Louis Charles Bernacchi  (1876 - 1942)

Louis Charles Bernacchi, raised and educated in Tasmania, was the first Australian to stand on the Antarctic continent. Physics was Bernacchiâ€(tm)s main interest, and this won him a place in Carsten Borchgrevinkâ€(tm)s ‘British Antarctic Expeditionâ€(tm) aboard Southern Cross in 1898. The expedition left Hobart for Cape Adare, where Borchgrevink and his men were first to spend winter ashore in Antarctica. The achievements of the expedition were not well-appreciated at the time because of the publicity given to Robert Scottâ€(tm)s British National Expedition (the ‘Discoveryâ€(tm) expedition of 1901-1904), in which Bernacchi made his second and final journey to Antarctica. He lived out his life in Britain.