Whetter, Leslie Hatton (1888 - 1955)

Summary

Leslie Whetter was appointed to the Australasian Antarctic Expedition after graduating in medicine in 1910 at the University of Dunedin. It was initially intended that he be medical officer for the fourth base. This did not eventuate, however, Whetter becoming assistant meteorologist and assistant doctor at Cape Denison. His relations with the Expedition leader, Douglas Mawson, were less than cordial, but he did persuade Mawson to curtail the hours Expedition members were expected to work, and to have Sundays off. Whetter joined Francis Bickerton and Alfred Hodgeman in a sledging expedition to explore the western coast of Commonwealth Bay. The motorised sledge failed on the second day, the men thereafter having to manually haul the sledge. During this expedition they found the first meteorite to be discovered in Antarctica. Whetter departed Antarctica in February1913. He resumed his medical career and served with the New Zealand expeditionary Force from 1917 to 1920. After three years as medical officer in Samoa, he established a practice at Matakana, near Auckland, New Zealand. Ill-health caused him to retire in 1933. He is commemorated in the Whetter Nunatak, near Cape Denison, Antarctica.

Details

Chronology

1910

Education - Graduated in medicine, University of Dunedin, New Zealand

1911 - February 1913

Career position - Medical officer, Australasian Antarctic Expedition, Cape Denison

3 December 1912 - 18 January 1913

Career position - Member of sledging party to explore western coast of Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica

1915

Award - Polar Medal (silver)

1923 - 1933

Career position - Medical practitioner, Matakana, New Zealand

1933

Life event - Retired

Related entries

Published resources

Journal Articles

• Anon, 'Whetter of the Antarctic', Otago settlers news, 117 (June) (2013), 3-6. Details

See also

• Jensen, David, Mawson's remarkable men: the personal stories of the epic 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expediton (Sydeny: Allen and Unwin, 2015), 183 pp. Details
• Lugg, Desmond and Ayton, Jeff, 'In the Footsteps of McLean, Jones and Whetter: 100 Years of Australian Antarctic Medical Practice', Australian Antarctic Magazine, 22 (2012), 36-9. Details
• Mawson, Douglas, The home of the blizzard: being the story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911 - 1914, 2 vols (London: J.B. Lippincott: Heinemann, 1915). Details
• Riffenburgh, Beau, Racing with Death: Douglas Mawson - Antarctic Explorer (London: Bloomsbury, 2008), 296 pp. Details