Into White Silence

by Anthony Eaton

  For there are no easy answers here, no neat or happy endings. You will have to make your own decisions about the tale of Lieutenant William Downes, come to your own judgments and draw your own conclusions.

  I cannot tell you what it is in the story of the Raven that has touched my soul so deeply, only the fact that it has done so.

  Acknowledgements

  This book would not have been possible without the enormous support of the Australian Antarctic Division, whose Arts Fellowship program gave me the wherewithal to properly plan and research this novel.

  An enormous number of people contributed to my journey, too many to name them all, but I would like to make special mention of Marilyn Boydell and Jeremy Smith, the incoming and outgoing station leaders at Casey during my stay there. Their enthusiasm and assistance for this project was incredible, and the support they provided for me in terms of equipment, personnel and opportunities was far beyond my expectations. I cannot thank them enough.

  Also Dr Doug Thost and Rob Bryson, the voyage management team for voyage 2, 2005, were similarly dedicated to making my experience of Antarctica as useful and productive as possible. They were also great people to travel with.

  The crew of the Aurora Australis and the rest of my fellow expeditioners were wonderful company, and provided a wealth of ideas and expertise which made the research for this book all the more enjoyable.

  Jenny Whittaker at the AAD was instrumental in organising the details of my journey, and has been an incredibly helpful contact. (Not to mention a patient one, waiting the two years that it’s taken me to write this!)

  My editor Leonie Tyle, as well as Rayma Turton, Rosanne Fitzgibbon, John and Stella Danalis, my family and various friends who’ve provided valuable comments and feedback, and the team at Random House who’ve helped this work come together deserve much grateful thanks.

  Finally, as always, thanks to my wife Imogen, who put up with my extended absence while I visited Antarctica, allowing me the opportunity of a lifetime with unflagging love and support.

  While Into White Silence is a work of fiction, I have endeavoured to make it as plausible and as historically and scientifically accurate as is possible. Any errors of fact or geography are mine and for those I apologise.

  Bibliography

  NON-FICTION

  Bickel, Lennard, This Accursed Land, Sun Books, Melbourne, 1978.

  Birmingham, John, Leviathan: The Unauthorised Biography of Sydney, Random House, Sydney, 1999.

  Bowden, Tim, The Silence Calling: Australians in Antarctica, 1947 – 1997, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1997.

  Fitchett, TK, The Long Haul: Ships on the England – Australia Run, Rigby, Adelaide, 1980.

  Flynn, Michael, The Second Fleet: Britain’s Grim Convict Armada of 1790, Library of Australian History, Sydney, 1993.

  Fothergill, Alastair, Life in the Freezer – A Natural History of the Antarctic, BBC Books, London, 1993.

  Gurney, Alan, The Race to the White Continent: Voyages to the Antarctic, Norton, New York, 2000.

  Hughes, Robert, The Fatal Shore: A History of Transportation of Convicts to Australia, 1787 – 1868, Collins Harvill, London, 1987.

  Hurley, Frank, South with Endurance: Shackleton’s Antarctic Expedition 1914 – 1917: The Photographs of Frank Hurley, [ed] Rex, Tamiko, Bloomsbury, London, 2001.

  Mawson, Douglas, The Home of the Blizzard – A True Story of Antarctic Survival, Birlinn Limited, Edinburgh, 2000.

  Morrell, Margot and Capparell, Stephanie, Shackleton’s Way, Nicholas Brearly Publishing, London, 2001.

  Ponting, Herbert, With Scott to the Pole: The Terra Nova Expedition of 1910-1913 – the Photographs of Herbert Ponting, [eds] Riffenburgh, Cruwys and Arnold, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2004.

  Pyne, Stephen J, The Ice, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 2003.

  Reader’s Digest, Antarctica: The Extraordinary History of Man’s Conquest of the Frozen Continent, Reader’s Digest, Sydney, 1990.

  Rees, Sian, The Floating Brothel: The Extraordinary Story of the Lady Julian and its Cargo of Female Convicts Bound for Botany Bay, Hodder, Sydney, 2001.

  Shackleton, Ernest, South, Knoecky and Knoecky, Old Saysbrook, CT.

  Shackleton, Ernest, The Heart of the Antarctic, Carrol and Graf, New York, 1991.

  FICTION

  Keneally, Thomas, A Victim of the Aurora, Harcourt, Florida, 1978.

  OTHER

  The Times, London, Issue 37497, Monday 12th September 1904, Page 8, Column A.

  Australian Antarctic Division Field Manual, 2006, published by the Department of the Environment and Heritage.