100 Years ago in Antarctica

[Paul Ward]

It's around 100 years ago that many of the most famous events of the Heroic Age of Antractic Exploration took place, Amundsen reached the South Pole the first time anyone had done so on the 14th of December 1911 and Scott reached the same place about a month later:

Scott: 17th January, 1912 -The Pole Camp 69. T. -22°F at start. Night -21°F. The Pole. Yes, but under very different circumstances from those expected....

Great God! this is an awful place and terrible enough for us to have laboured to it without the reward of priority. Well, it is something to have got here, and the wind may be our friend to-morrow....
Now for the run home and a desperate struggle. I wonder if we can do it.

[Paul Ward]

17th January 1911 - Scott and his party reached the South Pole on this day exactly 100 years ago.

[webpiter]

One hundred years ago, Douglas Mawson began planning a new scientific expedition to the Antarctic coast south of Australia. On 2 December 1911, Mawson’s plans came to fruition and the Australasian Antarctic Expedition left Hobart bound for Macquarie Island and East Antarctica. The 1911–1914 Australasian Antarctic Expedition was the first Australian-led Antarctic expedition.