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The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is today the strongest current in the world's ocean, with a significant influence on global climate. Its assumed history and influence on palaeoclimate, while almost certainly equally profound, are here called into question. In this paper, we review 30 years of accumulated data, interpretation and speculation about the ACC, deriving mainly from DSDP and ODP drilling in the Southern Ocean. For most of this time, a conventional view of ACC development, signature and influence has held sway among palaeoceanographers and marine geologists. In this view, the ACC began at about 34 Ma, close to the Eocene–Oligocene boundary, the time of onset of significant Antarctic glaciation and the time of creation of a deep-water gap (Tasmanian Seaway) between Australia and Antarctica as the South Tasman Rise separated from North Victoria Land. This is the “smoking gun” of …