![Air-tractor1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Air-tractor1.jpg)
The air-tractor sledge was a converted
fixed-wing aircraft
A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air flying machine, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using wings that generate lift caused by the aircraft's forward airspeed and the shape of the wings. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinc ...
taken on the 1911–1914
Australasian Antarctic Expedition, the first plane to be taken to the
Antarctic
The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...
.
[Bickel 2000, p. 39.]
Expedition leader
Douglas Mawson had planned to use the
Vickers R.E.P. Type Monoplane
The Vickers R.E.P. Type Monoplanes were a series of single-engined monoplane aircraft built by Vickers prior to the outbreak of the First World War. They were developed from a French design for which Vickers had purchased a license, with eight ...
as a reconnaissance and
search and rescue
Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...
tool, and to assist in publicity, but the aircraft crashed heavily during a test flight in
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
, only two months before Mawson's scheduled departure date. The plane was nevertheless sent south with the expedition, after having been stripped of its wings and metal sheathing from the fuselage.
Engineer
Frank Bickerton
Francis Howard Bickerton (15 January 1889 – 21 August 1954) was an English treasure hunter, Antarctic explorer, soldier, aeronaut, entrepreneur, big-game hunter and movie-maker. He not only made a major contribution to the Australasian Anta ...
spent most of the 1912 winter working to convert it to a
sledge, fashioning brakes from a pair of geological drills and a steering system from the plane's
landing gear
Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin ...
. It was first tested on 15 November 1912, and subsequently assisted in laying depots for the summer sledging parties, but its use during the expedition was minimal.
Towing a train of four sledges, the air-tractor accompanied a party led by Bickerton to explore the area to the west of the expedition's base at
Cape Denison
Cape Denison is a rocky point at the head of Commonwealth Bay in George V Land, Antarctica. It was discovered in 1912 by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911–14) under Douglas Mawson, who named it for Sir Hugh Denison of Sydney, a pa ...
. The freezing conditions resulted in the jamming of the engine's pistons after just , and the air-tractor was left behind. Some time later it was dragged back to Cape Denison, and its frame was left on the ice when the expedition returned home in 1913.
In 2008, a team from the Mawson's Huts Foundation began searching for the remains of the air-tractor sledge; a seat was found in 2009, and fragments of the tail assembly a year later. The Mawson's Huts Foundation has undertaken extensive investigation using sophisticated equipment in 2009 and 2010. Results indicate that the air tractor, or parts of it, is still buried under of ice where it was abandoned at Cape Denison.
Background
Douglas Mawson had accompanied
Ernest Shackleton
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of ...
's 1907–09
British Antarctic Expedition. Along with
Edgeworth David
Sir Tannatt William Edgeworth David (28 January 1858 – 28 August 1934) was a Welsh Australian geologist and Antarctic explorer. A household name in his lifetime, David's most significant achievements were discovering the major Hunter V ...
and
Alistair Mackay
Alistair Forbes Mackay (22 February 1878 – ) was a Scottish physician, biologist, and polar explorer known for being the first, along with Australians Douglas Mawson and Edgeworth David, to reach the South Magnetic Pole on 16 Janua ...
, he had been part of a
man-hauled sledging expedition, the first to reach the area of the
South Magnetic Pole. Upon his return from Antarctica, he recommenced to his post as geology lecturer at the
University of Adelaide
The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...
.
[Riffenburgh (2009), p. 36] Despite an offer from
Robert Falcon Scott to join his
Terra Nova Expedition to reach the
Geographic South Pole, Mawson began planning his own Antarctic expedition.
[Riffenburgh (2009), pp. 36–37] Mawson's plan, which led to the
Australasian Antarctic Expedition, envisaged three bases on the Antarctic continent, collectively surveying much of the coast directly south of Australia. He approached Shackleton, who not only approved of his plan but was prepared to lead the expedition himself.
[Riffenburgh (2009), pp. 37–38] Although Shackleton withdrew from the expedition in December 1910, he continued to assist Mawson with publicity and fund-raising.
[Riffenburgh (2009), pp. 38–40]
Purchase
Mawson travelled to Britain in early 1911 to raise funds, hire crew, and purchase equipment.
[Riffenburgh (2009), p. 41] He considered taking a
plane
Plane(s) most often refers to:
* Aero- or airplane, a powered, fixed-wing aircraft
* Plane (geometry), a flat, 2-dimensional surface
Plane or planes may also refer to:
Biology
* Plane (tree) or ''Platanus'', wetland native plant
* Planes (gen ...
to the Antarctic, which could work as a reconnaissance tool, transport cargo, and assist with search and rescue. Crucially, as no plane had yet been taken to the continent, it could also be used to generate publicity.
[Riffenburgh (2009), p. 45] Unsure of the type of plane he should take, but considering a
Blériot, Mawson mentioned his plans to Scott's wife
Kathleen Scott, an aircraft enthusiast. She recommended he take a
monoplane
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...
, and conveyed his interest to Lieutenant
Hugh Evelyn Watkins of the
Essex Regiment. Watkins had connections with the ship and aircraft manufacturer
Vickers Limited
Vickers Limited was a British engineering conglomerate. The business began in Sheffield in 1828 as a steel foundry and became known for its church bells, going on to make shafts and propellers for ships, armour plate and then artillery. Entir ...
, which had recently entered into a licence agreement to build and sell aircraft in Britain designed by the Frenchman
Robert Esnault-Pelterie.
[Ayres (1999), p. 49][Burke (1994), p. 210] In a letter to Mawson on 18 May, Kathleen wrote:
On Kathleen Scott's advice, Mawson purchased a
Vickers R.E.P. Type Monoplane
The Vickers R.E.P. Type Monoplanes were a series of single-engined monoplane aircraft built by Vickers prior to the outbreak of the First World War. They were developed from a French design for which Vickers had purchased a license, with eight ...
, one of only eight built.
It was fitted with a five-cylinder R.E.P. engine developing , and had a maximum range of at a cruising speed of .
Its wingspan was , and its length . The pilot used a
joystick
A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...
for pitch and roll, with lateral control by
wing warping. Mawson opted for a two-seater version, in a tandem arrangement, with a spare ski undercarriage.
[Ayres (1999), p. 50] The total bill, dated 17 August 1911, came to
£955 4s 8d.
Mawson hired Watkins to fly the plane, and
Frank Bickerton
Francis Howard Bickerton (15 January 1889 – 21 August 1954) was an English treasure hunter, Antarctic explorer, soldier, aeronaut, entrepreneur, big-game hunter and movie-maker. He not only made a major contribution to the Australasian Anta ...
to accompany as engineer.
After Vickers tested the aircraft at
Dartford
Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and
is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...
and
Brooklands
Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...
,
P&O shipped the plane to Adelaide aboard the
steamship
A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...
''Macedonia'', at half the usual rate of freight.
Crash
A series of public demonstrations were planned in Australia to assist in fund-raising, the first of which was scheduled for 5 October 1911 at the
Cheltenham Racecourse
Cheltenham Racecourse at Prestbury Park, near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, hosts National Hunt horse racing. Its most prestigious meeting is the Cheltenham Festival, held in March, which features several Grade I races including the Chel ...
in Adelaide.
[Riffenburgh (2009), p. 49] During a test flight the day before, excessive pressure in the
fuel tank caused it to rupture, almost blinding Watkins. That problem resolved, Watkins took
Frank Wild, whom Mawson had hired to command a support base during the expedition, on another test flight the morning of the demonstration.
[Ayres (1999), pp. 55–56] In Watkins' account, which he addressed to Vickers' Aviation Department, he wrote: "
e were
E, or e, is the fifth letter and the second vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''e'' (pronounced ); plura ...
about 200 ft. up. I got into a fierce tremor, and then into an air pocket, and was brought down about 100 ft., got straight, and dropped into another, almost a vacuum. That finished it. We hit the ground with an awful crash, both wings damaged, one cylinder broken, and the Nose bent up, the tail in half, etc."
Although the two men were only slightly injured, the plane was damaged beyond repair. Mawson decided to salvage the plane by converting it into a motorised
sledge. He fitted the skis, and removed the wings and most of the sheathing to save weight.
In his official account of the expedition, ''The Home of the Blizzard'', Mawson wrote that the advantages of this "air-tractor sledge" were expected to be "speed, steering control, and comparative safety from
crevasse
A crevasse is a deep crack, that forms in a glacier or ice sheet that can be a few inches across to over 40 feet. Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the shear stress generated when two semi-rigid pie ...
s owing to the great length of the runners".
[Mawson (1996), p. 243] No longer needing a pilot, and believing him to be responsible for the crash, Mawson dismissed Watkins.
[Ayres (1999), p. 56][Riffenburgh (2009), p. 50]
The air-tractor sledge was taken to Hobart, where the expedition ship
SY ''Aurora'' was being loaded. It was secured on board in a crate lined with
tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal.
Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...
, which weighed far more than the sledge itself, on top of the ship's
forecastle
The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is the phrase " be ...
and two boat-skids.
[Mawson (1996), p. 11][Riffenburgh (2009), p. 56] To fuel the sledge, along with the
motor launch and the
wireless
Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...
equipment, the ''Aurora'' also carried of
benzine
Petroleum benzine is a hydrocarbon-based solvent mixture that is classified by its physical properties (e.g. boiling point, vapor pressure) rather than a specific chemical composition. This complicates distinction within the long list of petroleu ...
and of
kerosene
Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...
.
[Riffenburgh (2009), pp. 55–56] Fully loaded, the ship left Hobart on 2 December 1911.
[Mawson (1996), p. 13]
In Antarctica
![Hangar work](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Hangar_work.jpg)
The ''Aurora'' reached the Antarctic mainland on 8 January 1912, after a two-week stop on
Macquarie Island to establish a wireless relay station and research base.
[Riffenburgh (2009), p. 59] The expedition's main base was established in
Adélie Land
Adélie Land (french: Terre Adélie, ) is a claimed territory on the continent of Antarctica. It stretches from a portion of the Southern Ocean coastline all the way inland to the South Pole. France has administered it as one of five districts ...
, at
Cape Denison
Cape Denison is a rocky point at the head of Commonwealth Bay in George V Land, Antarctica. It was discovered in 1912 by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911–14) under Douglas Mawson, who named it for Sir Hugh Denison of Sydney, a pa ...
in
Commonwealth Bay
Commonwealth Bay is an open bay about 48 km (30 mi) wide at the entrance between Point Alden and Cape Gray in Antarctica. It was discovered in 1912 by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Douglas Mawson, who established the main ...
.
While the ''Aurora'' was unloading, a violent
whirlwind lifted the lid off the air-tractor's crate, throwing it . The main hut was erected immediately, but the strong winds meant that work on the air-tractor's hangar was delayed until March.
[Riffenburgh (2009), p. 69] When the winds abated, a by hangar was constructed next to the main hut, from empty packing cases.
Bickerton began work on the air-tractor sledge on 14 April 1912.
[Riffenburgh (2009), p. 80] His first job was to repair the sledge, which had been damaged in transit when a violent storm hit the ''Aurora''. A giant wave had slammed into the crate containing the sledge, driving the fuselage through its side.
[Riffenburgh (2009), pp. 56–57] With the repair completed, Bickerton began the serious work of converting the plane into a sledge. He constructed brakes from a pair of geological drills, and a steering system from the landing gear. Bickerton painted the engine and fuel tank black to absorb heat better and protect them from freezing.
[Robinson (2004), pp. 72–73] By June he had the engine running properly, and during a lull in the winds in early September he fitted the skis.
[Riffenburgh (2009), p. 93] Finally, he raised the fuselage off the ground to allow the propeller free movement.
[Robinson (2004), p. 72]
![Air-tractor in motion](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Air-tractor_in_motion.jpg)
On 27 October 1912, Mawson outlined the summer sledging program. Seven sledging parties would depart from Cape Denison, surveying the coast and interior of Adélie Land and neighbouring
King George V Land
George V Land is a segment of Antarctica part of the land claimed as part of the Australian Antarctic Territory, inland from the George V Coast. As with other segments of Antarctica, it is defined by two lines of longitude, 142°02' E and 153°4 ...
. They were required to return to the base by 15 January, when the ''Aurora'' was due to depart; any later, it was feared, and she would be trapped by ice. Bickerton was to lead one of the parties, which would use the air-tractor to haul four sledges and explore the coast to the west of the hut. Most of the parties left in early November, but Bickerton's Western party delayed until December, in the hope of avoiding the ferocious winter winds.
[Riffenburgh (2009), pp. 98–99] Work on the air-tractor sledge was delayed by the fierce winds, and the first trial took place on 15 November, between the main base and Aladdin's Cave—a depot which had been established on the plateau above Cape Denison.
The air-tractor reached a speed of , covering the , expedition member
Charles Laseron recorded, "in great style".
[Burke (1994), pp. 210–211] Soon, the sledge began hauling cargo up the slope, laying depots for the summer sledging parties.
[Henderson (2010), p. 30]
Broken
The Western party left Cape Denison on 3 December 1912.
[Burke (1994), p. 211] Accompanying Bickerton and the air-tractor were cartographer
Alfred Hodgeman
Alfred Hodgeman (8 August 1885 – January 1964) was an Australian architect and cartographer known for his involvement in the Australasian Antarctic expedition.
Biography
Alfred James Hodgeman was born in Adelaide, South Australia on 8 August 1 ...
and surgeon
Leslie Whetter.
[Riffenburgh (2009), p. 99] The air-tractor made slow progress hauling its train of sledges, and about out from the base its engine began experiencing difficulty.
Bickerton shut it down and the three set up camp. At 4 am the next morning the party set off again,
but the engine continued to struggle; oil ejected from an idle cylinder and the cylinder's lack of compression led Bickerton to suspect broken
piston rings to be the root of the problem. This would take only a matter of hours to fix. As he later recorded, "These thoughts were brought to a sudden close by the engine, without any warning, pulling up with such a jerk that the propeller was smashed. On moving the latter, something fell into the oil in the crank-case and fizzled, while the propeller could only be swung through an angle of about 30
egrees"
[Henderson (2010), pp. 30–31]
The party continued without the air-tractor, man-hauling the sledges to a point west of Cape Denison, and returned to base on 18 January 1913.
[Mawson (1996), p. 246][Riffenburgh (2009), p. 149] Mawson's
Far Eastern Party failed to return, and six men, including Bickerton, remained for an extra winter. On 8 February, just hours after ''Aurora'' left Commonwealth Bay after waiting for three weeks, Mawson staggered alone into base, his colleagues
Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis
Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis (22 June 1887 – 14 December 1912) was an English officer in the Royal Fusiliers and an Antarctic explorer who was a member of Douglas Mawson's 1911 Australasian Antarctic expedition.
Antarctica, 1911–19 ...
and
Xavier Mertz dead.
[Riffenburgh (2009), p. 145][Riffenburgh (2009), p. 151] As Mawson was being nursed back to health, Bickerton dragged the air-tractor sledge back to base to diagnose the reason for its failure. He found that the freezing conditions had caused the
engine oil to congeal, jamming the pistons.
He abandoned the sledge at Boat Harbour, next to the base. When ''Aurora'' returned to Cape Denison for the final time on 13 December 1913, only the engine and propeller were taken back to Australia.
[Henderson (2010), p. 31][Riffenburgh (2009), p. 171]
Recovery efforts
![Air-tractor 1931](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Air-tractor_1931.jpg)
The bill for the plane remained unpaid. In 1914 Vickers reminded Mawson, who had apparently forgotten the outstanding debt. Mawson wrote to Vickers director
Sir Trevor Dawson in November 1916, requesting the company write off the bill as a donation. His company buoyed by armaments contracts, Dawson agreed.
[Ayres (1999), p. 119] The next expedition to take a plane to the Antarctic was Shackleton's 1921–22
''Quest'' Expedition, but the
Avro Baby
The Avro 534 Baby (originally named the "Popular") was a British single-seat light sporting biplane built shortly after the First World War.
Development
The Avro Baby was a single-bay biplane of conventional configuration with a wire-braced wo ...
remained grounded owing to missing parts.
[Fisher and Fisher (1957), p. 452] Not until 16 November 1928—when
Hubert Wilkins and
Carl Ben Eielson
Carl Benjamin "Ben" Eielson (July 20, 1897 – November 9, 1929) was an American aviator, bush pilot and explorer. Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska is named in his honor.
In 1997 Carl Ben Eielson was inducted into the North Dakota Aviation Ha ...
flew for 20 minutes around
Deception Island
Deception Island is an island in the South Shetland Islands close to the Antarctic Peninsula with a large and usually "safe" natural harbor, which is occasionally troubled by the underlying active volcano. This island is the caldera of an act ...
, just over a year before Admiral
Richard Evelyn Byrd's first flight over the South Pole—was a plane airborne in the Antarctic.
[Burke (1994), p. 34][Burke (1994), pp. 60–63]
The frame of the air-tractor sledge remained on the ice at Boat Harbour where Bickerton had left it. The last expedition to Cape Denison to see the frame was in 1976; the next expedition, in 1981, could find no trace of it. The ice in that location does not move, and the implication is that the frame sank through the ice. It is therefore possible the frame is still there.
In 2007-8 a team from the
Mawson's Huts Foundation began to search for the remnants of the plane. Using photographs from 1913, 1931 and 1976 it was possible to derive transits between the frame and distant objects which located the frame to a small area of ice about 50 m from the hut. Comparison with a 1931 photograph by Frank Hurley confirmed this location.
The following summer (2008–9), the team extensively surveyed the area where they believed the air-tractor to be, using
ground-penetrating radar. A 3-metre deep trench was dug in a promising area, but nothing was found except fragments of seaweed indicating the overlying ice must have melted sometime in the past. Temperature records from the nearby
Dumont d'Urville Station
The Dumont d'Urville Station (french: Base antarctique Dumont-d'Urville) is a French scientific station in Antarctica on Île des Pétrels, Geologie Archipelago, archipelago of Pointe-Géologie in Adélie Land. It is named after exploration, exp ...
showed that there had been extended periods (each of about six weeks) of above average temperatures in 1976 and 1981, suggesting the ice around the harbour could have melted.
Dr Chris Henderson, the leader of the team, believes "the frame sank in situ to the rock surface, three metres below the present ice surface".
Next year (the 2009–10 season) further search was undertaken using
differential GPS
Differential Global Positioning Systems (DGPSs) supplement and enhance the positional data available from global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs). A DGPS for GPS can increase accuracy by about a thousandfold, from approximately to .
DGPSs c ...
,
bathymetry
Bathymetry (; ) is the study of underwater depth of ocean floors (''seabed topography''), lake floors, or river floors. In other words, bathymetry is the underwater equivalent to hypsometry or topography. The first recorded evidence of water de ...
equipment, ice
auger
Auger may refer to:
Engineering
* Wood auger, a drill for making holes in wood (or in the ground)
** Auger bit, a drill bit
* Auger conveyor, a device for moving material by means of a rotating helical flighting
* Auger (platform), the world's f ...
s, a magnetometer and a metal detector (whose sensor was placed down the ice auger holes after drilling).
[Henderson (2010), pp. 31–32] The ice showed signs of having extensively melted in the past, was about 3 metres thick and covering smooth rock which extended Northwards to become the harbour bottom. Visual examination of the harbour bottom during the bathymetry survey did not reveal any fragments of the frame in the first 30 metres of the harbour.
The most significant findings from the ice survey were a positive reading from the metal detector, coupled with a significant echo from the Ground Penetrating Radar, both from the small area where the frame is assumed to have sunk.
Parts of the Air Tractor are already known to exist: The Australian Antarctic Division has one wheel from the frame, and its ice-rudder – both of which were found in the harbour. In January 2009 the remains of a seat from the air-tractor were found in rocks near the hut, about from where the team believes the frame to be buried.
On 1 January 2010, a day of unusually low tide, 4 small capping pieces from the end section of the tail were found by the edge of the harbour. The tail and a section of fuselage had been removed from the rest of the air-tractor before it was abandoned in 1913, therefore this discovery did not shed much light on the location of the rest of the frame, but it suggests that "the frame, or parts of it, can survive for nearly 100 years in this environment".
The team returned to Cape Denison over the 2010–11 summer, but the crash of a French helicopter near Dumont d'Urville Station in October 2010 forced deployment of a much reduced team with no resources to continue the search.
The findings to date (2011) suggest that metal object(s) exist at a depth of 3 metres, on rock, in the location where the frame was last known to have been seen in 1976. This is likely to be the remains of Mawson's Air Tractor, but confirmation awaits a future opportunity.
See also
*
Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration
The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration was an era in the exploration of the continent of Antarctica which began at the end of the 19th century, and ended after the First World War; the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition of 1921–1922 is often cit ...
*
Aerosled
Aerosani (both singular and plural; russian: aэросани, literally aerosled) is a type of propeller-driven snowmobile, running on skis, used for communications, mail deliveries, medical aid, emergency recovery and border patrolling in northern ...
, propeller-driven sledge
*
Hydrocopter
*
Screw-propelled vehicle
A screw-propelled vehicle is a land or amphibious vehicle designed to cope with difficult terrain, such as snow, ice, mud, and swamp. Such vehicles are distinguished by being moved by the rotation of one or more auger-like cylinders fitted ...
Notes and references
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Australian Antarctic Division: Australasian Antarctic ExpeditionMawson's Huts Foundation
{{featured article
Exploration of Antarctica
1911 in Australia
1911 in Antarctica
1912 in Antarctica
1913 in Antarctica
1914 in Antarctica
Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration
Australasian Antarctic Expedition