A scuffed exercise book donated to a tip shop in Hobart is on track to be acquired by the National Museum of Australia after it was found to be the diary of Antarctic expeditioner David Johns.

It offers a rare glimpse into an important year in scientific research. 

Written in 1957, Mr Johns was working in Antarctica during the International Geophysical Year, a project that saw a thawing of global relations through collaborative research at the height of the Cold War.

The diary was unintentionally included in a box of items donated to the tip shop almost two years ago, when family were sorting through Mr Johns’s belongings following his death in 2020.

National Museum curator Jono Lineen thought it was the first time the museum had been so interested in an object that had come from a tip.

Son Andrew Johns said the return of the diary — which he described as innocuous in appearance — was “surreal” but he was happy to see it donated to the museum.

Curious worker unearths history

Found at the bottom of a box by a tip shop worker and sporting a generic faded cover, the diary looked like an old school exercise book.

The shop’s collectibles manager Jason Richards said it was just lucky someone decided to open it.

“It didn’t even say what it was on the front,” Mr Richards told ABC Breakfast presenter Jo Spargo.

“It was just that somebody saw it and opened it up and read the first page and knew it was something.”

After sitting in a secure location at the tip shop for almost two years, Mr Richards started to investigate the significance of the diary and decided to try and find a home for the item where it could remain publicly accessible.

He contacted the National Museum of Australia.

It was one of dozens of items put forward that fortnight to a curatorial team at the museum responsible for assessing possible donations.

The overwhelming majority of objects proposed for donation do not make it through the first stage.

But the diary caught Dr Lineen’s eye.

Aside from its appeal as a personal account from the Antarctic, Mr Johns journalled in a significant year for science and global relations.

1957 marked the International Geophysical Year, a global scientific project that saw dozens of countries work together at the height of Cold War tensions. 

A program of physics experiments was included in that research and Antarctica, because of its location and unique environment, was an ideal location for observing subtle elements in Earth’s atmosphere.

“A whole program of physics experiments were positioned in Antarctica, and Australia, especially Tasmania, was uniquely positioned to help in that research,” Dr Lineen said.

“[So] an Antarctic diary by an expeditioner that is from 1957, a very particular year [in scientific research]…I’m interested right away.”

Blacksmith’s son becomes scientist

From humble beginnings, David Johns helped pave the way for the creation of major pieces of technology still used today.

The son of a blacksmith, he was the first in his family to complete high school.

During his university years in Tasmania, his father had a bad accident at work and a young Mr Johns became the family breadwinner.

He found work as a lab technician in the physics department at his university and while there began to make cosmic ray measuring instruments.

In the 1950s, Mr Johns’s research on cosmic rays was considered cutting-edge physics.

As a cosray physicist his research helped lay the foundations for objects such as the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest particle collider.

The National Museum has parts of a cosmic ray unit that was produced at the University of Tasmania and used at Mawson Station in 1957.

It’s likely Mr Johns built and used the parts of the unit held by the museum.

To Dr Lineen, the tip shop contacting the museum, given it already has the equipment, is “a mind-blowing set of coincidences” that has provided a human connection to the inanimate cosmic ray equipment.

“It adds a whole new narrative, a whole new angle to an incredible piece of equipment,” Dr Lineen said.

For Mr Johns’s son Andrew, he remembers his father as a “prolific” storyteller and writer, who documented his 12-month visit to Antarctica through letters to his parents and in his diary.

Much of it has only come to light following his death, with the biggest surprise being the diary.

Andrew Johns said he only became aware of his father’s diary after he was contacted by the museum seeking consent to acquire it.

“We’ve often lamented the fact that during his life, we didn’t sit down and get him to tell some of these stories so we could write them down…so it’s nice to be able to see some of those stories coming off the page,” he said.

‘Lots of hurdles’ ahead of acquisition

There are still two stages the diary must pass through before it can be accepted into the museum’s collection.

Dr Lineen said the process could take anywhere from three to six months but was hopeful the item would be approved.

“There’s a lot of hurdles,” Dr Lineen said.

“But I think you can tell I’m pretty excited about it.”

Other items belonging to Mr Johns will be put forward by the family to the museum for collection consideration.

A tin of drinking chocolate that is more than a century old, a box of matches from Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic camp and a horse shoe nail belonging to a pony owned by British explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott are included among the other items.

Mr Johns had collected the artefacts when in Antarctica and his family feel they should stay with the diary and enter the national collection together.

“At the moment they’re just in a box in a cupboard at home,” Andrew Johns said. 

“It might be nice to have those somewhere where people can see them and hear some of this story.”