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Sir Hubert WilkinsPrint Page Print this page

20-April-2021
20-April-2021

Photographs supplied by Stephen Warren

The Sir Hubert Wilkins Memorial Visitors Centre commemorates the Australian polar explorer, pilot, scientist, writer and photographer Sir Hubert Wilkins, who was born at nearby Mount Bryan East in 1888.

Outdoor story boards share insights into Sir Hubert Wilkins’ fascinating life story and displays inside the visitor centre tell in greater detail the story of Sir Hubert’s adventures.

Sir George Hubert Wilkins MC & Bar (1888 - 1958) was an Australian polar explorer, ornithologist, pilot, soldier, geographer and photographer.

Born George Hubert Wilkins at Mount Bryan East in South Australia on October 31st, 1888, he became first an electrical engineer, and subsequently an early photographer. These skills led him into Arctic and Antarctic exploration, and he became the companion of Vilhjalmur Steffanson and Sir Ernest Shackleton on several expeditions between 1913 and Shackleton`s death at the beginning of 1922.

Enlisting in the Australian Flying Corps in 1916, as soon as he found out there was a war on, George Wilkins became Australia`s official war-cinematographer on the Western Front. Subsequently as a pioneer aviator, he was a participant in the first England-Australia air race of 1919, pioneered aviation in the Antarctic, and was knighted in 1928 for the first flight across the North Polar ice-cap.

He was a pioneer anthropologist in the Gulf of Carpentaria in 1923, a pioneer submarine explorer of polar regions in the 1930s and eventually consultant on Arctic survival to the American government and military.

Location

Address:Murchland Drive, Aerodrome, Jamestown, 5491
State:SA
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -33.196952
Long: 138.616097
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Structure
Monument Theme:People
Sub-Theme:Exploration

Dedication

Actual Monument Dedication Date:Sunday 23rd October, 1994
Front Inscription

Plaque :

This plaque was unveiled by Mr Dick. Smith of the Australian Geographical Society 

To commemorate the official dedication of the Sir Hubert Wil­kins Visitors Centre and Aerodrome on 23 October 1994

Source: MA, ADB
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au