Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2015L00160:body:0:p5
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behind a flag and proclamation. Two vast sectors of the Antarctic continent formally became the Australian Antarctic Territory in 1933.
In the same decade, Norwegian explorers financed by the ship owner and whaling magnate Lars Christensen were also active in the area. They named a number of features, including the Framnes Mountains. Then, between 1946 and 1947 the United States' Operation Highjump expeditions photographed the coast from the air. Mawson pointed to these nations' interests in the Australian sector when convincing the Australian Government to establish a station. His preference was for a station in George V Land, the site of the main base of Mawson's 1911-1914 expedition.
Initial Australian efforts to reconnoitre the Antarctic coastline with a view to establishing a permanent base failed due to the lack of a ship suited to heavy ice conditions. In 1947, Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE) stations were established on Heard and Macquarie Islands however HMAS Wyatt Earp failed to penetrate far enough into sea ice to take the first step towards establishing a continental base.
By 1953, the inaugural Antarctic Division director, Dr Phillip Law, drew on American photographs and Norwegian charts to propose Horseshoe Harbour as a priority site to assess with a view to establishing a year-round station on rock. Australia became the fourth nation to have a permanent presence on the continent, after Britain, Argentina and Chile.

Station foundation
Law obtained approval to mount a small expedition to East Antarctica in early 1954 aboard the Danish ice-strengthened ship Kista Dan. The ship collected men and dogs from Heard Island, and on arrival confirmed that the Horseshoe Harbour site was suitable. On 13 February 1954, a party led by Law arrived with aircraft, supplies and six huts and raised the Australian flag. In a formal ceremony, in the name of Queen Elizabeth II and the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia, Law named the fledgling station in honour of Mawson.
The men were to share two 'barge caravans' until their living quarters were erected. The caravans were mounted on steel-sheeted runners and designed to float. They were designed by the first officer-in-charge (station leader) Bob Dovers, based on sleds used by the French in Adélie Land.
The first three buildings—the Electricians' Workshop, used by the officer-in-charge (OIC), the meteorologist and radio operator; the Electrical Store; and the Field Store (now removed)—were finished in the ten days before the ship departed. These Australian-designed aluminium-clad panel buildings could be erected in a day and were to become the preferred construction method throughout the Antarctic.
The first wintering party of ten members erected three other buildings, one of which remains—the living quarters – Biscoe Hut. Biscoe is the only timber frame