“Australians tend to know quite a bit about Antarctica, but relatively little about what’s at the other end of the globe,” Higgins said.

The  illustrated presentation will discuss Arctic Canada and western Greenland.  “Climate is the primary theme, and through this lens I’ll be looking at plants, animals, a human history stretching back for millennia, exploration, and present day life in one of the Earth’s harshest environments.”

Higgins was in the Arctic last year during what came to be the smallest summer sea-ice area on record.  “The impact of climate change is there for all to see.  The changes are really rapid in the Arctic, with much concern about the Greenland Ice Cap.”

There’s a tragic Australian connection too.  Sir John Franklin, leader of one of the Arctic’s doomed expeditions in search of the famed North-West Passage, was once governor of Tasmania.

Higgins, a former senior curator at the National Museum of Australia, is well known to Canberra audiences through his public talks, books, articles and interviews.  His book on the ACT’s share of the Australian Alps, “Rugged beyond imagination,” was shortlisted for the 2010 ACT Book of the Year Award.

“North: reflections on the Arctic,” in the theatrette at the CSIRO Discovery Centre, Clunies Ross Street