Sidney Harry Jeffryes (20 July 1884 – 16 October 1942)Leane, E., Maddison, B. & Norris, K. (2019). Beyond the Heroic Stereotype: Sidney Jeffryes and the Mythologising of Australian Antarctic History. Australian Humanities Review, (64), 1-23. was an early Australian wireless telegraphy operator. Trained by Australasian Wireless Co., Ltd., he was initially employed on coastal shipping and established at least one record for distance transmission. But he is best known for his service as the wireless officer at

Cape Denison Cape Denison is a rocky point at the head of Commonwealth Bay in George V Land, Antarctica. It was discovered in 1912 by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911–14) under Douglas Mawson, who named it for Sir Hugh Denison of Sydney, a pa ...

during the second year (February 1913 − December 1913) of the

Australasian Antarctic Expedition The Australasian Antarctic Expedition was a 1911–1914 expedition headed by Douglas Mawson that explored the largely uncharted Antarctic coast due south of Australia. Mawson had been inspired to lead his own venture by his experiences on Ernest ...

under the command of explorer

Douglas Mawson Sir Douglas Mawson OBE FRS FAA (5 May 1882 – 14 October 1958) was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer, and academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Sir Ernest Shackleton, he was a key expedition leader during ...

. His service ended in September 1913, two months prior to the relief of the shore party, when Jeffryes developed symptoms of

paranoia Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concer ...

and had to be relieved of his duties.

Early life and family

Jeffryes was born in

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 C ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

in 1884, second son of Henry Jeffryes and Helena (sometimes Ellen) Jeffryes née White. His father was a postmaster and telegraphist with the Queensland Post and Telegraph and following federation with the Postmaster-General's Department. Sidney's given name is indexed as Sydney in the records of the Queensland Registrar of BMD, but this may simply be a transcription error. His father Henry was a child of Henry Jeffryes and Sarah Jeffryes née Bland. After a long career with the Post Office, his father passed in 1910. His mother Helena was born in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

in the UK and her father was William White. She died in 1932. There were at least seven children of the marriage: * Louisa Ellen. Married Thomas Maxwell Gibb in 1898. * Ivy Llalah (likely Lalla), born 1875. Married Walter Henry Donely in 1894. * Ida Dorothea Maud, born 1879. Married Robert George Denny in 1904. * Hulbert Trevannion, born 1881, died 1946. Teacher Gundiah (1910s). Married Isabel Jeffryes née King (died 1946) in 1906. * Norma Fanny, born 1882. *''Sidney (alt Sydney) Harry, born 1884.'' * Francis ("Frank') Edwin, born 1886. Died young in 1902 at Allora. * Constance ("Connie") Eva, born 1888. Died 1949. Achieved unwanted prominence in an inheritance dispute. The family grew up in

Allora Allora is a rural town and locality in the Southern Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Allora had a population of 1,223 people. Geography Allora is on the Darling Downs in south-eastern Queensland, Australia, by ro ...

. His father Henry spent almost 20 years in the district from 1889. He was initially assistant in charge of the local post office, but in September 1899 was appointed officer in charge. The death due to pneumonia of Sidney's younger brother Frank in July 1902 was a major tragedy for the family. A marble mural tablet to Frank's life was unveiled at the Allora State School in December 1902. Sidney's father was transferred to the Emerald Post Office in April 1909, after nearly 20 years at Allora. The community held a public farewell for Henry at the Allora Town Hall and he was presented with a purse of sovereigns. By the time of the transfer to Emerald, Henry's family were mostly grown and his own health was failing. Only his wife relocated with him, and when he died in 1910, there was little connection with Emerald and she relocated to the larger provincial centre of Toowoomba, where she died in 1932. Telegraphy was a major part of the activities of any rural post office and there can be no doubt that Sidney learned morse code and telegraphy with his father. The Postmaster-General's department discouraged any staff experiments in wireless after federation. But from 1897, news of Marconi's succession of wireless telegraphy achievements spanning greater and greater distances, filled the newspapers of the day. At this time many private experimenters were operating without licences and in a remote location such as Allora, the temptations to experiment would have been strong.

Telegraphist

The Commonwealth of Australia Gazette records Jeffryes as being employed on a temporary basis from 26 March 1909 as a Telegraphist at Sydney for a period of three months. This appointment was renewed again June 1909, September 1909, and finally December 1909. However, mere telegraphy did not offer the excitement or pecuniary rewards of a wireless operator of the day and his career progressed.

Wireless training

In the late 1800s, fitting of wireless equipment on the great steamships carrying mail between Great Britain and Australia was becoming commonplace and following Australia's belated establishment of a network of coastal stations from 1910, many of the larger coastal vessels around Australia were also fitted out. The Australasian Wireless Co., Ltd. won the contracts with the Australian Government to establish a network of coastal wireless stations around Australia using Telefunken transmitters and receivers. This gave the firm a strong marketing edge in the supply of equipment to local shipping to utilise the coastal station network. Frequently the sale package also included provision of skilled personnel to operate and maintain the equipment. While the Marconi Telefunken College of Telegraphy as a formal training facility had not yet been established, the company did undertake internal training of potential operators. Jeffryes is reported as having qualified as a wireless operator with Australasian Wireless Co., Ltd.

Coastal shipping

In October 1911, Jeffryes had a small taste of fame which was reported in the Sydney Sun: "Record by the

Kyarra The ''Kyarra'' was a 6,953-ton (7,065 t) steel cargo and passenger luxury liner, built in Scotland in 1903 for the Australian United Steam Navigation Company. Construction and launch The ''Kyarra'' was built at Dumbarton by William Denny an ...

. Mr. S. H. Jeffryes, wireless operator on the A.U.S.N. Co.'s ''Kyarra'', which was fitted up by the Australasian Wireless Co., Ltd., has put up a record for overland wireless messages between ships. His report says:— "Coming into Adelaide on the 18th Instant, distant from Adelaide 140 miles, I picked up the ''Cooma''. This exceeds the records of that of the ''Cooma'' and ''Riverlna'' four months ago from Townsville to the Bight by a small margin of about 40 miles. The conditions were absolutely normal on the night, a fact which could hardly be said of the occasion four months ago, which was a night on which every operator got good distances, myself and the ''Levuka'' getting 2100 miles. It is claimed by the ''Cooma'' and ''Riverina'' that the distance was 2300 miles. This is not so, as direct it is not more than 1500 miles, but even this is equivalent to almost twice as much by sea. I thus claim to have established an Australasian record for transmission and reception over land, beating the previous one by 40 miles." It was common in this era for ship wireless officers to move frequently between ships. At the time of Jeffryes' appointment to the AAE he was reported as having been most recently on the SS ''Westralia''.

Antarctic preparations

The AAE expedition was the first Antarctic expedition in history, and the only one during the

Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration was an era in the exploration of the continent of Antarctica which began at the end of the 19th century, and ended after the First World War; the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition of 1921–1922 is often cit ...

, to maintain radio contact with its country of origin. Only a high power facility of comparable capacity to those recently established at Sydney (VIS) and Perth (VIP) would have been capable of direct communication between Hobart and Cape Denison and this would have been prohibitively expensive and resource hungry for the expedition. It was decided to establish an intermediate station at Macquarie Island, and by halving the maximum distance for each signal to traverse, it was expected that the 2 kW Telefunken transmitters of the Australasian Wireless Co., Ltd. would enable reliable communication. Jeffryes had a keen interest in both Antarctica and wireless telegraphy and when the first call for applications to join the AAE was made, he sought an appointment as wireless operator. But at that time his length of experience as a telegraphist and wireless telegraphist was not great and he was not successful.

appointed

Walter Henry Hannam Walter Henry Hannam (1885–1965) was an Australian wireless experimenter, a founding member of the Wireless Institute of Australia, wireless operator and mechanic on the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, a member of the ANZAC Wireless Company i ...

who was associated with the prominent patriot

George Augustine Taylor George Augustine Taylor (1 August 1872 – 20 January 1928) was an Australian artist, journalist, and inventor. Life Taylor was born at Sydney in 1872. He began his working life articled to an architect (a Mr Hobbs). However, he first became k ...

and had himself been involved with the establishment of the

Wireless Institute of Australia The Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) was formed in 1910, and is the first and oldest national amateur radio society in the world. It represents the amateur radio operators of Australia as the AR "peak body" in dealings with the Austral ...

. A series of tragedies and mishaps had led to the Cape Denison shore base on Antarctica being kept open for a second winter, March–December 1913. But there had been some tension between Mawson and Hannam and in January 1913, Hannam elected to return home after his year at Macquarie Island and Cape Denison. The intermediate station that he set up at Wireless Hill on Macquarie Island was fully functional and providing sterling service exchanging messages with the Hobart coastal station VIH. But there had been ongoing issues with both transmission and reception at Cape Denison, and only occasional messages were got out. This failure prevented the expedition fulfilling the terms of its contract with Australian and London Press in providing timely updates on the activities and status of the expedition. The replacement wireless officer would bring with him improved wireless telegraphy receivers (sensitivity of the crucial detectors was taking great strides at the time) which it was expected would make the Cape Denison station fully effective. An appeal was made for a wireless operator to serve during the second winter of the AAE, and now Jeffryes was given the appointment.

In Antarctica

Jeffryes arrived at the Cape Denison shore base in February 1913 as the base was enduring a near-nightmare situation. The expedition's leader and commander, Douglas Mawson, stumbled into the base, the sole survivor of a sled dog probe eastward along the previously unknown interior coastline of the

Australian Antarctic Territory The Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT) is a part of East Antarctica claimed by Australia as an external territory. It is administered by the Australian Antarctic Division, an agency of the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Env ...

. As the new wireless operator, Jeffryes was able to start the relay of communications that would inform Australia of the expedition leader's survival. However, within days of Mawson's arrival, the Antarctic winter began. Mawson's expedition hut was located close to what was then the location of the South Magnetic Pole, and continued radio interference and static associated with polar conditions threatened the base's minimal ability to contact Macquarie Island. The expedition leader at first admired Jeffryes's assiduity with earphones and Morse-code key, but grew increasingly guarded in his praise. In Mawson's words, Jeffryes "applied himself to work with enthusiasm and perhaps an over-conscientious spirit." Climate conditions outside the hut made winter outdoor exercise impossible, leading to

cabin fever Cabin fever is the distressing claustrophobic irritability or restlessness experienced when a person, or group, is stuck at an isolated location or in confined quarters for an extended time. A person may be referred to as stir-crazy, derived from ...

. All the expeditioners would have been familiar with tales of Antarctic winter madness and particularly the problems of the

Belgian Antarctic Expedition The Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–1899 was the first expedition to winter in the Antarctic region. Led by Adrien de Gerlache de Gomery aboard the RV ''Belgica'', it was the first Belgian Antarctic expedition and is considered the firs ...

. Conditions at Cape Denison were clearly worse than those on the ''

Belgica Gallia Belgica ("Belgic Gaul") was a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire located in the north-eastern part of Roman Gaul, in what is today primarily northern France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, along with parts of the Netherlands and German ...

'' due to the

Katabatic wind A katabatic wind (named from the Greek word κατάβασις ''katabasis'', meaning "descending") is a drainage wind, a wind that carries high-density air from a higher elevation down a slope under the force of gravity. Such winds are sometim ...

which because of the unique geography is at its upper extreme in the vicinity. In July 1913, as Antarctica neared midwinter, wireless operator Jeffryes began to present symptoms of paranoia to his fellow shore-party winter explorers, none of whom knew how to receive or transmit messages in Morse code. Expedition leader Mawson began to encourage another expedition member, airman

Frank Bickerton Francis Howard Bickerton (15 January 1889 – 21 August 1954) was an English treasure hunter, Antarctic explorer, soldier, aeronaut, entrepreneur, big-game hunter and movie-maker. He not only made a major contribution to the Australasian Anta ...

, to learn Morse code as quickly as possible. Jeffryes's condition waxed and waned; for some weeks his comrades believed he was recovering, but in September of the same year the radioman experienced a

psychotic break Psychosis is a condition of the mind that results in difficulties determining what is real and what is not real. Symptoms may include delusions and hallucinations, among other features. Additional symptoms are incoherent speech and behavior t ...

and began transmitting a message, through Macquarie Island, to Australia. Declaring himself to be the only sane man on the expedition, Jeffryes accused all of his comrades of having joined a

criminal conspiracy In criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime at some time in the future. Criminal law in some countries or for some conspiracies may require that at least one overt act be undertaken in furtherance ...

to murder him. Mawson thereupon relieved Jeffryes of his duties.

Return home

In December 1913, the expedition's vessel ''

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

'' relieved the troubled Antarctic shore party. Jeffryes was excluded from the welcoming celebrations in Adelaide due to his medical status. Yet he was paid off two days after arrival at Adelaide. Mawson stated subsequently that he believed that Jeffryes had returned to full health: "Later on Jeffreys improved, and on the arrival of the ship he became quite normal, and in that condition he was landed at Adelaide we believing that he would never again have any further trouble of the kind. On the return voyage Dr. Maclean occupied the same cabin with him, and kept him closely under observation. Dr. Maclean reported to me that Jeffreys was quite well and no thought ever entered our mind that he would not travel straight home without risk. In fact his condition was so good that I decided not to make any mention of the matter to his people." In March 1914 it was realised that Jeffryes had not returned to the family home in Toowoomba and was missing. Six days later he was found near Stawell, exhausted and starved, having lived on roots and grubs, and drinking water from stagnant pools. He was arrested, clearly in a psychotic break and presented at the Stawell Court. His poignant plea from the dock was "Let me go back and die, where I have hidden my trunk, in the silence of the ranges." The Court committed Jeffryes to the Ararat Asylum. His mental condition was diagnosed as

paranoid schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. ...

while he was confined to the Ararat Lunatic Asylum in Ararat,

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. Letters from the health center, written to Mawson in 1915, testify to his challenges. Little is known of his later life. He died under confinement in 1942Alone on the Ice: The Best Survival Story You've Never Heard , Nat Geo Live https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lkS5psgo6Q from a

cerebral haemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

Legacy and late life

Jeffryes' meticulous records of wireless reception quality during the second year of the

were correlated by himself, and by other expeditioners, with other observations of variables such as magnetic readings, auroral intensity, and St Elmo's Fire. These identified, perhaps for the first time, the impacts of Antarctic conditions upon low frequency radio wave propagation. The expedition's head and designated spokesman, Douglas Mawson, had little to say in his published histories about Jeffryes' active service in Antarctica. For almost 100 years, the unfortunate wireless operator's name was suppressed from most Antarctic records. But in August 2010, the

Australian Antarctic Division The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) is a division of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. The Division undertakes science programs and research projects to contribute to an understanding of Antarctica and the ...

honored Jeffryes for his pioneering winter service by naming a previously unnamed

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...

after him. The ''Jeffryes Glacier'' is located at 67°4' South, 143°59' East, in the Australian Antarctic Territory. It should not be confused with the Jeffries Glacier. In December 2013, the first opera to be based on Mawson's 1911–14 expedition to Antarctica, ''The Call of Aurora'' (by Tasmanian composer Joe Bugden) was performed at The Peacock Theatre in Hobart. A

chamber opera Chamber opera is a designation for operas written to be performed with a chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra. Early 20th-century operas of this type include Paul Hindemith's ''Cardillac'' (1926). Earlier small-scale operas such as Pergoles ...

, ''The Call of Aurora'' investigates the relationship between Douglas Mawson and his wireless operator, Sidney Jeffryes.