Cape Denison is a rocky point at the head of

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 mai ...

in George V Land,

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

. It was discovered in 1912 by the

Australasian Antarctic Expedition The Australasian Antarctic Expedition was a 1911–1914 expedition headed by Douglas Mawson that explored the largely uncharted Antarctic coast due south of Australia. Mawson had been inspired to lead his own venture by his experiences on Ernest ...

(1911–14) under

Douglas Mawson Sir Douglas Mawson OBE FRS FAA (5 May 1882 – 14 October 1958) was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer, and academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Sir Ernest Shackleton, he was a key expedition leader duri ...

, who named it for Sir Hugh Denison of Sydney, a patron of the expedition. The cape was the site of the expedition's main base. Called by Mawson "the windiest place on Earth", the site experiences fierce

katabatic wind A katabatic wind (named from the Greek word κατάβασις ''katabasis'', meaning "descending") is a drainage wind, a wind that carries high-density air from a higher elevation down a slope under the force of gravity. Such winds are sometim ...

Historic site

The site, including

Mawson's Huts Mawson's Huts are the 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 Australas ...

, Boat Harbour and the historic artefacts contained within its waters, has been designated a Historic Site or Monument (HSM 77), following a proposal by Australia to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting. Unloading supplies at Cape Denison, 1911-1914 (6438929857)

Unloading supplies at Cape Denison, 1911-1914 (6438929857)

First aeroplane in Antarctica

The Air-tractor sledge, the first aeroplane to be brought to Antarctica (in 1912) was stationed at Cape Denison, although it never took to the air on the continent because it was damaged before being shipped there. The aircraft, a Vickers R.E.P. Type Monoplane (the first aircraft type to be built by

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public i ...

) was used briefly as a "propeller driven snow tractor" and then abandoned, as the pistons seized up due to the cold.

Relic found on 1 January 2010

On New Year's Day, 2010, the carpenter of the latest expedition to Cape Denison came across small (150mm) pieces of the fuselage tubing in the harbour at a very low tide (January 2010 was a month with a 'blue moon'). The pieces found were cut from the final section of the airframe and constituted the fittings for a rudder. An attempt had been made by Mawson's team to fabricate a metal ice rudder. This device replaced the original rudder (which did not work at the low speeds attained by the air tractor). The original rudder is preserved in Mawson's Hut at Cape Denison, while the ice rudder is in the Antarctic Division at Hobart, Tasmania. The remains of the fuselage are probably still buried under the ice near

. The ice is 3m deep and the remains are about 30m from the edge of the harbour. An attempt was to be made in December 2010 to excavate the site – a similar excavation in 2008 nearby did not find any remains, but since then more sophisticated equipment ( magnetometer, ground penetrating radar, metal detector, differential GPS, ice drilling) has been used and a more precise position found. However, this work has been delayed, in 2010-11 by logistical constraints, and in 2011-12 and 2012-13 by the presence of giant iceberg B9B which has locked in fast ice and prevented the French Antarctic supply vessel '' L'Astrolabe'' from entering Commonwealth Bay.Mawson's Huts Foundation > News
Accessed 11 October 2013

Adélie penguin colony

Cape Denison once supported a large colony of

Adélie penguins Adelie or Adélie may refer to: * Adélie Land, a claimed territory on the continent of Antarctica * Adelie Land meteorite, a meteorite discovered on December 5, 1912, in Antarctica by Francis Howard Bickerton * Adélie penguin The Adélie pen ...

with perhaps 150,000 members. In 2010, a large iceberg trapped the colony, making access to the sea difficult and threatening the lives of all the penguins. By 2013, only 10,000 remained and by 2016, they were reported in danger of being "wiped out". Media reports were exaggerated however and in response, the authors released this update: The 102 ha colony site has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International.

References

External links

Key Publishing Ltd Aviation Forums

Australian Antarctic Division > Home of the Blizzard > Cape Denison: Introduction
Accessed 10 October 2013. {{Authority control Important Bird Areas of Antarctica Penguin colonies Cape Denison Denison Cape Denison