The first Australian Antarctic Expedition, led by Douglas Mawson, left Hobart 100 years ago, on 2 December 1911. Paul Byrnes has curated some remarkable government films to mark a century of Australian Antarctic exploration.

These include the last filmed interview with Frank Hurley, who reminisces about his part in the 1911 expedition. Mawson’s extraordinary feat of survival – travelling 160 kilometres alone and on foot through blizzard conditions after the death of his companions – is re-created by British polar adventurer Tim Jarvis in 2007.

'Government films of [the 1940s and ’50s] present a uniformly sunny picture of Australian life’, writes Byrnes. His notes illuminate the behind-the-scenes dramas that are only hinted at in the films themselves, including near-fatal accidents, fire and madness. He also evokes the larger-than-life personalities involved, such as 'Mr Antarctica’ – Dr Phillip Law, leader of the Antarctic Division of the Department of External Affairs for nearly two decades.

Films shot in Antarctica aren’t complete without penguins. When a ship forges through a field of 'blue ice’, a parcel of Adélie penguins happily takes advantage of the unexpected short-cut to their food supply (see clip one of Blue Ice, 1954).

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The Australian Antarctic Division has published a list of upcoming events celebrating the centenary.