The dramatic story of explorer Douglas Mawson and "the most outstanding solo journey ever recorded in Antarctic history" (Sir Edmund Hillary, mountaineer and explorer) For weeks in Antarctica, Douglas Mawson faced some of the most daunting conditions ever known to man: blistering wind, snow, and cold; the loss of his companion, dogs, supplies, and even the skin on his hands and feet. But despite constant thirst, starvation, disease, and snow blindness—he survived. Sir Douglas Mawson is remembered as the young Australian who would not go to the South Pole with Robert Scott in 1911. Instead, he chose to lead his own expedition on the less glamorous mission of charting nearly 1,500 miles of Antarctic coastline and claiming its resources for the British Crown. His party of three set out through the mountains across glaciers in 60-mile-per-hour winds. Six weeks and 320 miles out, one man fell into a crevasse—along with the tent, most of the equipment, the dogs' food, and all except a week's supply of the men's provisions. Mawson's Will is the unforgettable story of one man's ingenious practicality, unbreakable spirit, and how he continued his meticulous scientific observations even in the face of death. When the expedition was over, Mawson had added more territory to the Antarctic map than anyone else of his time. Thanks to Bickel's moving account, Mawson can be remembered for the vision and dedication that make him one of the world's great explorers.

Sir Douglas Mawson, Australia's greatest Antarctic explorer, made four trips to the Antarctic: in 1907-09 with Shackleton's British Antarctic Expedition; in 1911-14, having declined to join Scott's ill-fated Antarctic journey, as leader of the Australasian Antarctic expedition; and twice between 1929 and 1931 as leader of the British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE). Mawson's Antarctic Diaries brings together for the first time all his descriptive writings while in the Antarctic. An uncensored record of events, they reveal Mawson's innermost thoughts at times of great stress and conflict on ship and on shore, through achievement and failure, joy and tragedy. This book includes some of Frank Hurley's most famous Antarctic photographs, as well as some not reproduced before.

Sir Edmund Hillary described Douglas Mawson’s epic and punishing journey across 600 miles of unknown Antarctic wasteland as ‘the greatest story of lone survival in polar exploration’. This Accursed Land tells that story; how Mawson declined to join Captain Robert Scott’s ill-fated British expedition and instead lead a three-man husky team to explore the far eastern coastline of the Antarctic continent. But the loss of one member and most of the supplies soon turned the hazardous trek into a nightmare. Mawson was trapped 320 miles from base with barely nine days’ food and nothing for the dogs. Eating poisoned meat, watching his body fall apart, crawling over chasms and crevices of deadly ice, his ultimate and lone struggle for survival, starving, poisoned, exhausted and indescribably cold, is an unforgettable story of human endurance. Grippingly told by Lennard Bickel, this is the most extraordinary journey from the brutal golden age of Antarctic exploration. Perfect for fans of Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air or Michael Palin’s Erebus.

Scott, Shackleton and Mawson were the three great explorers of the Edwardian age. Now Beau Riffenburgh tells the forgotten story of Douglas Mawson and his death-defying expedition of 1911-14. A key member of Ernest Shackleton's famous Nimrod Expedition, Mawson led his own Australasian Antarctic Expedition. However, following the tragic deaths of the other members of his sledging party, he was left to struggle the hundreds of miles back to base alone, only to find that the relief ship had sailed away, leaving him to face another year in Antarctica. Having survived with a small band of men against incredible odds, he later led a groundbreaking two-year expedition which explored hundreds of miles of unknown coastline. Mawson's is a story of true heroism and a fascinating insight into the human psyche under extreme duress.

In 1911, the Australian Antarctic Expedition under Douglas Mawson left Hobart on the Aurora, headed for Antarctica. Much is known about Mawson and tales of his exploits are often retold. But Mawson did not go alone. What of the men who set off with him and without whom he could have achieved little? Who were they? Where did they come from? The 32 land-based members of the AAE of 1911-14 selected to explore part of the Antarctic continent where no person had set foot before, had an average age of just 26. They included three doctors, two soldiers, engineers, sailors, a Rhodes Scholar, a meteorologist, wireless operators, a photographer, a former 'female' spy, a lawyer-cum-mountaineer, an architectural draftsman and scientists. Just three had previously experienced the cold, loneliness, potential danger and isolation that only Antarctica offers. The remaining 29 could safely be described as enthusiastic novices; some had probably never before seen snow. Two of them were not to return, but all will remain part of the Antarctic's 'heroic era' of exploration.