On the Aurora Australis- A Rescue in the Antarctic
- Voyage to Antarctica (Casey station and Mertz region) onboard Aurora Australis
- from Frederique Olivier on Vimeo.
- Onboard the Australian Antarctic Division ship- the Aurora Australis.
The resupply voyage to Casey this midsummer season was interrupted by a distress call which required the Aurora to attend to the Akademik Shokalsky which was stuck in the ice in the Mertz region. The boat’s passengers were transferred via a Chinese helicopter from the Chinese ship Xue Long to the Aurora Australis. The people rescued from the Akademik Shokalsky arrived safely in Hobart in January.
Originally trained in France as an environmental engineer with a strong background in media and communication, Fred has been involved as a marine scientist in a variety of remote field based projects ranging from tropical reef monitoring to Antarctic ecology. Fred’s PhD research focused on monitoring signals of climate change in the breeding habitats of Antarctic seabirds and gave her a wealth of experience with both Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic environments and operations, with 13 consecutive summers and 3 overwintering expeditions.
In parallel, she worked as an environmental engineer, wilderness photographer, expedition guide, lecturer and commercial skipper. She became involved in documentary production as logistic support/camera/sound, all projects field based as she enjoys team work and the challenge of being autonomous in remote conditions.
From 2009 to 2012, she was mostly involved in logistics for Antarctic resupply operations as watercraft operator, coordinator and voyage manager during the summers and freelance videographer during the winters. For most of 2012, Fred completed a second overwintering year-long trip in Antarctica filming Emperor Penguins for BBC series “Spy in the Huddle”, which was followed by 3 months of work on Dolphins in Shark Bay for BBC Spy in the Pod (recently broadcast in the UK). Fred just returned from a recent Antarctic voyage onboard the Aurora Australis where she worked as a watercraft operator and videographer.
