Historic Antarctica expedition footage uncovered on Canberra bookshelf
When Cris Kennedy, the ubiquitous manager of engagement and education at the National Film and Sound Archive, was recently invited to present to the Melba Men’s Shed, he thought he was in for just another run-of-the-mill outreach session - a talk to a captive audience about the history of film in Australia.
However, that all changed when following his presentation, a member of the audience approached Kennedy, grasping a number of old 16mm film reels. The man was Dr Alex Ritchie, a retired palaeontologist from the Australia Museum in Sydney (1968-1995) and now living in Belconnen.
Internationally renowned for his life’s work into fish fossils, Ritchie’s films contained never-before-seen footage he took while a key member of the Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expedition in 1970-71.
“The reels are in great condition as they’d been stashed away on a bookshelf for almost half a century,” says Kennedy. “ Ritchie unfortunately never had the facilities to actually view them.”
Through his previous role as a science communicator at the CSIRO, the eagle-eyed Kennedy immediately recognised the significance of Ritchie’s rare footage, and the opportunity to showcase it at National Science Week.
“Our curators were acutely aware of Ritchie and very keen to add his films to our collection,” explains Kennedy, who earlier this week invited Ritchie to view his historic recordings in the NFSA’s state-of-the-art 250-seat Arc Cinema. Mindful of this column’s passion for highlighting natural curiosities, Kennedy also asked your Akubra-clad columnist to tag along.
As the footage begins to roll, up in the bio box we can just make out the smiling face of projectionist Sam Dignand. Having developed a passion for science as a child while attending one of Ritchie’s fossil digs as part of CSIRO Double Helix Club’s school holiday program, the chance to not only project the footage but also be one of the first to view it is a real treat for Dignand.
“It’s bringing tears to my eyes,” gasps Ritchie as scenes of his seven colleagues chug across the Antarctic wilderness in snowmobiles, dwarfed by immense pyramids and natural castles which soar thousands of metres into the air, the varied colours of their rocks bright in the perpetual sun of summer.
“Sure, I’ve flicked through the photos on many occasions, but seeing the vision really brings the expedition back to life,” reveals the softly spoken Ritchie.
“It’s not as if fossils hadn’t been collected before,” explains Ritchie in detail that belies his 82 years.
“The University knew of earlier finds but they were tantalisingly fragmentary and they wanted to send a group of specialists to search for and bring back as much, and as well-preserved, fossil fish material as possible from known and suspected fossil localities.”
Apart from systematically collecting fossils, one of Ritchie’s tasks was to locate and collect a fossilised sarcopterygian jaw (an air breathing lobe-finned fish which gave rise to first tetrapods) discovered by others on an earlier university expedition.
During 10 weeks traipsing through the wilds of the great white south, not only did Ritchie and his colleagues successfully locate the jaw bone (and extract it with a jackhammer!) but they also bagged a treasure trove of other Devonian fish fossils that helped solve the puzzle of continental drift.
Some of these discoveries included fossilised bony plates of a strange armoured fish that Ritchie initially thought might be new to science, but when back in his Sydney Museum lab discovered matched a poorly known Devonian freshwater placoderm, Groenlandaspis, found in East Greenland in 1929-31.
“Groenlandaspis and its relatives have since been recorded from more than 30 sites worldwide, confirming ancient faunal links between the major continents,” explains Ritchie.
The scientific significance of the 1970-71 expedition cannot be underestimated for, according to Ritchie, “there can be no doubt that these air-breathing, lobe-finned fish included our direct ancestors over 350 million years ago because from them have come not only the amphibians but their descendants the reptiles, birds and mammals.”
However, Ritchie’s footage is just as valuable for the extraordinary landscape it captures as the story of scientific discovery it tells.
From waddling Adelie penguins perched on rocky promontories, to pressure ridges of sea ice crashing in the land, watching it is a nature-lover’s dream.
During the expedition, Ritchie also visited the British polar explorer Ernest Shackleton’s 1907 hut.
“It had an eerie atmosphere of timelessness,” recalls Ritchie.
“Original clothing and footwear still on the walls, magazines from the time on the table, and unopened boxes of tinned foodstuffs are piled in the corners.”
In one of the most hostile environments on the planet, it’s not surprising that the expedition had more than its fair share of challenges, including mechanical failure which plagued their fleet of ancient snowmobiles and unpredictable weather, including blizzards. Not just gale-force winds but wind strong enough to blow one of his colleagues, Barry Kohn, off the side of the side of a mountain while collecting specimens.
“He was above me, then suddenly I heard him whimpering for help, 50 metres below,” recalls Ritchie. “Despite his injuries, after a couple of weeks convalescing he rejoined the expedition.”
One of the most eye catching pieces of footage features a ski-equipped US Navy C-130 Hercules which transported Ritchie and his colleagues from their original site near Mt Metschel to their final site, some 50 kilometres to the north.
“The pilot decided to land on what appeared to be a nice smooth gentle upwards slope,” recalls Ritchie.
“Unfortunately, about halfway along the landing the plane’s skis hit a hidden transverse ice ridge.
“After we landed the crew checked the undercarriage and it appeared OK.
“After they unloaded, the pilot suggested that if I was after some spectacular footage that I should take a snowmobile and drive to a nearby hill to film their take-off”.
Thankfully Ritchie and one of his colleagues took the pilot’s advice, for it was a decision that prevented a potential disaster.
“The take-off was certainly spectacular but as the plane lifted off I could see its right-hand ski drooping significantly,” explains Ritchie who “immediately realised that the aircrew could not see this”. Fearing for their safety, Ritchie raced back to his team and told them to radio Scott Base to alert the aircrew to the danger of a crash landing if they landed on a snow surface and the right ski dug in.
The warning reached the cockpit just in time and according to Ritchie, “they landed safely on sea ice instead of snow.” Phew. Talk about a close call.
Ritchie’s presentation will also include a slide show which details some of the more mundane challenges about living out of a tent in Antarctica - like their diet which consisted of bland dehydrated food packs. “It was a case of just add ice” muses Ritchie.
The non-smokers in the audience will also sympathise with Ritchie who shared his 2x2m tent with his then assistant, Gavin Young (later of the ANU) who would regularly ‘light-up’ in the confined space.
“It was a bit cold outside to open the tent and let fresh air in,” muses Ritchie.
Somewhat serendipitously, Ritchie’s National Science Week exposé is scheduled on his 83rd birthday. “It’ll be a final celebration of my research, possibly even my swansong,” he declares.
For someone who has contributed so much to the world’s knowledge of fish fossils along with our broader understanding of evolution, it would be great to see a big turn-out. If you do go, unlike Ritchie who endured frigid conditions to capture his extraordinary footage, you needn’t worry about the cold - for I’m reliably informed the cinema will be heated. See you there.
Fact File
Fishing with a Hammer: Join Dr Alex Ritchie as he shares his previously unseen 16mm footage taken in Antarctica in 1970-71. 6pm–7.10pm, Wednesday, August 15, Arc Cinema, National Film and Sound Archive, McCoy Circuit, Acton. Free but bookings essential: https://www.nfsa.gov.au/events/dr-alex-ritchie-and-antarctic-fossil-expedition-1970
Did You Know? Canowindra’s Age of Fishes Museum showcases a rich Devonian mass-kill fossil fish site discovered by Dr Ritchie in 1993 and which contains the best-preserved Groenlandaspis specimens in the world. Canowindra is a 220km drive form Canberra. More: www.ageoffishes.org.au
National Science Week: August 11-19, for more events around Canberra, check-out www.scienceweek.net.au
NFSA: If you have historic footage you think the NFSA may be interested in, you can submit your details via collection@nfsa.gov.au
Simulacra Corner
In a land of so much ice and snow, Antarctica’s rocky mountains really stand out. This spectacular serrated ridge of intrusive rock extending north-east for 4km in the Boomerang Range into the Skelton Névé was mapped and named, ‘Alligator Ridge’ by the 1957–58 New Zealand party of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition. In this photo, Alex Ritchie’s assistant Gavin Young looks towards the ridge, which really does resemble reptilian armour.
Contact Tim: Email: timtheyowieman@bigpond.com or Twitter: @TimYowie or write c/- The Canberra Times, 9 Pirie St, Fyshwick. You can see a selection of past columns online.
Where in The Snowies?
Cryptic Clue: A beat by another name
Degree of difficulty: Medium
Last week
Congratulations to David Evans of Fadden who was the first reader to correctly identify last week’s photo as old mile markers at Lion’s Park in Berridale. Evans just beat Sophie Peterson of Kaleen and Leigh Palmer of Isaacs to the prize.
“The conversion to metric resulted in piles of unwanted cement mileposts,” reports Ian Burke of Campbell.
“When the mileposts were first installed in the park, possibly in the early 1980s, people spent a lot of time discussing where the particular post had been located.
“Old timers like my father (now in his 90s) knew where every one of them came from. There are a few rather obscure ones there, but many of them refer to distances from obvious places like Cooma and Adaminaby.”
How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and address to timtheyowieman@bigpond.com. The first email sent after 10am, Saturday August 11, 2018 will win a double pass to Dendy - The Home of Quality Cinema.