DOUGLAS MAWSON
Douglas Mawson
Born 5 May 1882
Bradford, Yorkshire, England
Died 14 October 1958
Australia
Education University of Sydney
Occupation Explorer, Geologist
Spouse Paquita Delprat
Sir Douglas Mawson OBE FRS (5 May 1882 - 14 October 1958) was an Australian
Antarctic explorer and geologist. With Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and
Ernest Shackleton, Mawson was a key expedition leader during the Heroic Age of
Antarctic Exploration.
Douglas Mawson was born in 1882 in Shipley, Yorkshire, England, the second son
of Robert Ellis Mawson, a cloth merchant from a farming background, and his wife
Margaret Ann, née Moore, from the Isle of Man. The family immigrated to Rooty
Hill, New South Wales, Australia in 1884. He was educated at Fort Street High
School and the University of Sydney, where he gained degrees in mining
engineering and science.
After working as a junior demonstrator in chemistry, he was appointed geologist
to an expedition to the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) in 1903; his report The
geology of the New Hebrides, was one of the first major geological works of
Melanesia. Also that year he published a geological paper on Mittagong, New
South Wales. His major influences in his geological career were Professor
Edgeworth David and Professor Archibald Liversidge. He then became a lecturer in
petrology and mineralogy at the University of Adelaide in 1905. He identified
and first described the mineral Davidite, named for Edgeworth David.
In 1907, Mawson joined the British Antarctic Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton
as an expedition geologist. With his mentor and fellow geologist, Edgeworth
David, he was on the first ascent of Mount Erebus. Later, he was a member of the
first team to reach the South Magnetic Pole, assuming the leadership of the
party from David on their perilous return.
Mawson turned down an invitation to join Robert Falcon Scott's Terra Nova
Expedition in 1910; Australian geologist Griffith Taylor went instead. Mawson
chose to lead his own expedition, the Australian Antarctic Expedition, to King
George V Land and Adelie Land, the sector of the Antarctic continent immediately
south of Australia, which at the time was almost entirely unexplored. The
objectives were to carry out geographical exploration and scientific studies,
including visiting the South Magnetic Pole.
The expedition, using the ship Aurora commanded by Captain John King Davis,
landed at Cape Denison on Commonwealth Bay on 8 January 1912 and established the
Main Base. A second camp was located to the west on the ice shelf in Queen Mary
Land. Cape Denison proved to be unrelentingly windy; the average wind speed for
the entire year was about 50 mph (80 km/h). They built a hut on the rocky cape
and wintered through nearly constant blizzards.
On his return, he married Paquita Delprat and was knighted, but the public took
little interest in his achievements, being completely taken up with the Scott
disaster and the outbreak of World War I. Mawson served in the war as a Major in
the British Ministry of Munitions. Returning to Adelaide he pursued his academic
studies, taking further expeditions abroad, including a joint British,
Australian and New Zealand expedition to the Antarctic in 1929–1931. The work
done by the expedition led to the formation of the Australian Antarctic
Territory in 1936. He also spent much of his time researching the geology of the
northern Flinders Ranges in South Australia. Upon his retirement from teaching
in 1952 he was made Emeritus Professor. He died at his Brighton home on 14
October 1958 from cerebral haemorrhage.[2] He was 76 years old.
His image appeared from 1984-1996 on the Australian paper one hundred dollar
note. Also, Mawson Peak (Heard Island), Mawson Station (Antarctica), Dorsa
Mawson (Mare Fecunditatis), the geology building on the main University of
Adelaide campus, suburbs in Canberra and Adelaide, a South Australian TAFE
institute, and the main street of Meadows, South Australia are named after him
and the Mawson Collection of Antarctic exploration artefacts is on permanent
display at the South Australian Museum.
Douglas Mawson
Born 5 May 1882
Bradford, Yorkshire, England
Died 14 October 1958
Australia
Education University of Sydney
Occupation Explorer, Geologist
Spouse Paquita Delprat
Sir Douglas Mawson OBE FRS (5 May 1882 - 14 October 1958) was an Australian
Antarctic explorer and geologist. With Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and
Ernest Shackleton, Mawson was a key expedition leader during the Heroic Age of
Antarctic Exploration.
Douglas Mawson was born in 1882 in Shipley, Yorkshire, England, the second son
of Robert Ellis Mawson, a cloth merchant from a farming background, and his wife
Margaret Ann, née Moore, from the Isle of Man. The family immigrated to Rooty
Hill, New South Wales, Australia in 1884. He was educated at Fort Street High
School and the University of Sydney, where he gained degrees in mining
engineering and science.
After working as a junior demonstrator in chemistry, he was appointed geologist
to an expedition to the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) in 1903; his report The
geology of the New Hebrides, was one of the first major geological works of
Melanesia. Also that year he published a geological paper on Mittagong, New
South Wales. His major influences in his geological career were Professor
Edgeworth David and Professor Archibald Liversidge. He then became a lecturer in
petrology and mineralogy at the University of Adelaide in 1905. He identified
and first described the mineral Davidite, named for Edgeworth David.
In 1907, Mawson joined the British Antarctic Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton
as an expedition geologist. With his mentor and fellow geologist, Edgeworth
David, he was on the first ascent of Mount Erebus. Later, he was a member of the
first team to reach the South Magnetic Pole, assuming the leadership of the
party from David on their perilous return.
Mawson turned down an invitation to join Robert Falcon Scott's Terra Nova
Expedition in 1910; Australian geologist Griffith Taylor went instead. Mawson
chose to lead his own expedition, the Australian Antarctic Expedition, to King
George V Land and Adelie Land, the sector of the Antarctic continent immediately
south of Australia, which at the time was almost entirely unexplored. The
objectives were to carry out geographical exploration and scientific studies,
including visiting the South Magnetic Pole.
The expedition, using the ship Aurora commanded by Captain John King Davis,
landed at Cape Denison on Commonwealth Bay on 8 January 1912 and established the
Main Base. A second camp was located to the west on the ice shelf in Queen Mary
Land. Cape Denison proved to be unrelentingly windy; the average wind speed for
the entire year was about 50 mph (80 km/h). They built a hut on the rocky cape
and wintered through nearly constant blizzards.
On his return, he married Paquita Delprat and was knighted, but the public took
little interest in his achievements, being completely taken up with the Scott
disaster and the outbreak of World War I. Mawson served in the war as a Major in
the British Ministry of Munitions. Returning to Adelaide he pursued his academic
studies, taking further expeditions abroad, including a joint British,
Australian and New Zealand expedition to the Antarctic in 1929–1931. The work
done by the expedition led to the formation of the Australian Antarctic
Territory in 1936. He also spent much of his time researching the geology of the
northern Flinders Ranges in South Australia. Upon his retirement from teaching
in 1952 he was made Emeritus Professor. He died at his Brighton home on 14
October 1958 from cerebral haemorrhage.[2] He was 76 years old.
His image appeared from 1984-1996 on the Australian paper one hundred dollar
note. Also, Mawson Peak (Heard Island), Mawson Station (Antarctica), Dorsa
Mawson (Mare Fecunditatis), the geology building on the main University of
Adelaide campus, suburbs in Canberra and Adelaide, a South Australian TAFE
institute, and the main street of Meadows, South Australia are named after him
and the Mawson Collection of Antarctic exploration artefacts is on permanent
display at the South Australian Museum.