Skip to main content

Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney
Multimedia
The Shirase sword at the Australian Museum 2020

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

The Shirase sword at the Australian Museum 2020

By

Stuart Humphreys

Contributed By

Australian Museum

Search

Browse

Browse
- Artefacts
- Buildings
- Events
- Natural Features
- Organisations
- People
- Places
- Structures
- Entries
- Multimedia
- Subjects
- Roles
- Contributors

Connections

Appears in

Japanese Antarctic expedition camp at Parsley Bay 1911

Subjects

Armed forces Exploration Japanese

Artefacts

Shirase sword

People

David, Tannatt William Edgeworth Shirase, Nobu

Events

Japanese Antarctic expedition 1910-1912

Organisation

Australian Museum

External Links

Australian Museum: Japanese Antarctica expedition and the Shirase sword

Footer

Home
About
Copyright
Blog
Facebook
Twitter

Humphreys, Stuart

Sydney photographer who specialises in documentation of and work for scientific, art and cultural collections.

Australian Museum

Japanese Antarctic expedition camp at Parsley Bay 1911

In 1911 a Japanese expedition bound for Antarctica was forced to turn back by bad weather. In May the expedition arrived in Sydney and set up camp in Parsley Bay.

Armed forces

Japanese

Exploration

Shirase sword

full record »

Seventeenth century Japanese samurai sword presented by Lieutenant Nobu Shirase, the leader of the Japanese Polar Expedition, to Professor Edgeworth David as a gesture of friendship and thanks for his support during the expedition's stay in Sydney from May-November 1911. In 1979 the sword was presented to the Australian Museum by Mary David, the professor's daughter. The sword was made by Mutsu no Kami Kaneyasu, a master swordsmith who worked in the period 1600-1650.

Shirase, Nobu

Lieutenant Shirase was the leader of the Japanese Antarctic expedition in 1910-1912. His name is also given as Naoshi or Choku Shirase.

full record »

Japanese Antarctic expedition 1910-1912

Exploratory expedition to the Antarctic led by Lieutenant Naoshi Shirase. The expedition sailed on a 204 ton, 100 feet long converted wooden fishing boat with an 18-horse-power auxiliary engine, the Kainan Maru, that was captained by Naokichi Nomura. The ship left Tokyo in November 1910, later than had first been planned. Unable to reach the Antarctic mainland due to ice as the southern winter drew in, the expedition harboured in Sydney from 4 May 1911 until the following summer, departing on 19 May 1911. While they did not reach the South Pole, the explorers reached 80° 5 south, and were the first non-Europeans to explore Antarctica.

full record »

David, Tannatt William Edgeworth

Geologist and professor at the University of Sydney who accompanied Shackleton and Mawson to the south magnetic pole.

full record »

Australian Museum

Australia's oldest natural history museum, founded in 1827.

full record »