1978 expedition to renovate the 1912–13 Australasian Antarctic Expedition base hut

• Published in: Polar Record
• Main Author: Ledingham, R. B.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1979
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctic; Polar Record
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247400002424; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247400002424

Following a recent upsurge of interest in Australia's heritage and association with the Antarctic, plans were formulated in the winter of 1977 to place ashore a small expedition at Cape Denison to assess the state of the various huts left by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) in 1912–13 (Davis, 1919; Mawson, 1915). Particular interest centred on the living and working hut and the party was to make recommendations as to whether it could be either renovated in situ or returned to Australia and re-erected in a place suitable for public viewing. The decision to send a summer expedition was reached after numerous enquiries from sources within Australia and overseas, dating back to a report in 1962 when the first Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE) to visit Cape Denison found the hut in need of repair. All records since 1930 report the gradual whittling away of the surface timber, particularly on the windward side, and the gradual shrinking of the tongue and groove pine with which the roof and verandah are clad.