The extraordinary, must-read story of the brave, bold Hubert Wilkins

Australia’s most adventurous explorer, naturalist, photographer, war hero, aviator, spy and daredevil – brought to life by Australia’s greatest storyteller Sir Hubert Wilkins is one of the most remarkable Australians who ever lived. 

The son of pioneer pastoralists in South Australia, Hubert studied engineering before moving on to photography, then sailing for England and a job producing films with the Gaumont Film Co. Brave and bold, he became a polar expeditioner, a brilliant war photographer, a spy in the Soviet Union, a pioneering aviator-navigator, a death-defying submariner – all while being an explorer and chronicler of the planet and its life forms that would do Vasco da Gama and Sir David Attenborough proud. As a WWI photographer he was twice awarded the Military Cross for bravery under fire, the only Australian photographer in any war to be decorated. He went on expedition with Sir Ernest Shackleton, led a groundbreaking natural history study in Australia and was knighted in 1928 for his aviation exploits, but many more astounding achievements would follow. Wilkins’ quest for knowledge and polar explorations were lifelong passions and his missions to polar regions aboard the submarine Nautilus the stuff of legend. With masterful storytelling skill, Peter FitzSimons illuminates the life of Hubert Wilkins and his incredible achievements. Thrills and spills, derringdo, new worlds discovered – this is the most unforgettable tale of the most extraordinary life lived by any Australian. 

Peter FitzSimons 

Hardback 9780733641367 | $49.99 Ebook 9780733641374 | $16.99 Audiobook 9780733641381 | $44.99 Hachette Australia

Hubert Wilkins' Prophecy for Australia

George Hubert Wilkins

THOSE of us who have opportunities of seeing, hearing, and sensing the unusual things in life, seldom find much pleasure in relating our experiences to others; for a tale of personal adventure is to us but a re-hash of realism, and although true situations are often more startling and dangerous than imaginary ones, it is generally the imaginative rather than the practical mind that records thrilling adventures.

Three years in the Arctic, two trips to the Antarctic, and expeditions to Asia, Africa, South America, Russia, the Indies, and other places have enabled me to fit myself, with a certain degree of comfort, into almost any condition experienced by human beings; but the conditions as I found them during a severe drought on in Australia are perhaps the most sadly depressing any that I have experienced. Nevertheless, after the rains and in its resuscitation no country is more pleasing than this great island continent.

If use be made of organized and applied science, there is a golden future for Australia, and in time the Australians will no doubt adopt this method of development but there is need for them to turn at once from the expressed mediocrity, unstable democracy, and independent action that are so conspicuous in Australia today.

After years of travel, one learns to record things with dispassionate judgment, and the fact that I am the son of a father who was born in South Australia in 1836 has given me courage to draw attention to some things which my countrymen may not be pleased to hear. I am reluctant to record them. I do so only in the hope that we Australians will face the facts and endeavour speedily to eliminate these conditions and to progress with earnest and organised wholeheartedness worthy of our great country and our empire.

Capt Sir G H Wilkins MC
May 1928

The above is the foreword of Undiscovered Australia, first printed in 1928

Read more of Wilkins' life