Alistair McArthur Next Speaker 13 November

PRESENTATION:

Ice, Dogs and Men – Antarctic Exploration in the 1960’s

by Alistair McArthur, B.A., M.Ed., F.R.G.S.,

Senior Consultant, Odyssey Consultants - Melbourne

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Alistair McArthur will speak about an Antarctic journey which started as a routine dog sledging expedition conducting a geophysical survey and ended up being a survival exercise when he found himself with three other men and 27 huskies adrift on an ice floe. Alistair McArthur was a Base Commander for the British Antarctic Survey for two years (1967 and 1968). He travelled over 2,500 kilometres by dog sledge.

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BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY

ALISTAIR McARTHUR, B.A., M.Ed., F.R.G.S.(Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society)

Alistair McArthur is an Outdoor Education Consultant with over 35 years’ experience in the field of Outdoor Adventure Based Education. He has worked as an Instructor, Senior Instructor, Chief Instructor, Course Director, Program Director, Consultant and Executive Director for the International adventure education program OUTWARD BOUND in the United Kingdom, Australia, U.S.A. and Canada.

Prior to establishing his own organisation, ODYSSEY CONSULTANTS, he was Executive Director of the Canadian OUTWARD BOUND Wilderness School and Program Director at the Colorado OUTWARD BOUND School.

He also worked at Hurricane Island OUTWARD BOUND School [USA]; OUTWARD BOUND Australia [Victoria]; Devon OUTWARD BOUND School [UK] and Ullswater OUTWARD BOUND School [UK].

He has used and developed emergency response plans, presented seminars on Risk Management for Outdoor Adventure Programs, conducted safety audits and managed the aftermath of three separate fatalities in adventure programs. He has also attended two inquests.

Alistair McArthur also did community development work for two and a half years with the Department of Native Affairs in Papua New Guinea. As Base Commander of a British Antarctic Survey Expedition for two years he travelled over 2,500 kilometres by dog sledge.

He is a Past President of the Victorian Outdoor Education Association where he served on the Council for four years. From 1991 to 2008 he was Convenor of the Corporate Adventure Training Network (CATNet) and from 1991 to 1995 was the Victorian delegate to the proposed Australian Outdoor Education Association.(AOEA), renamed as the Australian Outdoor Education Council (AOEC).

In 1994 Alistair McArthur was appointed to serve on the Community Recreation Council which is the Statutory Advisory Body on Recreation to the Victorian Minister for Sport, Recreation and Racing.

From 1996 to 2005 he served on the Board of the Outdoor Education Group (OEG) which is the largest provider of Outdoor Education services to the Australian independent school sector [AUS$9.5 million turnover].

He has travelled extensively and completed major overland routes through more than 80 countries. He has a Masters Degree in Experiential Education from the University of Colorado, U.S.A., is married with two children and lives in Melbourne.