Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2013L01343:front:0:p33
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2013L01343
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 83635–86407

the transmission house (wireless hut) was intact. Some fabric remains on Wireless Hill, including remnants of the flying fox. Two generators recovered in the early 1960s are now in custody of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. The base of one of the wireless masts was removed from the island in 2011 for conservation purposes. The accommodation hut on the isthmus was demolished by ANARE in March 1948 to make way for a new station. Building foundations and remnants and haulage cable, amongst other artefacts, remain on site.

The air tractor

Mawson obtained an REP Monoplane from Messrs Vickers & Co for the expedition. Mawson's specifications of the aircraft to Vickers included the requirement to have the aircraft wings removable so it could be operated as a tractor. Additionally, the packing crate should be designed so that it could be converted to a hangar. It was hoped that this relatively rare machine would generate much-needed publicity during the preparation for the expedition and, when in Antarctica, assist with exploration. However, the aeroplane was damaged during a test flight in Adelaide (with Wild on board), and was taken to Antarctica without the wings. The expeditioners appreciated the irony of using a state-of-the-art aeroplane engine to haul conventional sledges, albeit with limited success:

    In 1912, the Western sledging party took the air tractor on their expedition. However, the engine's pistons seized and the machine was abandoned when the party was only 14 km from Cape Denison. Several months later, the air tractor was retrieved. The machine, minus its engine, was left near the Main Hut, where it was found seventeen years later by the BANZARE expedition. (Godden Mackay Logan 2001)

Some evidence of the air tractor survives at the site. It is believed that the frame of the air tractor is buried under ice between the Main Hut and the harbour.

BANZARE visit

Seventeen years after his original expedition, Mawson – who had been knighted for his AAE achievements – returned. In the summers of 1929-30 and 1930-31 he led BANZARE. Organised in Australia, with a vessel from the British government (the Discovery, used by Scott in 1901) and financial assistance from New Zealand, the voyages had a prominent political goal which was to claim possession of George V Land and any other additional lands possible. Mawson made five territorial proclamations as well as extensive marine and coastline surveys.

The BANZARE landing on 5 January 1931 was the first at Cape Denison since Mawson and his remaining AAE members had left. His party hoisted a flag on the old mast on Anemometer Hill, which became Proclamation Hill. After a ceremonial declaration and singing the national anthem, the party deposited a proclamation in