Three rock specimens, styptic pencils, two penguin eggs and a metal container associated with Thomas Liddiard, Antarctica, 1913-14

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Type: Geological specimens
Place: Antarctica
Materials: Clay, Eggshell, Glass, Ink, Mineral - non specific, Paint - non specific, Paper, Perspex
Collection: National Antarctic Heritage collection
Accession number: 2024.0001.0376

Description

A rectangular metal container with a removable lid previously containing three rock specimens, a microscope slide, a styptic pencil holder with four refills, and two broken penguin eggs.

These three rock specimens are associated with Able Seaman Thomas Richard Liddiard (1884 - 1951). Liddiard was one of the 20-man crew of SY 'Aurora' that sailed to Antarctica with Captain John King Davis' voyage of November 1913 to February 1914. Aurora had returned to Antarctica the previous year intending to retrive Australasian Antarctic Expedition members from Cape Denison and Macquarie Island only to find that expedition leader Douglas Mawson had failed to return to Cape Denison in time following the death of his two companions Belgrave Ninnis and Xavier Merz during a grueling sledging expedition. Forced to return to port until conditions improved in spring, Aurora's third Antarctic voyage departed from Hobart on 19 November 1913. This collection offers insight into the experience of the shipboard crew, rather than the staff, of the AAE. Thomas Liddiard was born in Balmain, Sydney, in 1884, the son of Elizabeth Jane White (1849-1918) and William Liddiard (1843-1914), a baker. The Liddiards ran a teashop at Oxford House on Darling Street, Balmain, and catered for local balls, dinners and picnics during the early-to-mid 1880s. By the time of his brother Radford Oliver Christopher Liddiard 's birth in 1888, the business was insolvent. The family had lived at Fivedock and later Petersham before moving to Ashburton, New Zealand. As a young man, Liddiard joined the British Mercantile Marines. The six Able Seamen aboard Aurora were among the lowest of the shipboard hierarchy. They performed all assigned duties required to maintain the ship, including watching for hazards, obtaining snow and ice for water, caring for the sheep and huskies and steering the ship. Liddiard had particular responsibility for the huskies. He acquired these geological specimens during the voyage during deep sea dredging en route. He was paid off following the Aurora's return to Hobart in February 1914. In 1916, Liddiard applied to enlist in the AIF but was deemed medically unfit due to his colourblindness. Between 1916 and 1939 he served as crew on a series of ships, apparently for the British Merchant Navy. He died in Sydney in 1951. These objects are part of a small collection of items that passed to Rad Liddiard, and was left as a bequest after his death in 1977 to their friend Douglas Quinn. Mr. Quinn then donated the collection to the Australian Antarctic Division in 1988. Explanatory notes on these specimens were prepared by Dr Patrick Quilty: Specimen No 1: Rectangular fragment, pale in colour, variously described as syenogranite. This specimen has been shaped by hammer and probably is a larger fragment of a dredged specimen which would have been larger. Part of the exterior of the original boulder is preserved and identified because it has a partial coating of the pale mud in which it was embedded. The rock is broadly classified as a course granite. Mineralogy is orthoclase (pink), plagioclase (pale milky with clear lamellar twinning), quartz (hard, glassy with no cleavage), biotite (black mica with excellent basal cleavage). The feldspars (orthoclase, plagioclase) dominate with orthoclase a little dominant. Specimen No 2: Dark flake with polished surface grooves. This also seems to be a flake from a larger specimen. The rock is a serpentinite. Specimen No 3: Dark pointed fragment. This is the original complete rock and is covered on all surfaces with small patches of its surrounding sediment. The rock is a silicic gneiss, metamorphic in contrast to the other two which are igneous. Quartz and feldspar (orthoclase and microline) are obvious under a surface coating of iron oxides. The specimen has been facetted, polished and striated by glacial action. It is the only one of the three that shows evidence of glacial origin and makes it much more likely that it comes from near Antarctica. The surface sediment patches are white, but appear to be dominantly siliceous, again consistent with an Antarctic source. A strew mount has been made, It consists of fine detrital material with common diatoms, radiolaria and sponge spicules. Carbonate seems essentially to be absent.

About the collection

This collection comprises approximately 600 objects acquired by the Australian Antarctic Division and its predecessors between the 1940s and 2010s. It includes scientific and communication equipment, navigation and cartographic equipment, specimens, commemorative objects, building fabric, field support vehicles, clothing and field work supplies relating to Australia’s long and distinguished tradition of research and exploration within the Antarctic region. These objects are the largest and most diverse assemblage of surviving material culture demonstrating Australia’s relationship with the subantarctic islands and Antarctic continent between the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries. The collection offers remarkable natural and historical significance, notably nineteenth century commercial activities and the early twentieth century expeditions of Sir Douglas Mawson and other explorers that expanded scientific knowledge and laid the foundation for Australia’s enduring presence in the region. From the 1940s, the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions undertook major exploratory and scientific work to understand and protect the Antarctic landscape. Australia took a leading role in the International Geophysical Year and the negotiation of a comprehensive environmental protection regime for Antarctica with the establishment of the Antarctic Treaty System from 1959. It records how the Australian Antarctic Division continues to manage Australia’s interests in the Antarctic region, overseeing world-leading research at three permanent continental research stations - Mawson, Casey and Davis - and at subantarctic Macquarie Island.

Read live from the Museum's Collection API (12/11/2026, 4:58:14 am). Record last updated by the Museum 2026-09-08. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.