In the late '90s when the charismatic, young American, Nicholas Johnson took up a position in waste management at McMurdo Station in Antarctica he imagined incredible adventures within a pristine landscape. Instead he discovered boredom and bureaucracy, all within the confines of a station resembling a dirty old mining town.
Soon after arriving Johnson started documenting life at McMurdo Station in an anonymously written satirical newsletter, "Big Dead Place" which he would secretly leave around the station. Described as the M*A*S*H or Wikileaks of Antarctica, "Big Dead Place" contradicted most literature written about life on the ice. Imagine H.L. Mencken on an ice floe ... caustic and brilliant.
So what is it really like to work at America's largest Antarctic base? Listen to ABC Radio National's podcast here.
