Tasmanian-born Charles Turnbull Harrisson (1867-1914) was one of the members of Douglas Mawson's legendary Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911-14. Harrisson joined the expedition as a biologist and artist, a part of the Western Party based on Queen Mary Land and led by Frank Wild. He was also a gifted writer and the diary he kept from December 1911 to March 1913 has been transcribed and edited by Heather Rossiter, and reproduced for the first time. Harrisson's engaging narrative is complemented by his sketches and watercolour paintings of the landscape, as well as photographs of the men in the Western Base party. By bringing Harrisson's diary from obscure history to published volume, complete with his own sketches and watercolour paintings, The 1911-1913 Antarctic Diary of Charles Turnbull Harrisson honours the daring spirit of these lesser known but equally audacious Antarctic explorers.
