tiabunna's photos

In afternoon sun, just before taking the little Renault 4CV to a major vehicle display.

From an old slide. The sealers and such have long since gone, thankfully. In 1968 a new industry arrived when Lindblad Expeditions began the first tourist trips to East Antarctica and Macquarie Island. This is part of that first ever tourist group to visit the island, returning to their ship the Magga Dan with some of the "locals" assisting. Several tourist ships now visit yearly. This group had no zodiacs for shore landings, as is now usual, so we backed the station tractor and trailer into the water as an improvised jetty to help get them to their ships' boat. Best viewed large on black.

From an old slide. Macquarie Island has had many shipwrecks over the years. Shortly after the island was first discovered in 1810, the Sydney Gazette carried the report of the discovery and "... several pieces of wreck of a large vessel on this island, apparently very old and high up in the grass ..." . Unfortunately the sealing gangs used any timber as firewood for rendering seal blubber, so any traces of that earlier mystery ship had long disappeared before we visited. How fascinating to have known its age and origin, and what a fertile source for speculation! In subsequent years many ships were wrecked on the island, the most recent prior to our visit being the "Gratitude" which was caught on a lee shore by an easterly gale in late 1898. This section of keel is all that remained in our time - and that, we expected, would be the last shipwreck there. What a surprise when the news bulletins in late 1988 carried reports that our own ship, the "Nella Dan" also dragged her anchor in an easterly gale and, after being stranded on the rocks near the Station, was finally hauled off and scuttled near the island.

From an old slide. Macquarie Island was found by sealers in 1810. They promptly exterminated the resident fur seals for their pelts, then began on the elephant seals for their blubber to extract oil. By the late 1800s, there were too few elephant seals for that to be viable, so they began on the penguins. These rusty boilers were "penguin digesters", used to cook countless thousands of King and Royal penguins for their oil. The trade was halted after the Australian Antarctic Expedition of 1911-13 raised public consciousness of what was being done. The explorer Sir Douglas Mawson began a campaign to have the island declared a sanctuary, though even in 1919 there were efforts (which were opposed) to revive the industry. To quote the photographer Frank Hurley (who had wintered in Antarctica with Mawson and Shackleton) writing in the Sydney Morning Herald of 17 August 1919: "I can only term the destruction there as grim tragedy, the remembrance of which makes me shudder still.... The penguins are mustered like sheep and ...." ... (I shall spare you the details) "....it is one of the most pitiful sights I have ever witnessed..... This wanton butchery takes a toll of some 150,000 birds annually..." These digesters are at a point known as The Nuggets, others are at Lusitania Bay on the east coast. These remains of the "bad old days" were still there in 2005, but they are in areas where tourists are not allowed to land. Maybe appropriately, best viewed on black (press Z).

From an old slide. Toward the end of winter, the bull elephant seals arrive and stake out "their" patch of beach to establish a harem. This is a mature bull with the fully developed extended nose which leads to their name. Yes, the island does have reasonably frequent "freeze-ups" during the year, most for only several days. Best viewed on black.

From an old slide. This is an immature Southern Elephant Seal putting on a threat display. He's probably about two years old, with what looks like a moulting female resting behind. Surrounding him is some of the giant kelp which grows around the shores of Macquarie Island and is tangled around the beaches.

From an old slide. The sad record is that when Macquarie Island was discovered by sealers in 1810, they promptly began killing the many fur seals for their pelts. One ship alone was recorded to have taken over 35,000. In total, over 200,000 were taken by the early 1820s: by then the fur seal population had been exterminated and nobody even knows what species had been there. When the ANARE station began operation in 1948 a few fur seals were found in isolated areas, but there was no record of a pup being born there until 1954. Numbers gradually increased and, in 1968, we found small numbers around the rocks on North Head. I understand the population has been increasing substantially since the early 1980s. But what species is this? I am no sealologist (if there's such a word), but three species now are living at Macquarie - the most common being the Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella) , the next most common the Subantarctic fur seal (A. tropicalis) ; and the New Zealand fur seal (A. forsteri). To make it even more complicated, it seems they all are hybidising! I'll take a guess that this is an Antarctic fur seal and will be happy to be corrected by an expert.

From an old slide. Gentoo penguins are found right around the sub-Antarctic and right around the beaches of Macquarie Island. This one, with its two eggs, was not far from the station.

From an old slide. Typical beach scene on the east coast on one of the few "good weather" days. Giant Petrel nearest camera, Skua Gulls and more Giant Petrels beyond, with Dominican Gulls in and over the water. Elephant Seals to the right, and the usual tangle of giant kelp on the beach. Penguins way in the distance.