The eleventh in the series of Ideas@theHouse events—joint presentations of Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC, Governor of New South Wales, and the Royal Society of New South Wales—was held on the evening of Thursday 18 October 2024 in the Ballroom of Government House Sydney.

In his address, titled ‘The Big Thaw: Who Governs Antarctica’s Ice?‘, Professor Tim Stephens FAAL, Professor of International Law at the University of Sydney, tackled the vexed issue of an Antarctic Treaty system, put in place in the late 1950s to maintain Antarctica as a pristine wilderness, but whose effective governance today is significantly challenged by the global forces of climate change — forces that are now transforming Antarctica by means other than direct activities on the continent, for which the Treaty was originally conceived.

A recording of his presentation is now available on the Society’s YouTube channel and a gallery of images from that occasion is available from the preceding link.