 |
| 2010 |
July 2 -
October 10 |
The Quest for the South Magnetic Pole exhibition will be located at the
National Maritime Museum, 2 Murray Street, Darling Harbour. |
December 6 -
March 6 2011 |
The Quest for the South Magnetic Pole exhibition will be located at the
National Archives, Queen Victoria Street, Parkes. |
2011 |
April 2 -
June 10 |
The Quest for the South Magnetic Pole exhibition will be located at the
Warrnambool Art Gallery, 165 Timor Street, Warrnambool. |
July 16 -
September 4 |
The Quest for the South Magnetic Pole exhibition will be located at the
Port Pirie Regional Art Gallery, 3 Mary Elie Street, Port Pirie. |
| TBA |
The South Australian and Western Australian museums will collaborate to organise an exhibition in late 2011
to celebrate the centenary of the 1911-1914 Australasian Antarctic Expedition. Watch this site for details. |
2012 |
| January 3 |
The Mawson 2012 Centenary Expedition departs from Hobart. This is a SA Museum supported Antarctic voyage to celebrate the centenary of Douglas Mawson’s ground-breaking Aurora Expedition (1911-14). This is truly a once in a lifetime event.The 18 night voyage departs from Hobart on 3 January 2012, and museum staff accompanying the vessel will include the SAM Director, geologist Suzanne Miller. The intention is to make a landing at Mawson’s Huts as near to the exact centenary date of the original landing in early January 1912, as well as visiting several of the sub-Antarctic islands, before returning to Bluff (Invercargill), New Zealand. The voyage will be aboard the Orion, the most modern, environmentally friendly and comfortable vessel (including retractable stabilisers for those great Southern Ocean waves!) currently plying Antarctic waters. Click here to download a brochure. |
Mooted but not yet confirmed |
| A talk by Valerie Sitters who is based
at the State Library of SA and has been researching the life of Wilkins. |
| A short talk by Jim Jago on Mawson's first visit to the Flinders Ranges. |
Recent Events
|
On the evening of 21 June - mid-winters day - in the Pacific Gallery of the South Australian Museum,
the Adelie Blizzard publication was finally launched some ninety eight years after it was first created on a typewriter in Mawson’s hut in the Antarctic.
The event, organized by the Waterhouse Club, Friends of Mawson and the Friends of the State Museum was a resounding success. Extra seating was hurriedly produced
and the sales desk was swamped with orders.
Don Howell, a FoM committee member and very active proponent for the publication, was the MC for the evening and he introduced Valmai Hankel from the State Library
who spoke about the process of producing the Adelie Blizzard. She was followed by Mawson’s great grand daughter, Emma McEwin, who officially launched the publication.
Emma spoke of the purpose of the newspaper as explained in the first issue – "the crystallisation of our ideas, an additional means of social enjoyment, and,
incidentally we hope, to voice the spirit of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition".
For information on pricing and to order this collector's item you may download a brochure here.
Bear in mind that FoM members receive a 10% discount. |
| On Friday 19 March Friends of Mawson members were privileged to listen to an excellent talk by Dr Ian Godfrey, Head of Department of Materials Conservation,
Shipwreck Galleries, W.A. Museum, on the continuing conservation efforts with respect to Mawson’s Hut. Ian gave us an insight into the work involved in dealing with conservation of manmade structures in such a hostile environment. As mentioned in a previous newsletter, one of the highlights of the 2009-2010 summer season at Mawson’s Hut was the rediscovery of the remains of the Vickers air-tractor. Ian showed several photos of the newly recovered material and indicated that one of the aims of the work next season will be to locate as much as possible of the air tractor. Ian also mentioned the problems of conserving such material. One of the methods used to preserve the hut itself is to place lamninate over the roof. Apart from before and after photos of the main hut, Ian also showed us some photos of the dilapidated state of some of the other structures (e.g. the Magnetograph House) at Cape Denison. |
| On an unseasonally hot Sunday 8 November a large group of 50 or so
enjoyed a guided tour of The Cedars, the home of Hans Heysen. The tour included his studio and house, both of which contain many of Heysen's paintings.
Participants were especially fortunate as the tour was conducted by Mr Alan Campbell, the curator at the Cedars, who was able to share many
"behind the scenes" insights into the life and times of Heysen and his family at The Cedars. He also spoke about Sir Douglas's visits
and in particular, their shared
interest in, and concerns about, conservation, and also their love of The Flinders. The tour was followed by a wonderful, country-style afternoon tea. |
| On 11th October members of FOM were given a tour of the cemetery of
St Judes church , Brighton, which dates back to 1854.
The tour was ably lead by Jill Golley, President of Brighton Historical Society. Of particular note was the quite modest grave of
Sir Douglas Mawson, Brighton's most illustrious resident and one of Australia's greatest explorers. On his death in 1958 he was awarded a
Commonwealth and State funeral. Some improvements were made to the grave earlier this year. An interesting commentary on other distinguished
early South Australian residents laid to rest in the cemetery was also given. |
| On 1 October 2009 more than 30 of us enjoyed a talk on the Trans-Antactic Expedition
of 1957-1958 given by expeditioner Dr Jon Stephenson. The talk, of great interest and laced with humour, covered some of the difficulties
encountered as well as the personality differences between the leader, Vivian Fuchs and a somewhat rebellious Edmund Hillary.
Jon was the only Australian in the team which used large snow-cats and smaller vehicles as well as dog teams. Jon was one of the dog team drivers and he
spoke with warmth and affection for the dogs. He was also geologist and surveyor for the expedition. Following the talk there were a lot of questions,
ably answered by Jon, then a pleasant round of socialising with some Adelaide Hills wines (generously supplied by Hahndorf Winery) along with cheese and biscuits. |
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