EXPEDITION DEPARTS FOR THE ANTARCTIC IN SEARCH OF AIRCRAFT
AND CONSERVATION OF MAWON’S HISTORIC HUTS
Sydney Nov 27---A ten person team departs Hobart next week (Thursday Dec 3) to continue
conservation work on the fragile wooden huts at Cape Denison that were the base for two years of
the 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expeditiion (AAE) led by Sir Douglas Mawson and also to search
for the remains of the first aircraft taken to the icy continent.
While most efforts will concentrate on the recovery and treatment of artefacts inside the main hut
specialist equipment including a magnetometer will be used to locate the fuselage of the Vickers
monoplane Mawson took south to use as an air tractor.
The wings were removed after it crashed in Adelaide on its first flight in Australia just days before
being loaded onto the ship taking the 31 strong expedition to the Antarctic. The pilot was sent home
to England in disgrace while the fuselage was used as an air tractor to tow sledges.
“It was not a great success in this role and Mawson later sent the engine back to Vickers in the UK
after his return top Australia in February 1914,” said David Jensen AM Chairman and CEO of the
Mawson’s Huts Foundation which is staging the expedition, the eighth financed and organised by the
Foundation since it was established in 1997.
This year’s programme is being assisted with a Grant under the Federal Government’s Jobs Fund
project. Other work planned will include the further removal of ice from within the main hut, the
treatment and conservation of artefacts at the special conservation laboratory established at the
site, the installation of a wind turbine to harness the elements at what is the world’s windiest place
at sea level , a search for a fossil beach millions of years old and not seen since 1914, the repair to
damaged shelving inside the hut and an aerial survey of the Cape Denison site using specially
designed kites.
The team will spend nearly seven weeks on the ice before returning to Hobart at the end of January.
They are being transported onboard the French Government supply vessel L’Astrolabe which
services the French scientific base at Dumont D’Urville. All equipment and personally will be
helicoptered to the site about six to seven days after leaving Hobart.
“The Foundation works in close partnership with the Australian Antarctic Division which approves all
work carried out at the site and each expedition takes nearly 12 months planning,” said Mr
Jensen.”Extensive works has already been completed on the main hut which consists of the living
and workshop area with the roofs of both overclad with timber of the exactly the same dimension
and from the same source in Finland as the original timber.”
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FOR NEWS EDITORS:
Team members will be available for interview at the Old Woolstore Hotel, Hobart at 10.30 am next
Thursday Dec 3.
Please contact Rob Easther, Expedition Manager, Mawson’s Huts Foundation 0419 337 169 to
arrange interviews
For more details on the Expedition please call:
David Jensen AM
Chairman and CEO
0414 333381
Or
Rob Easther
0419 337169
NEWS 
