Ian Gordon

Born and raised in Perth, Western Australia, Ian served in the Australian Army for 39 years. Ian’s operational deployments took him around the world. He was proud to help resolve conflicts while serving in several United Nations peacekeeping missions. A bibliophile, he started an independent book-publishing business after retiring from the army in 2009.

Ian loves bush walking and has hiked extensively in the Australian Alps and in many coastal regions. As a keen scuba diver, Ian has dived around the Australian coast, off Papua New Guinea and in the Red Sea.

The story of polar exploration has been an enduring interest to him. He loves to talk about the expeditions of the early polar explorers who displayed unimaginable resilience in the face of enormous challenges.

Having first visited the Antarctic Peninsula with Quark Expeditions in 2012, Ian was amazed with the beauty of the unspoiled environment and the diversity of the wildlife. Ian has been with Quark as a guide and historian since 2019. During that season Ian was thrilled to visit the grave site of Sir Ernest Shackleton on the island of South Georgia, and to tell Quark’s guests the story of Shackleton’s final voyage and resting place. Ian loves to see Quark’s guests enchanted with the wild beauty of the polar regions and to leave them fascinated by the stories of polar exploration.