Dr Pete Gill became involved in whale research and deepwater sailing in 1983 after years spent as a rural worker in the Australian bush.  For many years he assisted Dr Bill Dawbin, the ‘grandfather’ of humpback whale research, before branching out into his own studies of humpback migration. Using yachts, these studies took him to the Coral Sea, New Caledonia, the coast of Tasmania and Antarctic waters.

In 1989, Pete skippered the 20m schooner A & V Thistlethwayte in its research circumnavigation of Australia, the Oceanic Research Foundation’s “In the Wake of Flinders”  expedition. This voyage extended the known distribution of breeding humpback whales to the northernmost point of the Kimberley coast, well north of Broome, the previous presumed limit.

The Antarctic region has been central to Pete’s evolving knowledge and understanding of whale biology and ecology.  He has visited Antarctica 16 times: on private sailing expeditions including Riquita’s voyage to the Ross Sea in 1986, the Mount Minto Bicentennial Expedition in 1988, and the Iniquity whale survey in 1993; on whale surveys aboard the Australian government icebreaker Aurora Australis; and as a lecturer, boat driver and guide on Antarctic tourist expeditions with Aurora Expeditions, to the Ross Sea, East Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula. Pete assisted Dr Deb Thiele in initiating the first Australian Antarctic cetacean ecological research program on board the Aurora Australis. 

In the early 1990’s, Pete spent two years as Marine Mammal Researcher with Greenpeace Australia while continuing humpback whale research.  He also worked on southern right whales at the Head of Bight (South Australia) and in Western Australia, as part of a Sydney University research program.  To support his research and expedition activities, he worked for years as a home handyman, and part-time writer and photographer.

In 1998, Pete discovered that blue whales gather each year to feed on krill off south-west Victoria, and linked their presence to seasonal cold-water upwelling. Thus the Blue Whale Study came into being. It is now the longest running blue whale research program in the Southern Hemisphere.  He lives in bushland near Portland, Victoria with his wife Susie and son Felix, close to the blue whales and his primary study area, the Bonney Upwelling. 

Pete has authored numerous books, book chapters, scientific papers and magazine articles on whales, sailing and Antarctica.  His photographs have appeared in numerous books, and he has lectured on whales, whaling and Antarctica.