Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2013L01343:front:0:p28
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2013L01343
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Character Range: 71040–73803

the South Magnetic Pole.

The Absolute Magnetic Hut – used in association with, and as a reference point for, observations made in the Magnetograph House – was the other main structure achieved in 1912. This building, made from scraps of timber and anchored to the rock to prevent it from being blown away, was erected 52 m south of the Magnetograph House.

Anticipating being confined indoors throughout winter, in the early months the Main Base party killed numerous seals and penguins and stockpiled the meat for both dog and human consumption. While sledging to explore the unknown territory was an immediate priority, the first experimental journeys in February 1912 found most of the dogs to be in poor condition after the voyage, and major journeys were put off until after winter. The dogs sheltered in the eastern verandah of the workshop.

To civilise daily life, there was a good library for private and public reading, and gramophone records to enliven the evenings. Night watchman duty rotated, and with it came the rare opportunity of a bath (the men washed every eighteen days). In the tradition of polar quests, novice cooks experimented on tinned foods and locally slaughtered wildlife, with varying results, and diversions from board games to plays were encouraged.

Personal space was at a premium. The men made idiosyncratic alterations to their modest personal space which was limited to a bunk for all but Mawson; the commander, or 'the Dux', had his own cubicle. Many posted pictures on walls and marked their initials on their bunks. The convivial young group of Mertz, Ninnis, Bickerton and Madigan – a Swiss, two Britons and an Australian – occupied bunks in the southeast corner of the living section, 'Hyde Park Corner'. In the small dark room in the northwest corner, Hurley developed short plays as well as his famous photographs.

Routine scientific observations were made regardless of the conditions. Mawson viewed regular magnetic and meteorological observations as imperative in order to ensure that his expedition obtained a comprehensive record and therefore made a genuine contribution to scientific knowledge. Complete weather observations, made every six hours, filled well over a thousand pages of note books. The men also dispatched messages in bottles. The notes asked the finder to return them to the Secretary of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science in Sydney, with a note of the time and place at which it was found, in order to learn something of the Southern Ocean currents.

By August, field work became possible when a sub-surface sledging depot known as Aladdin's Cave was established 8 km inland from Cape Denison. Mawson and his teams began making inland sledging trips to chart the area