Heard Island Archaeological Survey 1986-1987

• Other Authors: LAZER, ESTELLE (hasPrincipalInvestigator), LAZER, ESTELLE (processor), MCGOWAN, ANGELA (hasPrincipalInvestigator), MCGOWAN, ANGELA (processor), Australian Antarctic Data Centre (publisher)
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Australian Antarctic Data Centre
• Subjects: society; ARCHAEOLOGICAL AREAS; EARTH SCIENCE; HUMAN DIMENSIONS; HUMAN SETTLEMENTS; CULTURAL FEATURES; INFRASTRUCTURE; SEALS/SEA LIONS/WALRUSES; BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION; ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES; MAMMALS; CARNIVORES; SEALING; FIELD SURVEYS; FIELD INVESTIGATION; HELICOPTER; SHIPS; GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR; OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN > HEARD AND MCDONALD ISLANDS; Southern Ocean; Kerguelen; Heard Island; Kerguelen Islands; Heard; McDonald Islands; walrus*
• Online Access: https://researchdata.ands.org.au/heard-island-archaeological-1986-1987/945931; https://doi.org/10.4225/15/587309ec30c4d; https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/Heard_Archaeology_1986_1987; http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-617536

See the downloadable report for more details. Historical context of Heard Island (taken from the report) There is some controversy as to when Heard Island was first sighted and when the first landing occurred. Initially, Captain John J. Heard of the American barque Oriental and after whom the island was named, was credited with having first sighted Heard Island in November 1853, during his voyage from Boston to Melbourne using the great circle route. The explanation offered for such a late discovery of Heard Island when the nearby Kerguelen Islands had already been discovered as long ago as 1772 was based on a combination of two factors. Increased interest in travelling to Australia during the gold rush years of the 1850s and the suggestion by Maury, the Director of the US Naval Observatory, that the use of the great circle route might result in faster passages meant that more vessels were travelling further to the south after they passed the Cape of Good Hope. That these factors had an impact on the sighting of Heard Island is borne out by the number of vessels that reported the presence of Heard and the nearby McDonald Islands between 1853 and 1855. Captain McDonald of the English sealer, Samarang, saw Heard Island and discovered the McDonald Islands in January, 1854. Three further sightings of Heard Island were made by British vessels in the latter part of that year. Download the report for more.