Mawson’s scientific legacy
This year marked the centenary of Adelaide’s Sir Douglas Mawson’s pioneering Australasian Antarctic Expedition. While other Antarctic explorers went to explore the continent and its land, Mawson’s expedition went for a different purpose — scientific exploration. The expedition established several Antarctic bases from which to do research, these buildings still stand today.
In a unique event, several scientists and Antarctic experts revisited Mawson’s expedition and revealed what was discovered about Antarctica. The State Library’s Valerie Sitters talked about the expedition and what it set out to achieve; Jim Jago from UniSA discussed the geology of Antarctica; Martin Crowe looked at the meteorological features of the home of the blizzard; and John Kirkwood from the University of Queensland detailed the findings on the ecology of Antarctica. We were also be joined on a live-link to Australia’s Antarctic Mawson Station to find out what research is happening there 100 years after the original scientific expedition.
View videos from the event
View images from the event
Related Content
Read a blog post from Cosmos online by Freya Dougan-Whaite – Mawson’s scientific legacy
Read a blog post by Ben Lewis – The genesis of Antarctic science
Read a blog post by Martin Crowe – Reflections on living and working in Antarctica
A Centenary of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition event in association with the State Library of South Australia and Australian Antarctic Division
Dear Martin
20 years ago this year i served at Casey as the Station Leader. The time there impacted my life so profoundly I named my first born son Casey.
Best wshes for your presentation Tuesday night. I tried to attend but the tickets were sold out last week. It pleased me no end that the puiblic is very interested in our efforts there.
Kind regards to a fellow traveller
Noel Mifsud
Principal CBC
Hello Noel. My stay in Antarctica was certainly one of the high points of my life. As station leader you would have been there a full year. I was a summer visitor, there for three months. They don’t have meteorologists for the winter. Thanks for your good wishes. The evening seemed to go very well. Regards,