It should be remarked that there is no intention of furnishing
anything more than a suggestion of the general trend of the scientific observations
of the Expedition. The brief statement made below indicates the broad lines
on which the work was conducted and in some cases the ground which was actually
covered. It may thus give the general reader a clue to the nature of the
scientific volumes which will serve to record permanently the results amassed
during a period of more than two years.
Terrestrial Magnetism
1. Field Work.
(a) Dip determinations were made at Macquarie Island, on the eastern and
southern journeys from the Main Base (Adelie Land) and on a short journey
from the Western Base (Queen Mary Land).
(b) Declination by theodolite observations was determined at Macquarie Island
and at intervals on all sledging journeys in the Antarctic.
(c) Rough observations of magnetic variation were made daily on the `Aurora'
during her five cruises.
2. Station Work.
(a) Regular magnetograph records were kept at the Main Base (Adelie Land)
for a period of eighteen months. A system of term days for quick runs was
also followed; Melbourne, Christchurch, and other stations co-operating.
In connexion with the magnetograph work, Webb conducted regular, absolute
observations throughout the year 1912. Bage continued the magnetograph records
for a further six months in 1913, observed term days, and took absolute
observations.
(b) At the Western Base (Queen Mary Land) Kennedy kept term days in the
winter, using a magnetometer and dip-circle.
Biology
1. Station Collections.
(a) At Macquarie Island, Hamilton worked for two years amongst a rich fauna
and a scanty but interesting flora. Amongst other discoveries a finch indigenous
to Macquarie Island was found.
(b) In Adelie Land, Hunter, assisted by Laseron, secured a large biological
collection, notwithstanding the continuous bad weather. Dredgings from depths
down to fifty fathoms were made during the winter. The eggs of practically
all the flying birds known along Antarctic shores were obtained, including
those of the silver-grey petrel and the Antarctic petrel, which were not
previously known; also a variety of prion, of an unrecorded species, together
with its eggs.
(c) At the Western Base (Queen Mary Land) eggs of the Antarctic and other
petrels were found, and a large rookery of Emperor penguins was located;
the second on record. Harrisson, working under difficulties, succeeded in
trapping some interesting fish on the bottom in two hundred and fifty fathoms
of water.
2. Ship Collections.
(a) A collection made by Mr. E. R. Waite, Curator of the Canterbury Museum,
on the first Sub-Antarctic cruise.
(b) A collection made by Professor T. T. Flynn, of Hobart, on the second
Sub-Antarctic cruise.
(c) A collection made by Hunter, assisted by Hamilton, in Antarctic waters
during the summer of 1913-1914. This comprised deep-sea dredgings at eleven
stations in depths down to one thousand eight hundred fathoms and regular
tow-nettings, frequently serial, to depths of two hundred fathoms. Six specimens
of the rare Ross seal were secured. A large collection of external and internal
parasites was made from birds, seals and fish.
Geology
(a) A geological examination of Macquarie Island was made by Blake. The
older rocks were found to be all igneous. The Island has been overridden
in comparatively recent times by an ice-cap travelling from west to east.
(b) Geological collections at the Main Base. In Adelie Land the rocky outcrops
are metamorphic sediments and gneisses. In King George V Land there is a
formation similar to the Beacon sandstones and dolerites of the Ross Sea,
with which carbonaceous shales and coaly strata are associated.
(c) Stillwell met with a great range of minerals and rocks in the terminal
moraine near Winter Quarters, Adelie Land. Amongst them was red sandstone
in abundance, suggesting that the Beacon sandstone formation extends also
throughout Adelie Land but is hidden by the ice-cap. A solitary stony meteorite
was found by a sledging party lying on the ice of the plateau.
(d) In the collections made by Watson and Hoadley at the Western Base (Queen
Mary Land) gneisses and schists were ascertained to be the predominant types.
(e) A collection of erratics was brought up by the deep-sea trawl in the
course of dredgings in Antarctic waters.
Glaciology
(a) Observations of the pack-ice, coastal glaciers and shelf-ice from the
`Aurora' during her three Antarctic cruises.
(b) Observations of the niveous and glacial features met with on the sledging
journeys from both Antarctic bases.
Meteorology
(a) Two years' observations at Macquarie Island by Ainsworth
(b) Two years' observations in Adelie Land by Madigan.
(c) One year's observations in Queen Mary Land by Moyes.
(d) Observations by the Ship on each of her five voyages.
(e) Observations during the many sledging journeys from both Antarctic Bases.
Bacteriology, etc.
In Adelie Land, McLean carried out many months of steady work in Bacteriology,
Haematology and Physiology.
Tides
Self-recording instruments were run at Macquarie Island by Ainsworth and
at Adelie Land by Bage.
Wireless and Auroral Observations
A very close watch was kept upon auroral phenomena with interesting results,
especially in their relation to the ``permeability'' of the ether to wireless
waves.
Geographical Results
1. The successful navigation by the `Aurora' of the Antarctic pack-ice in
a fresh sphere of action, where the conditions were practically unknown,
resulting in the discovery of new lands and islands.
2. Journeys were made over the sea-ice and on the coastal and upland plateau
in regions hitherto unsurveyed. At the Main Base (Adelie Land) the journeys
aggregated two thousand four hundred miles, and at the Western Base (Queen
Mary Land) the aggregate was eight hundred miles. These figures do not include
depot journeys, the journeys of supporting parties, or the many miles of
relay work. The land was mapped in through 33 degrees of longitude, 27 degrees
of which were covered by sledging parties.
3. The employment of wireless telegraphy in the fixation of a fundamental
meridian in Adelie Land.
4. The mapping of Macquarie Island.
A Section of the Antarctic Plateau from the Coast
to a Point Three
Hundred Miles Inland, along the Route followed by the Southern
Sledging Party (Adelie Land)
A Section across the Antarctic Continent through the South Magnetic
Pole from the D'Urville Sea to the Ross Sea; Compiled from Observations
made by the British Antarctic Expedition (1907-1909) and by the
Australian Antarctic Expedition (1911-1914)
Oceanography
1. By soundings the fringe of the Antarctic Continent as well as the Continental
Shelf has been indicated through 55 degrees of longitude.
2. The configuration of the floor of the ocean southward
of Australia and between Macquarie Island and the Auckland Islands has been
broadly ascertained.
3. Much has been done in the matter of sea-water temperatures and salinities.
A Section of the Floor of the Southern Ocean between
Tasmania
and King George V Land
A Section of the Floor of the Southern Ocean between Western
Australia and Queen Mary Land
APPENDIX - 3 HISTORICAL SUMMARY
