Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2013L01343:front:0:p15
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2013L01343
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 38381–41116

the National Heritage place boundaries, this plan should be read as covering the larger (National Heritage) area.

The historic site consists of four huts, memorials, plaques and scattered relics. The Main Hut (originally two separate huts) is in the centre of the valley. The Transit Hut is to the northeast and the Magnetograph House and Absolute Magnetic Hut are on the northern end of the eastern ridge. There is also a memorial cross and plaque on the summit of Azimuth Hill, masts from the wireless station to the north and south of Main Hut, various survey and sighting marks within the valley and the ridges, and meteorological instruments on a rock shelf between the Main Hut and Transit Hut and on the eastern ridge on a knoll known as Proclamation Hill (the site of the proclamation pole and plaque). There are also seal and penguin meat caches and significant artefact scatters within the Historic Site area. From the Main Hut, the Transit Hut (67°00'30"S, 142°39'42"E) is 40 m northeast; the Magnetograph House (67°00'21"S, 142°39'37"E) is approximately 310 m north-northeast; and the Absolute Magnetic Hut (67°00'23"S, 142°39'48"E) is about 275 m northeast. On the west ridge of Main Valley is the memorial cross of 1913, and on a ridge to the southeast is Proclamation Hill, marking the formal possession of George V Land proclaimed in 1931.

The ASMA management plan establishes a Visual Protection Zone containing the historic structures and designed to exclude new structures to preserve the values of the site.

Mawson's Main Hut (67º00'31"S, 142º39'39"E) was erected as close as was practicable to the landing point for supplies – about 65 m southeast of Boat Harbour.

2.2 Physical Features

2.2.1 Cape Denison Landscape

Cape Denison is a rugged, 1.5 km wide tongue of ice, snow, rock and moraine projecting into Commonwealth Bay from the steeply rising ice cap of continental Antarctica. The ice cliffs at either end of the Cape (Land's End and John O'Groats) and the sea hemming the northern shore form a natural sense of enclosure.  The natural features of Cape Denison were first described and recorded by the AAE.

On approach to Cape Denison, the massive Antarctic ice cap clearly dominates the skyline and is visible up and down Commonwealth Bay, terminating in huge ice cliffs. These cliffs can calve into the sea, forming icebergs.

The topography is defined by a series of four rocky ridges running south-southeast to north-northwest, and three valleys filled with ice, snow and glacial moraine. The largest, most westerly valley contains the four AAE huts. At the seaward end of this valley is Boat Harbour, a 400 m long indent in the coast.

The landscape is strewn with glacial deposits. Large