The Painter and the Penguin

What others said about Joseph van Waterschoot van der Gracht, Dutch explorer, balloon commander, geologist, penguin enthusiast and painter on Douglas Mawson’s Australasian Antarctic Expedition 1912-1913:

“He is a highly skilled geologist, and also an artist and photographer of exceptional ability.”
- David Orme Masson, a member of the AAE Advisory Committee

“... a very fine fellow...”
- John George Hunter, Main Base, Australasian Antarctic Expedition

“... I have written to Prof. Masson suggesting that Mr. Van der Gracht, a very clever Dutch geologist, should be taken on the trip when you go down to fetch Mawson.”
- Sir Ernest Shackleton

“Mawson regarded him as a con-man and did not like his paintings.”
- David Francis Branagan, Associate Professor of Geology, 
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Sydney