Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2013L01343:front:0:p5
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2013L01343
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 11330–14242

of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities is the agency which manages the site and through which ownership is expressed.

Mawson's Huts Historic Site covers approximately 130 hectares and is the setting of the buildings, structures and relics of the Main Base of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) of 1911-1914, led by Dr (later Sir) Douglas Mawson. The AAE was unique as the only expedition organised, manned and supported predominantly by Australians during the so-called Heroic Era of Antarctic exploration. Cape Denison is one of only six sites remaining from this era, and is the least disturbed of the six.

The cultural heritage significance of the huts and their setting is recognised internationally. They have been inscribed since 1972 on the Antarctic Treaty List of Historic Sites and Monuments, and since 2004 designated an Antarctic Specially Protected Area within an Antarctic Specially Managed Area under the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.

National recognition has come from the huts' inclusion on the Register of the National Estate in 1980 (now non-statutory), and the Commonwealth Heritage List (2004) and the National Heritage List (2005) under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). The EPBC Act requires that a management plan is prepared to provide for the protection and management of the National and Commonwealth Heritage values of a listed place.
Under the guidance of the previous plan, the site underwent some major conservation works with the assistance of the Mawson's Huts Foundation. These works included the over-cladding of the Main Hut, ice removal from the interior, fitting of a frame to help stabilise the Transit Hut, and artefact conservation.

The 2013 plan provides the framework to guide management decisions and on and off site actions to protect and conserve the National Heritage, Commonwealth Heritage and other values of the Mawson's Huts Historic Site. It sets out how the National and Commonwealth Heritage values of the site, as described in the National Heritage List and Commonwealth Heritage List under the EPBC Act, will be managed and protected. It also supports the fulfilment of Australia's obligations under the environmental protocol to the Antarctic Treaty.

The overarching conservation philosophy in managing the Mawson's Huts Historic Site is to protect and conserve the listed heritage values of the site, while allowing the fabric of the site to continue to represent both a moment in time and the passage of time. The passage of time has affected the fabric of the buildings in differing ways depending on their origin and manufacture. As such, this management plan adopts differing approaches towards the conservation of intact structures and standing ruins at the site.

The main pressures on the National and Commonwealth Heritage values