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Macquarie Island – ANARE Station
last update: Nov 02, 2010 01:34 PM
History: Macquarie Island ANARE station was established on 25 March 1948 and has been operating continuously ever since.
Location: Macquarie Island , Southern Ocean – (54°29'58"S 158°57'00"E)
Notes:
From when it was first discovered, Macquarie Island was also of interest to scientists. The Russian expedition led by Thaddeus von Bellinghausen collected flora and fauna on the island in 1820. Charles Wilkes's US Exploring Expedition and two New Zealand scientists, JH Scott and A. Hamilton, followed. Joseph Burton spent three and a half years from 1896 collecting specimens while working with oiling parties on the island. Scientists with Captain Robert Scott in 1901 and Sir Ernest Shackleton in 1909 also collected specimens on the island.
In 1911, Australia's Sir Douglas Mawson established the island's first scientific station. In addition to conducting geomagnetic observations and mapping the island, studies were made of the island's botany, zoology, meteorology and geology. The Macquarie Island expedition also established the first radio link between Australia and Antarctica by setting up a radio relay station on Wireless Hill that could communicate with both Mawson's main expedition group at Commonwealth Bay, and Australia.
From 1913 to 1915 the meteorological observations begun by Mawson's group were continued by the Commonwealth Meteorological Service but discontinued after the loss of the relief ship Endeavour with all crew and passengers in 1914. The Ross Sea party of Shackleton's Trans-Antarctic Expedition on Aurora visited the island in 1915, and Mawson returned aboard Discovery in 1930 with the British, Australian and New Zealand Research Expedition.
The island was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1933 and, with the establishment of the Tasmanian National Parks and Wildlife Service in 1971, Macquarie Island became a conservation area. It was upgraded to a state reserve in 1972 and in 1978 was renamed the Macquarie Island Nature Reserve. In 1998 Macquarie Island was granted World Heritage status.
Named after an early governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie, the small size of Macquarie Island belies its importance in the history, geoscience and ecology of the Southern Ocean.
Science programmes carried out:
- Biology
- Fur seals on Macquarie Is
- Geosciences
- Macca mafics: a geological perspective
- Human Impacts
- Mapping
- Medicine
Area and buildings:
There are 56 buildings at Macquarie Island.
When field work is done, the scientists travel mostly by foot although inflatable rubber boats (IRBs) may be used if the weather permits. No vehicles are used in the field.
They use one of the seven huts that offer refuge at various places on the island. The size, construction and local environment vary from hut to hut, giving each its own unique character. They do, however, have two things in common: they are warm and dry and are a very welcome sight for a weary traveller.
Huts that offer refuge on the east coast are:
- Brothers Point
- Green Gorge
- Waterfall Bay
- Hurd Point
The hut along the west coast is Bauer Bay.
Interesting Trivia:
Weather Conditions: +13C°C maximum temperature, -9C°C minimum temperature
Source:
