P002755 revised AU-VU:EOAS Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation

All key entry types: Awards; Concepts; Corporate Bodies (Organisations); Cultural Artefacts; People; etc

These key entries are listed separately below with other indexes and lists.

 English AACR2 Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules Person created 1997-06-30 human Rosanne Walker & Annette Alafaci updated 2025-11-05 human https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P002755b.htm person Wilkins George Hubert Kt FRGS FRMS AACR2 31 October 1888 30 November 1958 Place of Birth Mount Bryan East, South Australia, Australia Place of Death Framingham, Massachusetts, United States of America Antarctic explorer Arctic explorer Sir Hubert Wilkins had a very varied career as a war correspondent and photographer, polar explorer (both Arctic and Antarctic), naturalist, geographer, climatologist and aviator. In April 1928, with Carl Ben Eielson as pilot, he flew from Point Barrow, Alaska, eastward over the Arctic Sea to Spitsbergen, Norway. This was the world's first trans-Arctic flight and was described in his book Flying the Arctic (1928). This was only one of many works and photographs he had published. Wilkins was appointed a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Meteorological Society and was knighted in 1928.

After completing engineering studies at the South Australian School of Mines and Industries, then photography and cinematography training in Adelaide and Sydney, George Hubert Wilkins left for England. He worked for the Gaumont Film Co. and as a newspaper reporter and cameraman where he got to travel widely. He also took flying lessons and experimented with aerial photography. During World War I Wilkins worked as a war correspondent and photographer and covered the 1912 fighting between the Turks and Bulgarians.

The following year Wilkins set off to the Arctic as second-in-command of the Vilhjalmur Stefansson Canadian Arctic expedition. He returned to Australia in 1917 and was commissioned as second lieutenant in the Australian Flying Corps. By August he had been transferred to the general list and then to the Anzac Corps headquarters on the Western Front. In April 1918 Wilkins was appointed official army photographer and in July was promoted captain and head of the No.3 (Photographic) Sub-section of the Australian War Records unit.

From 1920 to 1922 George Wilkins was employed on expeditions to the Polar regions. He was then sent to the Soviet Union to film and survey the effects of famine on the local population. From 1923 Wilkins spent two years in tropical Australia collecting plants, birds, insects, fish, minerals, fossils and Aboriginal artefacts for the British Museum. By 1926 he was back in the Arctic, but this time carrying out aerial explorations, although in 1931 he did unsuccessfully attempt to reach the North Pole by submarine. From 1928 to 1938 he carried out several aerial expeditions to Antarctica, where he advanced techniques of flying by moonlight, made scientific observations and experimented with telepathy.

As World War II broke out Wilkins was commissioned by the US Army as a consultant and geographer to the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps. He also held other defence-related scientific posts and served in the U.S. Weather Bureau and the Arctic Institute of North America. The Australian and British military forces rejected his offers of help due to his age.

1908 1912 Career position - Newspaper Reporter and Cameraman for the Gaumont Film Co in England and War Correspondent and Photographer throughout Europe 1913 1916 Career position - Second-in-command of the Vilhjalmur Stefansson Canadian Arctic expedition 1917 1920 Military service - War service with the Australian Imperial Force 1918 1918 Award - Military Cross (MC) and bar January 1919 January 1919 Photographer on the C. E. W. Bean lead reconstruction of Australia's campaign on the Gallipoli Peninsula 1920 1921 Career position - Member of J L Cope's unsuccessful voyage to Graham Land 1921 1922 Career position - Naturalist (ornithological observer) on Sir Ernest Shackleton's "Quest" expedition to the Antarctic 1922 1923 Career position - Surveyed and filmed the effects of famine in the Soviet Union 1923 1925 Career position - Worked at the British Museum in tropical Australia 1926 1928 Career position - Aerial Arctic explorations including the first trans-Arctic flight (1928) 1928 1928 Award - Knight Bachelor (Kt) 1928 1928 Award - Patron's Medal, Royal Geographical Society of London 1928 1928 Award - Samuel Finley Breese Morse Medal, American Geographical Society 1928 1939 Career position - Aerial explorations of the Antarctic 1931 1931 Career position - First under-ice voyage by submarine in the Arctic Ocean with the goal to reach the North Pole 1942 Career position - Consultant and Geographer to the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps and advisor to the U.S. Weather Bureau and the Arctic Institute of North America 1955 1955 Education - Honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) University of Alaska

Wikidata

VIAF - Virtual International Authority File

 Wilkins, George Hubert (-1958)

Trove

 'Wilkins, George Hubert', in Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology Wilkins, George Hubert Swinburne University of Technology, Centre for Transformative Innovation Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Newspaper Article: Our unknown Aussie hero Lord, Gillian Our unknown Aussie hero 2005 The Canberra Times - Panorama section 8 Journal Article: Sir Hubert's Life Celebrated Sir Hubert's Life Celebrated 2001 Australian Geographic Society Members Newsletter July 2001 1 Book Section: Wilkins, Sir George Hubert (1888-1958), war correspondent and photographer, polar explorer, naturalist, geographer, climatologist and aviator Swan, R. A. Wilkins, Sir George Hubert (1888-1958), war correspondent and photographer, polar explorer, naturalist, geographer, climatologist and aviator Melbourne Melbourne University Press 1990 Australian dictionary of biography, volume 12: 1891 - 1939 Smy-Z John Ritchie 488-490 Resource Section: The Papers of Sir George Hubert Wilkins Byrd Polar Research Center The Papers of Sir George Hubert Wilkins 2001 Resource Section: Australia's unknown adventurer Sexton, Mike Australia's unknown adventurer 2001 Book: Sir Hubert Wilkins - enigma of exploration Grierson, J. Sir Hubert Wilkins - enigma of exploration London Robert Hale 1960 Journal Article: Locating Sir Hubert Wilkins' enigmatic 1939 landing sites in Prydz Bay, East Antarctica: an 86-year-old puzzle resolved and the importance to the history, exploration and discovery of Princess Elizabeth Land Hilliard, S. M., Manning, .J., Cook, G. and Harley, S. L. Locating Sir Hubert Wilkins' enigmatic 1939 landing sites in Prydz Bay, East Antarctica: an 86-year-old puzzle resolved and the importance to the history, exploration and discovery of Princess Elizabeth Land 2025 Polar record 61 e19 1-13 Resource: B2455 First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920 CA 2001 Australian Imperial Force, Base Records Office B2455 First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920 National Archives of Australia, RecordSearch Journal Article: Opening up the Antarctic skies [90th anniversary of the first powered flight over Antarctica by George Wilkins, 16 November 1928] Reilly, David Opening up the Antarctic skies [90th anniversary of the first powered flight over Antarctica by George Wilkins, 16 November 1928] 2018 Australian Antarctic magazine 35 22-5 Book: The Last Explorer: Hubert Wilkins Australia's Unknown Hero Nasht, Simon The Last Explorer: Hubert Wilkins Australia's Unknown Hero Sydney Hodder Australia 2006 Resource: Federation and Meteorology Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre Federation and Meteorology 2001 Resource: Technology in Australia 1788-1988 Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering Technology in Australia 1788-1988 Online Melbourne Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre 2000 The Papers of Sir George Hubert Wilkins Byrd Polar Research Center The Papers of Sir George Hubert Wilkins c. 1908 - 1987 Correspondence, reports, photographs, newspaper clippings, and artefacts documenting Wilkins' career as a photographer, polar explorer, aviator, and consultant to the United States military. Included in the collection is: a scrapbook concerning the Graf Zeppelin historic flight around the world; motion picture films documenting Wilkins' expeditions; correspondence and biographical material of Suzanne Wilkins; files concerning Wilkins' interest in telepathy and extra sensory perception; and files of the Wilkins Memorial Foundation.