John Rymill

John Riddoch Rymill, the grandson of John Riddoch, was born on 13 March 1905 in Penola, and grew up self-reliantly in the Australian bush. After an expedition to northern Canada, he learnt his polar skills from the Eskimo people during an expedition to Greenland, the command of which he assumed when its leader was killed in a hunting kayak.            

Rymill’s major achievement was to lead the British Graham Land Expedition (1934-1937) to the Antarctic, far to the south of Cape Horn, into the last region on the earth’s surface still to defy human discovery. His sixteen-man team combined traditional techniques of the heroic age of Antarctic exploration, such as a sailing ship and husky-powered sledges, with the modern technology of radio and aircraft.           

For further information, please see: Rymill's Expedition and The Life of John Rymill.