Stuart Blake was born and brought up on a farm in Patagonia within sight of the Straits of Magellan, and, having studied Genetics at St Andrew’s University (graduated in 1987), he offers a different perspective on Darwin’s time in Patagonia and the Galapagos.

“I have faced the same winds that caused Fitzroy’s predecessor to shoot himself – messily – having fallen into a deep depression after failing to sail the Straits; I have ridden with gauchos, drunk mate, slept in the saddle and used boleadoras to bring down the delicious-tastingrheas – Rhea darwinii, or Avestruz Petiso, called the Petise by Charles Darwin and referred to in his Tree of Lifesketch. And I have become fascinated by what I view as the ‘Galapagos myth’.

Fascination developed into research, during which Stuart collected a significant amount of informationaround the Galapagos myth.

This talk reflects on how it was created and gained credence; it considers how history is written and by whom, in the light of the ability of an authority as central and as respected as Julian Huxley to knowingly identify the Galapagos as the place where Darwin had his alleged eureka moment andexplore just how that myth became embedded in the school curriculum, where it remains to this day.