Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2015L00160:body:0:p3
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2015L00160
Segment Type: other
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Character Range: 5771–8630

met, and it has been structured in accordance with the guidelines for Management Plans for Places on the Commonwealth Heritage List (DEH 2006).
The plan focuses on the buildings and structures associated with the early era of station operations. Many of these buildings are not occupied and do not have an active role in present day station life.

1.2 Objectives and conservation philosophy
This plan has been developed to provide a framework for on and off site actions to identify, protect, conserve and transmit the Commonwealth Heritage values of Mawson – the heritage of Mawson should be valued, protected and understood.
Valued:  The buildings of Mawson reflect the evolution of Antarctic construction methods spanning several decades. Retained buildings need to form a useful and important role in modern station life.
Protected:  Interventions should protect and conserve the integrity of the station's heritage features. Decisions and priorities will be guided by an understanding of the features and the type of use that made each building significant.
Understood:  Interpretation activities should enrich the experience and understanding of Mawson by AAD staff, other Australian Antarctic program personnel and the broader community.

2. Mawson station – an overview

2.1 Environment
Mawson (67°36'S, 62°53'E) lies some 5200 km south-south-west of Perth and occupies an ice-free rock outcrop 900 m x 700 m (63 ha) on the south-eastern shore of Horseshoe Harbour, in Holme Bay, Mac.Robertson Land (Figure 1). It is the oldest, continuously occupied facility south of the Antarctic circle. Resupply vessels usually anchor within 100 m of the outcrop. The station site rises to 33 m above sea level. To the east and west are steep ice cliffs from which small icebergs calve.
The local geology is made up of ice-polished, moraine-mantled granite (charnockite) known as Mawson Rock. There are few flat areas, and roche moutonnées formed by past northward movement of ice have produced a micro-topography of smooth southern slopes and step-like cliff-lets on the northern aspect.
Within 35 km inland of Mawson the surface of the ice sheet rises to around 1000 m above sea level. From about 15 to 50 km south and south-west, four parallel narrow chains of nunataks collectively known as the Framnes Mountains (Mount Henderson and the Masson, David and Casey Ranges) project 300 to 400 m above the ice sheet and from 900 m to 1500 m above sea level.
The area's terrestrial vegetation is limited to non-marine algae, mosses and lichens. Mosses (Bryum pseudo-triquetrum, Grimmia lawiana and Grimmia antarctici) typically form cushions, turfs or hummocks in gravels with northerly aspects and in the path of melt water. Twenty-one species of lichen have been recorded. The most common are Buellia frigida and Xanthoria elegans.
Weddell seals (Leptonychotes