The Incredible Life of Hubert Wilkins: Australia’s greatest explorer
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley February 9, 2022
Author Peter FitzSimons
Distributor: Hachette Australia
ISBN: 9780733641367
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Release Date: October 2021
Website: https://www.hachette.com.au
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George Herbert Wilkins is a man little heard of in Australia but a man who did live his life to the fullest extent in every respect. A man who should be held up with the highest of respect, but a man who lived his life as a humble man, never considering how he choose to live his life was at all remarkable. It was! The Incredible Life of Herbert Wilkins from Peter Fitzsimons goes a long way to correcting this oversight.
Born as the thirteenth child to Harry and Louisa Wilkins, Harry himself the first white child to be born in the fledgling state of South Australia, Herbert is the last in a long line of children bought up to face hard work. A drought is biting hard, which eventually defeats the hard working family, seeing them leave their beloved land and move to Adelaide.
George, never one to miss a good opportunity saw this move as a positive, as far as his schooling went, and the vast array of opportunity the move lay before his very fertile mind, wandering feet and soul.
His first venture was into the world of circus at the time when moving pictures was first entering the world of entertainment. This to him was a wonderful world of opportunity which led him into a field that was to a large degree, to become his life’s work and passion; a passion that would see him face remarkable circumstances, meet incredibly brave and often foolish people and to live a full live, somehow reminiscent of a ‘boys own annual,’ but very much the real deal.
Armed with only his camera, Wilkins was to be found at Constantinople, the Arctic, Gallipoli, the horror of the battlefields in France during World War 1, shot down over France in World War 2 and much more; George Herbert Wilkins was indeed a remarkable man.
His belief that the polar ice caps of the world needed to be observed was made at the turn of the 19th century. He clearly understood this was necessary to better understand the climate changes happening even then. During his years spent in the Arctic he was considering voyaging under the ice in a submarine. His curiosity, courage and intellect was, even then, looking far into the future.
Much of the documentation of his life has been lost over the years or destroyed, but in researching this great Australian, Peter Fitzsimons has done a great service to his memory and exploits. A very long book, written in a comfortable style, the read is an easy one, almost in parts to easy, as Wilkins exploits are almost unbelievable. He must certainly have been on the right side of lady luck on many occasions; occasions when he and those with him could have easily lost their lives.
That he was a remarkable man is undoubted, that he changed the way the world was considered with his photography and movies is definite, that he was a humble man who considered that life was to be lived to the very fullest every day he walked on this earth was well known to his peers.
The Incredible Life of Herbert Wilkins should be considered as a must read by anyone who studies Australian history and also for anyone who joys a bloody good yarn as well.