George Hubert Wilkins was born at Mount Bryan East in South Australia on 31 October 1888, the thirteenth child of Henry and Louisa Wilkins, who were pioneer settlers and sheep farmers. In an official biography he was described as a war correspondent, polar explorer, naturalist, geographer, climatologist, aviator, author, balloonist, war hero, reporter, submariner and navigator.

Wilkins studied engineering part time at the South Australian School of Mines and Industries before moving to Adelaide and then to Sydney, pursuing interests in photography and cinematography. In 1908, he sailed for England and worked for Gaumont Film Company, where he became a pioneering aerial photographer. In 1913, Wilkins joined Vilhjalmur Stefansson’s expedition to the Canadian Arctic.

During this period Wilkins also learnt how to fly aircraft and when he returned to Australia in 1917, he joined the Australian Imperial Force (Australian Flying Corps) as a Second Lieutenant. In April 1918, he was appointed the official photographer and tasked with providing ‘an accurate and complete record of the fighting and other activities of the A.I.F’. Wilkins was presented with the Military Cross for his efforts to rescue wounded soldiers in the Third Battle of Ypres. He received a Bar for his Military Cross for temporarily leading a company of American soldiers, whose officers had been killed in action.

When the war ended, Wilkins continued to pursue aviation, entering the England-Australia Air Race in 1919. His aircraft, a Blackburn Kangaroo, experienced engine failure and crash-landed in Crete. Over the next few years, he returned to polar exploration, making his first visit to the Antarctic in 1920-21, accompanying J. L. Cope on his unsuccessful voyage to Graham Land. In 1921-22, he took part in Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Quest expedition.

In 1927, Wilkins began preparations for a program of Arctic exploration by air. Initially he purchased two Fokker aircraft, but they proved too large for landing on ice. He sold one to Charles Kingsford Smith who renamed it ‘Southern Cross’ and it became the first plane to fly from the United States to Australia over the Pacific Ocean. Wilkins then bought a Lockheed Vega which he named ‘San Francisco’.

On 15 April 1928, with pilot Carl Ben Eielson, he flew across the Arctic Sea, from Point Barrow in Alaska to Spitsbergen, Norway, arriving about 20 hours later on 16 April. The journey covered 2,500 miles, most of it above uncharted territory. It was the first time such a flight had been made and the two men became international celebrities. Wilkins was knighted and chose to be known as Sir Hubert, rather than Sir George. During the ensuing celebrations, he met an Australian singer and actress in New York, Suzanne Bennett, whom he married on 30 August 1929.