It was whilst living in Papua New Guinea that Tim came across Frank Hurley’s unique photographs of his expeditions in that country in the 1920s. Sometime later he realised this was the same Hurley who explored with Douglas Mawson in 1911 and Sir Ernest Shackleton in 1914, was Official photographer in World War One and again in World War Two. Tim marvelled at Hurley’s adventurous life and admits to feeling a twinge of disappointment in 2004 when Alasdair McGregor published such a comprehensive biography.
Tim says “It remained a conundrum to me that Hurley had revelled in having such an exciting life and yet had a streak of misanthropy and was alienated from his siblings. It occurred to me there may be scope for fiction to fill in some of what remained mysterious about Hurley. This coincided with my children becoming teenagers and my having a little more time and therefore the opportunity to attempt some writing”.
Whilst Endurance is a work of fiction the book deals with specific historical events. Tim commenced serious research and reading around the end of 2010. He experimented by writing some draft chapters. He conducted substantial research at the Mitchell Library, the State Library NSW, National Library of Australia, State Library of Tasmania and on line. The research spanned prominent individuals; Mawson, Shackleton, Bean, Wilkins and the members of the Discovery and Endurance expeditions.
Tim read the history of polar exploration and the First World War especially the battles of Ypres and the history of the Light Horse in the Middle East. Other subjects included early photography, antique cameras, aspergers syndrome and post traumatic stress disorder. Tim attended a number of presentations on the debates around truth in history, fiction and non fiction.