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Clip description
As the HMAS Wyatt Earp sets off for the Antarctic coast from Melbourne in late 1947, the senior scientific officer Phillip Law begins work with his colleague, the distinguished meteorologist, Dr Fritz Loewe. The little ship enters the Roaring Forties and begins to pitch and roll. When the weather improves, sailors are lowered over the side to try to patch leaks in the wooden hull. Progress is slow through heavy seas. The rigging ices up as the ship lumbers south across 2000 kms (1200 miles) of ocean. After the first sighting of ice, the ship is soon surrounded by enormous icebergs.
Curator’s notes
This first film about Australia’s attempts to build bases in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic describes two voyages – one to Heard Island by the LST 3501, the other by HMAS Wyatt Earp to the Antarctic coast, returning via Macquarie Island. The images here were shot by Laurie Le Guay, a leading Australian portrait and fashion photographer, who had been a photographer with the RAAF during the war. The quality of his images is strong, and sharper than those shot on Heard Island, suggesting that Le Guay might have had better equipment. He certainly has the better eye in this film, typically in the shots of the sailors repairing the leaks, one of which he frames through a porthole. The film was completed after Phillip Law had already taken over as acting head of the Antarctic Division, so it is no surprise that the science performed by Law and his colleague Fritz Loewe gets prominence. No sooner has the ship left port than we see Law with his eye stuck to a theodolite, for measuring the progress of a weather balloon. Loewe was probably the most distinguished member of the crew, a German Jewish refugee who arrived in Australia in 1939 (see main notes).
It’s striking that this first voyage to the Antarctic coast in the postwar era looks like footage from voyages made pre-war. Indeed, the Wyatt Earp was a seasoned Antarctic voyager, having made four trips south with the American explorer Lincoln Ellsworth during the 1930s. It’s also clear that the ship was unsuitable, even after a full refit in Adelaide. In fact, by the time we see these scenes at sea, Wyatt Earp had already returned twice to port, in Melbourne and Hobart, for running repairs. The ship leaked badly, flooding the new cabins, the engines stopped frequently and many of the instruments failed. None of this gets a mention in the narration. Antarctica 1948 was meant as positive propaganda for the Antarctic Division’s work. The ship’s difficulties had been well documented in the press, so it is not surprising that they were not mentioned in a film that would not come out till several months later. Phillip Law’s book about this voyage mentions that Mimi, the ship’s cat, actually gave birth to two kittens before they returned to Melbourne.
