Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2013L01343:front:0:p24
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2013L01343
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 60995–63807

and equipment. The hut has been painted to blend into the rocky landscape to lessen its visual impact on the site.

Sitting outside the visual protection zone 400 m east of the Main Hut, Sørensen Hut (67°00'29"S, 142°40'12"E) is the main temporary shelter for conservation works parties and was built by the AAD in 1986 as a single room with an entry lobby. It was expanded in 1997/98 with the addition of an office section at its southern end and an externally accessed toilet at the northern end. Following a further expansion in 2009/10, the hut now contains a conservation laboratory and sleeping, dining and office facilities.

Adjacent to Sørensen Hut is an expanded 'Apple Hut' which serves as accommodation.  It was brought to the site by Project Blizzard in 1984, and moved from the Granholm Hut vicinity by the AAP Mawson's Huts Foundation in 1997/98. A nearby wooden platform is used for pitching tents.

Since 1990 an automatic weather station (67°00'33"S, 142°39'51"E) on a rise near Round Lake and approximately 150 m southeast of the Main Hut has collected meteorological data. It is the property of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and was replaced in 2011.

In 2007/08, a joint Australian-French project deployed two tide gauges in Boat Harbour to measure the height of the sea. This was the first time the sea level had been properly recorded since 1912. The Australian tide gauge was removed in 2009.

Centenary Time Capsule and Plaque

A time capsule was installed on 16 January 2012 at the base of the proclamation pole to commemorate the centenary of the AAE. It is to be opened in 2112. The capsule contains a message from the Australian Prime Minister and messages from Australian students who offered their vision of Antarctica in another hundred years. A plaque to commemorate this event was laid at the base of the proclamation pole next to the time capsule.

2.3 Historical Context

An Australasian Expedition

The late nineteenth century saw the beginning of the Heroic Era of Antarctic exploration. Interest in continental exploration and scientific study was renewed by European nationalism. From 1897 to 1917, teams from Britain, Norway, Germany, France, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Scotland and Japan carried out fifteen land-based expeditions – some in quest of the South Geographic and South Magnetic Pole; others to explore, and collect magnetic, meteorological, geological and biological data and samples. The expeditions captured the public imagination and made many explorers national heroes for their bravery, physical strength and endurance.

For the first time the expedition teams built shelters and lived on the Antarctic continent for extended periods. Of the era's nine prefabricated huts, six survive – Carsten Borchgrevink's Southern Cross hut,