tiabunna's photos

From an old 1966 slide. Snowtrac vehicle fitted with experimental sounding equipment for measuring the ice thickness. View looking north over Mawson (below the brow of the ice, just right of the vehicle) and showing the relative steepness of the climb to the plateau.

From an old 1966 slide. At about Midwinter, an Emperor penguin paid an unexpected visit. After a stroll around the harbour it wandered away again.

From an old 1966 slide. Another photo from the Midwinter celebrations. The bar was the station's social centre.

From an old 1966 slide. Going back to the "heroic" era of Shackleton, Mawson and Scott, Antarctic expeditions have always celebrated Midwinter on 21 June. This is probably the world's most international holiday, celebrated equally by Australians, Japanese, Russians, Americans, French, Poles, and all the many other nationalities with Antarctic stations: whatever their nation's politics and whatever their religion. In the "old" days before satellite communications, there often were "radio blackouts" for some time..... This was the only time all year when everyone went "formal".

From an old 1966 slide. Looking west past the workshop (at right) past the Mawson station vehicles and some of the husky pups..

From an old 1966 slide. This is one of the Snowtrac vehicles on the edge of the Antarctic plateau, near Mt Henderson just outside Mawson station. The surface is blue ice and how else would a skier travel except in a Porsche-powered vehicle? :) Yes, the Snowtracs did indeed have Porsche industrial engines.

From an old 1966 slide. This was the view from the meteorological office window as midwinter drew around. Looking across the frozen harbour toward the north, with icebergs showing as mirages.

From an old 1966 slide. This was a time exposure of the aurora to the east of Mawson, looking past a living hut named "Balleny" (the living huts were all named after early Antarctic explorers). To give some idea of the intensity of some auroras, this was taken on 25 ISO film!

From a 1966 slide. Mawson lies under the auroral oval, the annular zone around the south magnetic pole where auroras are most prevalent. In plain language, there was an aurora most nights. This is from one of the Ektachrome films we "home developed" while there.