Tim McPhee

Had he lived a century earlier, Tim McPhee is sure he would have applied for Shackleton’s famed recruitment ad, promising a hazardous journey, constant danger and a doubtful return.

Tim has always wanted to live in Antarctica and spent a year as a water engineer at Scott Base in 2016/17, looking after the research station’s reverse osmosis system. When the opportunity arose to join an earlier scientific drilling project in 2019, he didn’t hesitate. The SWAIS2C season at KIS-3 is his third Antarctic visit, but he hopes it won’t be his last.

Tim is based in Ballarat, where he works at a gold mine as an underground electrician. But he enjoys challenging himself, stretching beyond his comfort zone and doing work few people get a chance to do. Having experienced all Antarctic weather conditions during his winter season, he feels well prepared to participate in deep-field scientific drilling projects.