HUBERT WILKINS: Dreams of Identity

Hubert Wilkins 1888-1958,
Australian pilot, cinematographer, explorer.

Sir Hubert Wilkins began life as the thirteenth child of a South Australian sheep-farming family. He joined the Australian Flying Corps in 1917 and there he met and was inspired by fellow Australian Captain Frank Hurley, the famous photographer of Shackleton's Antarctic expeditions.
After several flights to the Arctic between 1925 and 1928, the Australian turned his attention to the southern continent. On December 20, 1928, Wilkins and fellow pilot Frank Eielson became the first people to explore Antarctica by air. Their ten-hour flight was sponsored by the American millionaire publisher William Randolph Hearst

The artist’s father, H. Glintenkamp, was a well-traveled and well-known artist and illustrator. In the March 1932 issue of Creative Arts Magazine he was described: “Despite an urban even distinguished appearance, he has been mistaken for Sir Hubert Wilkins …”