12 A U S T R A L I A N G E O G R A P H I C

STRAPBUSH TELEGRAPH

12 A U S T R A L I A N G E O G R A P H I C

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IN ONE OF THE MOST logistically complex private marine operations ever mounted, Australian

Mike McDowell and five others descended to the ‘real’ North Pole last year. Most expeditions to the Geographic North Pole reach a point on the ice shelf (which moves with the seasons). Inside the Russian extreme-depth submersibles Mir 1 and Mir 2, the adventurers were lowered through a natural hole in the ice and then descended to the Pole Abyssal Plain, more than 4 km below, to reach the point at 90 degrees north. Mike, winner of the AG Society’s 2004 Lifetime of Adventure Award, observed fish, shrimp-like creatures and sea anemones on and near the flat, muddy seabed at 4302 m. Using the cra�’s manipulator arm, he le� a plaque. “No submersible has ever dived to the Pole before, and I doubt that one will in the future for quite a long time,” he said. PETER BATSON

Australian DESCENDS TO THE

North Pole

AFTER MORE than 7000 hours work, a 1.3 x 5 m

woven tapestry showing the history of Australia’s female pilots (Flying carpet magic, AG 80) is finished. Although several people contributed to the labour of love, Linda Price and Dale Roger-Jones, from Malanda in far northern Queensland, did most of the work. The tapestry is primarily portraiture of 33 legendary figures such

as Nancy-Bird Walton, Amy Johnson and Peggy McKillop, but Dale slipped some cheeky references about other flyers onto the finished work, “Just so you know it’s Australian.

There’s the stork delivering a baby and the first aviatrix – they rode around on brooms.” The work is being hung in the National Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame in Alice Springs.

IN LATE APRIL, a combined meeting of Turkish and

Australian o�cials and experts will help determine the fate of the heroic Aus-sie WW I submarine AE2 (Gallipoli’s deep secret, AG 89), recently found in the Sea of Marmara, Turkey. Options range from leaving it where it is – with a series of protections, such as a warning buoy to prevent further damage – to raising it and moving it to a special, purpose-built museum in Turkey.

AE2’s fateTapestry takes flight

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AG_012-014_BushTelegraph90.indd 12 29/02/2008 1:05:23 PM