tiabunna's photos with the keyword: Australian Antarctic Territory

I'll leave Mawson's Hut with this stitched panorama. After visiting the hut interior, I felt the need to take it all in context, so I headed onto the ridge to the west. Mouse over the note at top left to view large. Near the hut is one of the more improbable sights: people queueing in Antarctica! They were waiting their turn to visit the interior. The smaller dots on the snow are Adelie penguins.

When we visited Mawson's Hut, we had with us a team of four from the Mawson's Hut Foundation. We left them at the site for several days (there are other new huts nearby for workers) to do their work of clearing out some of the snow, to allow access. Their main task was examining and measuring the roof, to assess what was needed to add a false over-roof to protect the building (that has since been done). On our return, we were allowed inside in groups of three for just a few valuable minutes (they didn't want excess body heat thawing things unnecessarily for conservation reasons). As someone remarked, there have been fewer people here than to the top of Everest! Taken with the main stove/heater directly behind me. Originally there was a long table where I was standing - this was the only 'social/recreation' area indoors. Apart from the old tins and jars, it was fascinating to see the old paperback books and magazines on the shelf. Clickable links to further photos in the notes. Here is a link to a Mawson's Hut Foundation video on the restoration programme, showing quite a bit of original movie and stills from 1911-12 by Frank Hurley. www.youtube.com/watch?v=72sgyZpHGq8 I am amazed though, that in their film they have totally misplaced Mawson's Hut on the map! The correct address is in the link at right on this page (change to satellite view).

That very icy shelf in the foreground is the top of the slow combustion heater/stove for Mawson's Hut. Alongside the flue of the stove is a canister used to melt snow as the water supply. The tiny box behind with the open door is the darkroom of Frank Hurley, the expedition photographer, while beyond it is his bunk area with the black plastic (a recent conservation measure) protecting something from snow and water .

This contrivance is the acetylene apparatus, which generated acetylene to provide lighting for the huts. Although there was electricity (Mawson's expedition in 1911-13 was the first to use radio to communicate from Antarctica to the world, via a relay station on Macquarie Island) it would not have been possible to operate full time generators for power and lighting.

The 17 expeditioners were bunked around the outer walls of the hut (Mawson, the leader, had a small office/bedroom). They also had their initials on their bunk space, and in most areas there were upper and lower bunks. In 1912 this was the area for James Francis Hurley - better known as Frank Hurley. Hurley was the photographer for the expedition and also, on his return, for Shackleton's famous "Endurance" expedition. On this expedition he was given the nickname "Hoyle" because of his encyclopaedic knowledge of the rules of card games. It appears he had the luxury of an enclosed cupboard below the upper bunk, presumably to house all his photographic gear (cine and still cameras, chemicals etc). In his darkroom he wrote on the wall Near enough is never good enough : he was an excellent and quite innovative photographer and remains one of my "photographic heroes". :) I would encourage anyone interested to Google for images of his work.

Copied from an old 1966 slide. A full moon setting in the early morning over the Casey Range to the west of Australia's Mawson station, in East Antarctica. Vehicles, including the VW, at the far right. Taken with Minolta SR1, Auto Rokkor-PF 1.4/58mm, Kodachrome 2.

From one of the gritty "home developed" Ektachrome slides taken in 1966. Out on the sea ice among the islands near Mawson, for a practice run with the dog teams.

From one of the gritty "home developed" Ektachrome slides taken in 1966, this one cleaned up in post processing. Out on the sea ice among the islands near Mawson, for a practice run with the dog teams - here passing an iceberg. Another (more gritty) image in the PiP.

Copied from an old slide taken in 1966, at Mawson Antarctica. We still had dog teams and this was our lead sled dog, who went by the name of Orhog. He was quite a character and also enjoyed posing for the cameras. All the huskies were removed in later years, when new international agreements banned imported animals in Antarctica. Some blatant advertising. For the 50th anniversary of our expedition, I wrote a book which is available online as either a hard cover or inexpensive .pdf download. It covers the material I've shown here plus a lot more narrative and images (also some previously untold stories). If you visit the link I've given, you can view a preview by clicking on the book cover, then click on the diagonal arrow at top right to enlarge, then just click the image to flip the pages.

From an old 1966 slide. This was a time exposure of the aurora to the east of Mawson, looking past a living hut named "Balleny" (the living huts were all named after early Antarctic explorers). To give some idea of the intensity of some auroras, this was taken on 25 ISO film!

From a 1966 slide. Mawson lies under the auroral oval, the annular zone around the south magnetic pole where auroras are most prevalent. In plain language, there was an aurora most nights. This is from one of the Ektachrome films we "home developed" while there.

We're about to head away on travels in the next few days and now are in 'final preparations'. It's likely that I'll be (at the most) an occasional visitor for the next five weeks. First stop is Singapore, then points further north - who knows, we may even see an aurora! My thanks to the ipernity friends who have kindly given advice for our travels and best wishes to all here for the coming weeks. This image was first loaded to ipernity shortly after I joined and now is updated (view large on black). From an old 1966 slide (160 ISO Ektachrome , Minolta SR1, Minolta Auto Rokkor 58/1.4) taken at Mawson Station, Antarctica. Looking toward the SW, with snow drifts beside the huts - the kitchen/mess to the left and the radio shack to the right with the bright light. All these buildings have now gone as the station has been rebuilt.

Copied from an old slide. The coastal plateau near the coast around Mawson typically is hard glassy blue ice and not really suited to skiing, but not far inland an area at Fischer Nunatak had suitable snow surfaces, so a field hut had been placed there. Taken near sunset during a skiing excursion in the Snowtrac vehicle, with the North Masson and David ranges in the background and Mt Hordern far away to the right. This is from some rolls of 'high speed" Ektachrome (160 ASA/ISO) which we developed while at Mawson. The results were reasonable but gritty due to water shortages limiting washing. This has now been 'digitally cleaned' to some extent.

Copied from an old slide. The coastal plateau near the coast around Mawson typically is hard glassy blue ice and not really suited to skiing, but not far inland an area at Fischer Nunatak had suitable snow surfaces, so a field hut had been placed there. Needless to say, there were none of the lifts etc that make skiing somewhat less demanding in "civilised" ski fields! I had some rolls of 'high speed" Ektachrome (160 ASA) which we developed while at Mawson (under some difficulty). The results were reasonable but gritty due to water shortages limiting washing. See also my comment below about the developing process. This has now been 'digitally cleaned'.

From an old Kodachrome slide taken in 1966. The most convenient mountains to Mawson were the North Masson Range, some 24km inland up the plateau. At this point the ice was about 300 metres above sea level and the mountains rose maybe as much again. This was taken not long after our arrival at Mawson, when a group of us took a day's outing there to familiarise ourselves with the area and the vehicles (including a dog team).

From an old slide. Weddell seals are found around the Antarctica coast all year: in the summer on the rocky shores, or on the sea ice once that has formed. They are the only mammals to stay near the coast during winter, living under the sea ice and breathing (or hauling onto the surface) through holes they chew through the ice as it develops and then subsequently keep clear.

Copied from an old slide taken in 1966. Several old caravans had been permanently tied down at points away from Mawson for recreational trips: one such is the small orange dot in the distance beyond the VW (registration plate "Antarctica 3"). Another shot in the PiP. This was taken at a peak in the North Masson Range, known as "Rumdoodle" - now the official name for the area. The name came from a very popular (and still available) satirical book on Himalayan expeditions "The Ascent of Rumdoodle", which was often echoed by reality in the Antarctic. Details are here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ascent_of_Rum_Doodle

From an old slide taken in 1966. While up at Rumdoodle I was taken by the wide-angle reflections of the surrounding area in the shiny hub cap of the VW "Antarctica 3".