Media Release
PROFESSOR TONY WORBY TO DELIVER PHILLIP LAW LECTURE
The Phillip Law Lecture is a free event and will be delivered at CCAMLR, 181 Macquarie Street, Hobart on Friday 9 September at 5:30 pm.
After a break of several years the next Phillip Law Lecture has been scheduled as part of the inaugural Australian Antarctic Festival with ACE CRC Chief Executive Officer, Professor Tony Worby, selected to deliver the lecture.
Festival Director, Mr Paul Cullen said that Dr Phillip Law AC, CBE, FAA (fondly referred to as Mr Antarctica throughout the sector) was a person who made a significant contribution to the history of human endeavour in Antarctica.
“Dr Law spent the first of many summers in Antarctica in 1947- 48 as a senior research officer on an Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE) and in January 1949 was appointed Director of the Antarctic Division,” Mr Cullen said.
“He established bases at Mawson, Davis and Casey, and led expeditions that explored more than 5,000 kilometres of coastline and some 1,000,000 square kilometres of territory.
“Dr Law was a man in the right place at the right time to carry forward the work of Sir Douglas Mawson, whose expeditions in the early years of the 20th Century were the basis for Australia’s Antarctic claims – some 42 per cent of the continent.
Mr Cullen said Dr Law was able to attend the first series of lectures named in his honour but died in 2010 aged 97.
“The inaugural Phillip Law Lecture was delivered in 2002 by Sir Guy Green AC KBE, then Governor of Tasmania, a man passionately interested in Antarctica and Tasmania’s rich history as a gateway to the Australian Antarctic Territory,” Mr Cullen said.
“Subsequent lecturers have included Dr Barry Jones AO; the distinguished mountaineer and adventurer Greg Mortimer OAM; and Dr Robin Burns who spoke on the topic, Women in Antarctica.
“Now we are delighted to announce Professor Tony Worby as the 2016 Phillip Law Lecturer.
“Professor Worby completed a total of 17 scientific voyages to Antarctica between 1991 and 2010 and was previously a Deputy Chief with the CSIRO Division of Marine and Atmospheric Research and the Program Leader of the Antarctic Climate research program.
“With recollections of his experiences in Antarctica and the new insights he has gained from his current role as a manager within the sector, it promises to be a most fascinating return to the Phillip Law Lecture series,” Mr Cullen said.
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endsdp 25 June 2016
Media enquiries please phone: Paul Cullen 0450 319 468 or Daryl Peebles 0418 972 420
AT A GLANCE (for events calendars)
WHAT: The inaugural Australian Antarctic Festival
WHEN: 8 to 11 September 2016
WHERE: Princes Wharf, Castray Esplanade, Hobart, Tasmania
INFORMATION: visit www.antarcticfestival.com.au