Sir Douglas Mawson: Slide Show

Sir Douglas Mawson: 7:30 Report

Sir Douglas Mawson: Later Life

Sir Douglas Mawson was the only surviver of his big Antarctic trip. When he got back he married his fiancé. Her name was Pequita Delprat. He later had 2 daughters (Patrica who was born in 1915 and Jessica who was born in 1917) who he loved dearly. 15 years after he went to Antarctica he went back again to do more exploring. For the rest of his life he worked as a professional geologist at the University of Adelaide. He died in 1958 at the age of 76.

Sir Douglas Mawson: Achievements

His team was the first to climb Mount Erebus and first to reach the Magnetic Pole. In 1911, when he was 30 years of age, he became the leader of the first Australasian Expedition to Antarctica. Explore Coastal regions of Antarctica closest to Australia. His trek was described as the greatest story of lone survival in polar exploration.

Sir Douglas Mawson: Details of his Journey

The idea of his journey came to him when he was 26 years old. He joined an expedition, lead by British Explorer Sir Ernest Shackelton. Mawson selected his team for the Australasion expedition and his ship "Aurora" sailed through 1500km of pack ice to the coast of Antarctica When he got there he and his crew built a hut which would be there home base and they named it "Home of the Blizzards". In Spring, 1912, lots of parties of explorers set out on foot. Mawson took with him, Swiss Scientist, Dr. Xavier Mertz and Lieutenant Belgrave Ninnis and a team of Greenland Huskies to pull their sleds. Mawson's party travelled East for thousands of kilometres, mapping the coastline, collecting geological samples and discovering huge glaciers. Only 5 weeks into the journey, Ninnis disappeared down a crevasse with a team of dogs carrying most of there food. Mawson and Mertz were forced to turn back and shot and ate their remaining huskies. Mertz became sick and eventually died too. Mawson did not know that the reason he died was because of the vitamin A in the dogs liver that was toxic to the human body. Mawson fell into a cevasse but was saved by a rope. He later wrote in his diary that he was tempted to cut the rope and give up. He decided to continue and pulled himself through more than 160km of blizzard snow and finally reached headquarters.

Sir Douglas Mawson: Early Life

Sir Douglas Mawson was born on the 5th of May, 1882, at Shipley, Yorkshire, England. he was the second son of Robert Ellis Mawson and his wife Margret Ann. The family moved to Rooty Hill ,near Sydney in 1884. Douglas was educated at Rooty Hill and at Fort Street Model School in Sydney. At the University of Sydney in 1899-1901 he studied mining, engineering and graduated in 1902. In 1903 he was introduced to scientific exploration. In November 1907 Sir Ernest Shackelton, leader of the British Antarctic Expedition, visited Douglas in Adelaide while studying South Australia on there way South. Douglas got interested in Antarctica and Sir Ernest Shackelton agreed Douglas could go with them.