Joy McCann’s book Wild Sea: A History of the Southern Ocean is published this month with UNSW Press.
Listen to Joy talk about the book ABC Radio’s Conversations and Sunday Extra, and read an extract in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Unimpeded by any landmass, the mysterious Southern Ocean flows completely around Earth from west to east between the seasonally shifting icy continent of Antarctica and the coastlines and islands of Australia, New Zealand, South America and South Africa.
Weaving together sea captains’ journals, whalers’ log books, explorers’ letters, scientific research and ancient beliefs with her own voyage of discovery, Joy McCann reveals the secrets of a little-known ocean and its importance as a barometer of climate change.
Dr Joy McCann is an environmental and cultural historian currently based at the Australian National University. Image: Leonie Keogh