Beating a path to Macquarie
On the 2 December 1911, the residents of the island state of Tasmania turned out in droves to farewell the heavily laden Aurora when it headed south from Hobart. Sir Douglas Mawson’s Australasian Antarctic Expedition was off. It had been an extraordinary year. Mawson had somehow managed to raise the necessary funds; appoint a team of scientists, engineers and ship’s crew; buy and provision a vessel; and obtain enough equipment and supplies to sustain a scientific expedition in the field for fourteen months. But it was not all plain sailing. A week after departure, Mawson wrote to his fiancé Paquita: ‘Our journey has been lengthened by a gale and encumbered decks – we scarcely thought to get through Tuesday last, but providence has asserted itself right from the beginning. The Starboard bulwarks, motorboat and part of the bridge have been broken up – repairs are however well underway…The Aurora rolls day and night without ceasing – I have been trying to sleep on a c...