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Casey
last update: Oct 29, 2010 01:26 PM
Formerly known as Wilkes Station
History:
The history of Casey is a complex story of three stations that evolved in the area, beginning with the US-built Wilkes Station established in the 1957-58 International Geophysical Year (IGY) and handed over to ANARE in January 1959. Its deterioration under the relentless build up of snow forced Australia to abandon it. Work commenced in 1964 on a replacement Station called 'Repstat'. In 1969 the new station was put in use and got the new name Casey, named after Richard Casey, a government minister and Governor-General who had strongly supported the Australian Antarctic program since Mawson's BANZARE expedition in 1929.
Casey Repstat, as it was called during building, was built on a raised platform to discourage snow build up, and featured a covered walkway nicknamed 'The Tunnel', linking living and working areas.
Although the design worked, materials used to construct the station had limited corrosion resistance. This, together with the fact that it was built close to the sea, caused extensive corrosion limiting the life of this innovative station. The problem can still be seen today at the Wilkes 'Hilton' field hut at Wilkes.
In 1978 work began on the buildings of a new Casey station a kilometre away, which was commissioned in 1988. The sixteen buildings of the present Casey Station were officially opened in December 1988 and the Station is used year round.
The old Wilkes station is now almost permanently frozen in ice and is only occasionally revealed during a big thaw every four or five years. Many objects remain embedded in the ice, and visitors are often able to see the remains of the station through the ice, seemingly exactly as it was left.
What remains at Wilkes are a number of barracks buildings known as 'Clements' huts, and the remnants of the semi-cylindrical canvas store buildings known as 'Jamesway' huts. . The transmitter hut (the Wilkes Hilton) remains as a field hut. The old station has heritage status.
There is also a series of storage dumps and a considerable amount of rubbish resulting from 12 years of occupation. There are three sites in close proximity to each other. Wilkes, the 'Casey tunnel' site and the new Casey Station, demonstrate the changing attitude towards the removal of waste and used materials, and the evolution of Antarctic building technologies.
Location: Vincennes Bay, Windmill Islands - (66°17' S 110°31' E)
Notes:
An Antarctic Meteorological Centre, established at Casey in 1993 to provide high resolution satellite imagery to the World Meteorological Centre in Melbourne, is now becoming the focus for weather and climate research in this vital part of the global weather system.
Science programmes carried out:
Science is directed by the Science Strategy 2004/05-2010/11, developed by the Antarctic Science Advisory Committee and approved by the Australian Government in October 2004. Its four priority programs are:
- Ice, ocean, atmosphere and climate
- Southern Ocean ecosystems
- Adaptation to environmental change
- Impact of human activities in Antarctica
Area and buildings:
There are 16 buildings at the Base.
Interesting Trivia:
Weather Conditions: +9C°C maximum temperature, -41C°C minimum temperature
Source:
