11 Sept 2015 – Photographic Journey to the Last Frontier
Posted on 2 September, 2015 by Connecting Country
The Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica is a formidable plate of ice the size of France, uninhabited and deadly. The sheer cliffs of the Byrd Glacier tower above the sea ice and to early explorers formed the great barrier to their exploration endeavours. Ross Island is a home to polar-adapted wildlife such as the Weddell Seal which spends the entire year in Antarctica. As the summer approaches, the frozen surface of the Ross sea begins to fracture and dissolve. Above the colonies of seal, Adelie Penguin and marauding Killer Whale, the fractured and tortured ice tongue of the Mt. Erebus Glacier sweeps off the slopes of the planet’s most southerly active volcano, towering almost four thousand metres into the polar sky.
The guest speaker at the September General Meeting of the Castlemaine Field Naturalists Club is National Geographic’s award winning wildlife photographer and TV presenter Jason Edwards (see his bio and website HERE). His presentation will focus on the environment and the species that inhabit the Ross Ice Shelf and Ross Island, and the researchers who brave the harsh wilderness to study them.
The event formally starts formally at 7.30pm on Friday 11 September, but you are welcome to arrive from 7pm to have a cup of tea and a chat beforehand. Members and visitors are very welcome, including families – and there is no entry fee. As per usual, it will be held in the Fellowship Room, behind the Uniting Church on Lyttleton St, Castlemaine (next door to the Art Gallery and Museum).
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