Richard Byrd wrote ‘The Pole lay in the center of a limitless plain. [. . .] And that, in brief, is all there is to tell about the South Pole’. Elizabeth Leane, Associate Professor of English at the University of Tasmania, thinks differently. And she is right because there is plenty of interest. It is a strange place because, with the North Pole, it is the only place on Earth that did not have to be ‘discovered’: it is where the lines of longitude meet at 90° latitude, so it could be pinpointed on the globe without anyone going near it.
Leane sets the scene with detailed retelling of the stories of Amundsen and Scott. Shackleton gets short shrift because he does not reach the Pole although arguably his was the most important journey because he demonstrated the nature of the south polar region. Travelling the last 100 miles did not advance human knowledge significantly. There is also the problem of where exactly is the South Pole; Amundsen went to great lengths to ensure that his party did reach the Pole. The Ceremonial Pole with its familiar ring of flags is a few hundred metres from the real Pole whose marker is shifted every year in a New Year's Day ceremony to correct for the movement of the ice. There is also a correction needed for changes in the Earth's axis of rotation. Then we should not forget that there are Geographic, Magnetic, Geomagnetic and Celestial South Poles, and the South Pole of Inaccessibility. It is all rather complicated.
Leane now moves to myths of the South Pole. The blank space on the map allowed the imaginations of story-tellers to run riot. Aliens, natives and ‘lost races’ abound and gold was often found in impressive quantities. Tarzan, Doctor Who and Biggles had Antarctic adventures. Then a chapter on ‘Pole-hunting’ brings the reader back to reality with the real-life explorers of the Heroic Age.
The South Pole has often been a synonym for Antarctica in popular imagination and Leane uses it as a symbol for the continent. She explores our relationship with the Pole but relates it to Antarctica in a wider context. Following the brief visits by Amundsen and Scott the story expands in the International Geophysical Year (1957-58) when the Americans established a permanent presence at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. The lives of ‘Polies’ are described in detail. They are less cut-off than many of the stations on the fringe of Antarctica and one wonders whether life there is much different from that at any other station where the hostile conditions make it impossible even to go out for a walk.
I was particularly interested in the discussion of science which, although a very brief summary, is presented in easy, non-technological language. Leane makes the point that the South Pole is an excellent place to look from: up into space and down into the ice. The last chapter describes the burgeoning industry of adventurers and extreme tourists. The former travel in Antarctica or head for the Pole in ever more difficult and bizarre ways to achieve exclusivity and the tourists (an appellation they shun) reach the Pole where ‘they get a free cup of coffee, a hero shot at the Pole, and a boot in the ass to get out’.
I found this book a very informative and surprisingly entertaining read that covers a wide variety of Antarctic topics. Elizabeth Leane does not appear ever to have visited Antarctica, let alone the South Pole. Otherwise there would be the mandatory photo of a muffled figure standing alongside a penguin or the candy-striped Ceremonial Pole. Yet she has made a very good job of relating and collating the experiences and impressions of the many and varied visitors to this ‘symbolic heart of Antarctica’ and its place in our quest to understand our planet.
