Explorer Put His Heart Into North Pole Trek
It was not so much making history as an Australian that gave Peter Bland his greatest sense of achievement in conquering the North Pole, but because he did it with a synthetic heart support system.
Bland reached his final destination -the Magnetic North Pole- two weeks ago, making him the first Australian to trek to both the Magnetic North and South Poles.
“But it was not so much being the first Australian to do it; that was an added bonus, “he said on arriving back in Australia yesterday. “But to me, I’d set a goal as someone diagnosed with a major heart condition and to achieve it is the main thing for me.”
Born with a hole in the heart, Bland, 29, had open heart surgery at eight and last year had major surgery to repair a heart aneurism. He said his cardio-vascular system was less efficient than other people’s because it was synthetic, but in order to overcome this handicap he had trained harder than the five others on the team. During the 28-day trek they pushed ahead at 25 km a day dragging top-heavy sledges that were constantly overturning. With temperatures hovering between -30C and -15C, he conceded there were moments when the going was tough.
At the request of the grandson of legendary Australian Antarctic conqueror Sir Douglas Mawson, Bland carried the same Australian flag on his walk that Mawson had packed. But the 90 years separating the two expeditions made Bland’s trek a hitech exercise compared with Mawson’s expedition.
13 May 1998
Andrea Jackson
West Australian
It was not so much making history as an Australian that gave Peter Bland his greatest sense of achievement in conquering the North Pole, but because he did it with a synthetic heart support system.
Bland reached his final destination -the Magnetic North Pole- two weeks ago, making him the first Australian to trek to both the Magnetic North and South Poles.
“But it was not so much being the first Australian to do it; that was an added bonus, “he said on arriving back in Australia yesterday. “But to me, I’d set a goal as someone diagnosed with a major heart condition and to achieve it is the main thing for me.”
Born with a hole in the heart, Bland, 29, had open heart surgery at eight and last year had major surgery to repair a heart aneurism. He said his cardio-vascular system was less efficient than other people’s because it was synthetic, but in order to overcome this handicap he had trained harder than the five others on the team. During the 28-day trek they pushed ahead at 25 km a day dragging top-heavy sledges that were constantly overturning. With temperatures hovering between -30C and -15C, he conceded there were moments when the going was tough.
At the request of the grandson of legendary Australian Antarctic conqueror Sir Douglas Mawson, Bland carried the same Australian flag on his walk that Mawson had packed. But the 90 years separating the two expeditions made Bland’s trek a hitech exercise compared with Mawson’s expedition.
13 May 1998
Andrea Jackson
Flagging A New Furphies
I am writing about the inaccurate statements by Mrs. Holmes a Court concerning the Australian National Flag.
In the (November 2) story she says:”But the people who say Australians fought under it (our National Flag) in two world wars and so on should realise that the Blue Ensign was rarely seen before 1955, and our forces only fought under that flag in Vietnam”.
This statement is wrong as an elementary study of history would reveal. The Australian flag was chosen by public competition in 1901.
When the Royal Australian Navy was formed in 1911 it was decreed that the Australian Flag was to be flown from the bows of all naval vessels and as a battle flag during war.
The Sun Herald November 16, 1997
John Vaughan
