create a southern empire from the tropics to the south pole. Through the 19th and most of the 20th centuries, Australia saw Antarctica as a future resource, for which we should claim a large share.
We supported many of the early expeditions to the continent and sent Douglas Mawson to explore a huge slab of coastline and inland. The book demonstrates that there were many interested stakeholders, including the general public, but that our aims and actions were sporadic and rarely co-odinated. Despite this, Australia’s Antarctic territory still covers a whopping 42% of the continent and Rohan Howitt’s book skilfully explains how we got there.
See the full review at: https://www.queenslandreviewerscollec...
We supported many of the early expeditions to the continent and sent Douglas Mawson to explore a huge slab of coastline and inland. The book demonstrates that there were many interested stakeholders, including the general public, but that our aims and actions were sporadic and rarely co-odinated. Despite this, Australia’s Antarctic territory still covers a whopping 42% of the continent and Rohan Howitt’s book skilfully explains how we got there.
See the full review at: https://www.queenslandreviewerscollec...
Displaying 1 of 1 review