Obituary: Meredith Hooper (1939 – 2025)
We are deeply saddened to mark the passing of one of our long-standing trustees, Meredith Hooper, who died on 27 December 2025 at her home in London.
Born in Adelaide in 1939, Meredith became one of the most distinctive and influential voices illuminating the stories, science and human experience of Antarctica. Her long relationship with UKAHT, including serving as a Trustee from 2006 to 2020, left a profound and lasting impact on our organisation.
Meredith’s path into Antarctic storytelling was as remarkable as the work she produced. She was selected to work in Antarctica by several national programmes spanning three countries – an unusually rare distinction. These included the US National Science Foundation’s Artists and Writers Program, the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions and the British Admiralty. Her contributions were acknowledged internationally when she received the Antarctica Service Medal from the US Congress in 2000.
Throughout her career, Meredith wrote prolifically on the polar regions, producing children’s books, radio plays, exhibitions and narrative non-fiction. Her writing combined scientific insight with an exceptional ability to capture the emotional and human dimensions of exploration and environmental change. Many of her children’s titles, beloved by readers of all ages, were sold at Port Lockroy, sparking curiosity about Antarctica among thousands of visitors. Her work helped deepen public appreciation for the continent’s wildlife, history and fragility.
In 2015, Meredith curated Enduring Eye at the Royal Geographical Society – a landmark exhibition showcasing the extraordinary imagery of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance expedition. UKAHT was proud to partner on and support this landmark exhibition, which brought the Endurance story and Frank Hurley’s photographs to new audiences and reaffirmed the cultural significance of that period of Antarctic exploration.
Meredith was also a devoted collaborator, a thoughtful mentor and a passionate advocate for preserving polar heritage. Her decades of experience enriched UKAHT’s strategic development and strengthened our organisation’s commitment to telling compelling, human-centred Antarctic stories.
Her legacy endures in her writing, in the exhibitions and artworks she shaped, and in the inspiration she offered to scholars, readers, visitors and fellow storytellers. UKAHT is honoured to have benefitted from her wisdom, creativity and friendship, and we celebrate her extraordinary life with gratitude and admiration.
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