How did Douglas Mawson travel to Antarctica?
The expedition, using the ship SY Aurora commanded by Captain John King Davis, departed from Hobart on 2 December 1911, landed at Cape Denison (named after Hugh Denison, a major backer of the expedition) on Commonwealth Bay on 8 January 1912, and established the Main Base.
Why is Macquarie Island important to Douglas Mawson?
In 1911, Australia’s Sir Douglas Mawson established the island’s first scientific station. The Macquarie Island expedition also established the first radio link between Australia and Antarctica by setting up a radio relay station on Wireless Hill.
Do humans live on Macquarie Island?
The population of the base, constituting the island’s only human inhabitants, usually varies from 20 to 40 people over the year. A heliport is located nearby. In September 2016, the Australian Antarctic Division said it would close its research station on the island in 2017.
Why do people go to Macquarie Island?
Macquarie Island is home to a large variety of wildlife, including thousands of seals and millions of penguins, and has been designated a World Heritage site. The Australian Antarctic Division research station is located at the north end of the island. The island is 5km wide at its widest point and 34km long.
Can tourists visit Macquarie Island?
You can only visit Macquarie Island on a small ship expedition cruise, so, sharing an onboard home with up to 50 other passengers, hopping on and off to explore unfamiliar surrounds, you’ll need your sea legs.
What makes Macquarie Island unique?
Macquarie Island is the only island in the world composed entirely of oceanic crust and rocks from the mantle, deep below the earth’s surface. It is an island of unique natural diversity, a site of major geoconservation significance and one of the truly remarkable places on earth.
Is Macquarie Island Volcanic?
Macquarie, a volcanic mass with an area of 47 square miles (123 square km) and a general elevation of 800 feet (240 metres), measures 21 by 2 miles (34 by 3 km) and has several rocky islets offshore. …
Who discovered Macquarie Island first?
Frederick Hasselburg
Does Macquarie Island have snow?
Macquarie Island has an extreme oceanic climate with heavy cloud, strong westerly winds and an average rainfall of approximately 900 mm a year. Rain and snow are frequent, with only a few days each year with no precipitation.
How many animals live on Macquarie?
The biodiversity of the island does not end with its large birds and mammals. Although no reptiles or amphibians have been recorded on the island, there is a healthy terrestrial invertebrate community of approximately 300 species, with an estimated 10% thought to be endemic.
What animals can be found on Macquarie Island?
Macquarie Island wildlife
- Elephant seals.
- Hooker’s sea lion.
- Fur seals.
- King penguins.
- Royal penguins.
- Gentoo penguins.
- Southern rockhopper penguins.
- Albatrosses.
Is Tasmania near Antarctica?
Hobart is the natural gateway to Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Hobart’s deep water port is 1,390 nautical miles from the Antarctic mainland and 1,852 nautical miles from Australia’s Casey station. In Hobart you’ll find a great a range of fantastic Antarctic attractions.
What plants are on Macquarie Island?
There is not a tree or shrub, but long stretches of yellow tussock are varied with patches of the bright green Stilbocarpa polaris, the Macquarie Island cabbage, a plant resembling very fine rhubarb in growth, and of Pleurophyllum, a handsome Composite, with long, sage-green leaves and purple flowers.
What is the vegetation like on Macquarie Island?
All of the vegetation of Macquarie Island is herbaceous, with no woody species present. Megaherbs are a distinctive and unique feature of the sub-Antarctic, occurring nowhere else in Tasmania. There are two megaherbs on Macquarie Island – Stilbocarpa polaris (Macquarie Island cabbage) and Pleurophyllum hookeri.
Is Antarctica continent?
yes
What effects did removing cats from Macquarie Island have?
With the cats gone, the island’s rabbits (also non-native) began to breed out of control, ravaging native plants and sending ripple effects throughout the ecosystem. The findings were published in the Journal of Applied Ecology online in January.
How did cats and rabbits get onto Macquarie Island?
Rabbit and rodent invasion European rabbits were introduced to Macquarie Island in the 1870s, while ship rats and house mice were first recorded on the island in the 1890s. Following the eradication of feral cats in 2000, rabbits and rodents became the dominant pest species on the island.
Is Operation Cat Drop real?
Operation Cat Drop is the name given to the delivery, by the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force, of cats to a remote village in Sarawak, Borneo. The cats were delivered in crates, dropped by parachute, as part of a broader program of supplying cats to combat a plague of rats.