Mawson's Huts

Mawson's Hut, Antarctica
National Park	Antarctica
State	Australian Antarctic Territory, Australia
GPS Reference	Unknown
Built in	1912
Built by	Australasian Antarctic Expedition
Built for	Scientific Outpost/Exploration
Maintained By	Australian Antarctic Division; Mawson's Huts Foundation
Access By	Sea

Mawson's Huts are a collection of buildings located at Cape Denison, Commonwealth Bay, in the far eastern sector of the Australian Antarctic Territory, some 3000 km south of Hobart. The buildings were erected and occupied by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) of 1911-1914, led by geologist and explorer Sir Douglas Mawson. Mawson's Huts are of national and international heritage significance. They are rare in a world context as one of just six surviving sites from the Heroic Era of Antarctic exploration. The early 1900s was a period of great human adventure, exploration, research and discovery on Antarctica. The Australasian Antarctic Expedition was the only Heroic Era expedition organised, manned and supported primarily by Australians^[1]. The huts included a magnetograph hut, used to measure variations in the south magnetic pole; an absolute magnetic hut, which was used as a reference point for studies in the magnetograph hut; and the transit hut, an astronomical observatory. The most important building at the site is the winter living quarters, known as Mawson's Hut. This pyramid-roofed hut was home to the eighteen men of the AAE main base party in 1912, and the seven (including Douglas Mawson) who stayed on for an unplanned second year in 1913. The hut combines two sections - the living quarters and the workshop, prefabricated in Sydney and Melbourne respectively, and shipped to the site for construction in 1912 by the AAE team.

Conservation and heritage recognition

Expeditions undertaken by the Australian government (through the Australian Antarctic Division since the late 1970s) and private non-profit conservation organisations (notably the Mawson's Huts Foundation since 1997) have carried out conservation work on the huts. In addition to archaeological recording, removal of snow from inside the huts and ongoing maintenance, recent interventions (1998 and 2006) have been to encapsulate the failing timber roofs with new timber over-cladding in order to weatherproof the interiors. The site is recognised under the Antarctic Treaty as an Historic Site & Monument (since 1972), and placed within an Antarctic Specially Protected Area and an Antarctic Specially Managed Area (in 2004). It is also on Australia's National Heritage List, Commonwealth Heritage List and Register of the National Estate. The Australian Antarctic Division and the Australian Minister for the Environment & Water Resources released for public comment a new management plan for the Mawson's Huts Historic Site in July 2007: [1]. The plan sets the principles that will guide activities to preserve the heritage values of the site in the lead-up to the centenary of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition.

References

Australian Antarctic Division (2007) Mawson's Huts Historic Site Management Plan 2007-2012.
Mackay, R (2005) ‘Ice, icon and identity: the meaning of Mawson’s huts’. In Lydon, J & Ireland, T (eds) Object Lessons: Archaeology & Heritage in Australia.
Mawson, D (1915) Home of the Blizzard: being the story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914.
Pearson, M (1992). ‘Expedition huts in Antarctica: 1899-1917’. Polar Record 28, 167: 261-276.