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Whaling and Sealing
Whalers and sealers used Hobart as a base and collected skins and whale oil. -
The heroic era: the explorers
Ernest Shackelton visited Antarctica with several Australians. These included the captain John King Davis and Douglas Mawson. Mawson led a group to be the first to climb mount Erebus and to reach the South Magnetic Pole. They retuned in 1911, mapping over 3000 km of the coastline. -
Flying, mapping and claiming
George Wilkins becomes forst person to explore Antarctica by aircraft.
Mawson used this to map the coastline. -
Science takes over
Australia opens its first permanent base in in Antarctica. It was named Mawson station after Douglas Mawson. It was used to conduct experiments and explore inland. -
Davis station
Davis station was opened in a large area without ice. -
Casey station
Casey station was built. -
Law base
Law base was opened. Named after Phillip Law who was in charge of the program between 1949 and 1966 -
Antarcttica reached on foot
Two Australians and a New Zealander reached Antarctica on foot.