Best Book I read in 2011

At a time where people are revving up for the centenary of Scotts 1912 South Pole expedition I thought I would mention a great book I read last year.

"Body at the Melbourne Club" (2009) by David Burke was by far my favourite read of 2011. Sounds like a murder mystery?  Nope. It's the fascinating story of Bertram Armytage, the first Australian member of an Antarctic expedition.  It's about his life, the (social, military, political, empirical) times he lived in, the 1907 Ernest Shackleton expedition to the Antarctic in which he participated, survival, ensuing recognition (including being awarded the Polar Medal by King Edward VII) and then his dramatic suicide at the Melbourne Club. Intrigued?

Burke is an historian and Antarctic adventurer in his own right and both these fields of passion and expertise are woven wonderfully to tell the story of Bertram "what-what" Armytage. The setting is Federation Melbourne, Western District of Victoria, Cambridge, South Africa, London, New Zealand and the Antarctic. So it's quite a globe trotter.

Como House, South Yarra Melbourne

The specific historic Melbourne details, however, the family histories and personal relationships all tied to Werribbee Mansion, Como House, The Melbourne Club draw together real lives, a social history of Melbourne and the circumstance of one man, in an international  and very significant context.   Burke also draws on his own experience in the Antarctic, suddenly bringing the context to the present.  His comments on the Shackleton expedition of 1907 are from a position of personal experience as well as historical research.  His personal photos are reproduced amongst historical ones, again bringing the long ago expeditions to the present day.

Sledge used by Bertram Armytage. Collection Museum Victoria

Sometimes this makes the book seem like a "museum tour" of Bertram Armytage's life. Now we're at Como, then Werribee Mansion and look, here's the hut in the snow and the medals he was awarded. But for me that's appropriate and makes "Body at the Melbourne Club" more than a biography; it's a sliver  of local context as well. At 160 pages (including notes) it's a very quick and easy read and recommended for the holiday season.

The Melbourne Club 36-50 Collins St Melbourne

There is no grand answer as to why Bertram Armytage took his own life. No explanatory note, no confession, but just the echoing impression that Bertram was a depressed and lost soul despite his achievements and amazing life.

Records of Bertram and references on the internet even are few and far between. In most of the Shackleton articles I've read, Bertram is hardly mentioned, only briefly or in most cases not at all. Where he  is mentioned his name is mis-spelled.  There is no mention of him on the Australian Dictionary of Biography (let's remedy that, huh?) but there is the original obituary in TROVE.