Diary of an Antarctic expeditioner uncovered at Hobart tip shop

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Not everything at the tip, is rubbish. A recent find by the 'South Hobart tip shop' proves there's treasure to be had. The diary of an Antarctic expeditioner has been uncovered, and it could be headed to the national museum of Australia.

Transcript

00:00This diary belonged to Tasmanian cosmic ray physicist David Johns.

00:08It was accidentally donated to a tip shop in Hobart when Mr Johns' family was sorting

00:12through his belongings after his death in 2020.

00:16As far as we can work out, the diary was in the bottom of a box that we didn't know

00:21it was there and dropped some stuff off at the Hobart tip shop and I guess them finding

00:26the diary was good because it could have easily gone to the tip face and never been

00:31found.

00:32Mr Johns worked in Antarctica in an important year for science and global relations.

00:37Called the International Geophysical Year, in 1957 many countries worked together to

00:42advance scientific knowledge at the height of the Cold War.

00:45His job there was around observing cosmic rays, so the cosmic ray observing equipment

00:52was all located there and his job was to operate that and to make observations for

00:59the university who had the role of collecting that information.

01:03Once workers at the Hobart tip shop realised the diary's significance, they were determined

01:08to find the right home for it.

01:10The collectibles manager Jason Richards says it was important to find the right home for

01:16the diary.

01:17With the diary, most people don't get to go to Antarctica and most people aren't a physicist

01:21studying cosmic rays, so we really wanted it to be accessible to other people and it

01:26was great that we could relink it back with the family and other stuff that they had of

01:32Dr Johns.

01:33The National Museum of Australia is working on acquiring the diary.

01:37Mr Johns hopes to donate other items his father collected in Antarctica, including polaroids,

01:43cosmic ray observations and polar medals.

01:46We've got a lot of artefacts that Dad brought back from the Antarctic on his trips.

01:54Many of those have been in bags or boxes since we cleaned their house out some years ago

02:00and I think finding this diary has spurred us on that maybe there are other people who'd

02:06like to see some of these artefacts.

02:09The second-hand economy in Australia is valued at over $60 billion, so it's not all trash

02:15that ends up in tip shops like this.

02:17Sometimes you can find treasure.

02:19This is the ultimate goal for us when we find things.

02:22We want to keep it out of landfill and something like this, we want to not only keep it out

02:25of landfill but commemorate it and make sure it's available and it's always kept as something

02:30special because it is.

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