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When school is closed for the day, John takes the class's broken webcam and his friend Peter back to his dad's auction rooms. When he experiments with the webcam, by linking it up with an old telescope, John is stunned by what he can see on the laptop screen. Somehow, John and Peter become witnesses to events from the early life of the telescope — allowing them to see some of the exploits of its original owner, John Collinson Close.
Close was a member of Mawson's 1911 expedition to the Antarctic and over the following days, John and Peter capture a number of his adventures. They watch Close rescuing colleagues from suffocation in an ice cave, helping to steer the ship through icebergs, playing cricket on the ice among the penguins and catching dinner from the mouth of a husky. Helped by their teacher, Miss Aileen, they also do their own research to find out more about the life of an Antarctic expeditioner.
However, once the webcam is returned to the classroom and Miss Aileen fixes the dodgy connection, John and Peter are left with no visual record of Close. Just lots of questions, and a new enthusiasm about the Antarctic.
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