Peter Fitzsimons on 'The Incredible Life of Hubert Wilkins: Australia's Greatest Explorer'

Good Reading Podcast

When we think of great Australian explorers, Sir Hubert Wilkins isn't a name that immediately comes to mind. Despite this, there have been few Australians to have seen more of planet earth and thrived in more hostile environments than Wilkins. From humble beginnings in rural South Australia, Wilkins' early career was in cinematography but his capacity for acquiring skills together with a consistently evolving scientific mind took him all over the planet: from documenting rare species in Northern Australia, to navigating a path across the North Pole and then sailing a submarine under it, there have been few people his equal. Peter Fitzsimons' latest book documents, in incredible detail, a life of adventure, of unparalleled achievement, and of uncanny sensibility and foresight. In this episode Gregory Dobbs talks to Peter Fitzsimons about why Sir Hubert Wilkins doesn't immediately appear in our collective memories as one of Australia's greatest explorers, why Wilkins was a man ahead of his time, and cutting through the mythology around Australian history with great research.