British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition | |
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| Start | 1929  |
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TheBritish Australian (and)New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE) was a research expedition intoAntarctica between 1929 and 1931, involving two voyages over consecutiveAustral summers. The expedition was led by Australian geologist SirDouglas Mawson.
In 1927, theAustralian National Research Council established an Antarctic Committee, which included Australian geologist SirDouglas Mawson, with a view to staking territorial claims on the Antarctic continent.[1] Mawson was the driving force behind the British Australian (and) New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE),[2] which was funded by the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, along with private backers such asMelbourne entrepreneur and philanthropistMacPherson Robertson.[2]
At the time, there were Norwegianwhalers working in the area, whose crew also made some territorial claims.[1] The British Government wished to establish sovereignty over Antartica, partly in order to conserve whales in order to protect the whaling industry and, partly because of the strategic importance of the continent and Southern Ocean. This aim could only be achieved by sending an officer to claim land on behalf of the Commonwealth.[3]
Mawson was appointed leader of the expedition, with his former captainJohn King Davis as captain of the research vesselRRSDiscovery (the ship previously used byRobert Falcon Scott, lent by theBritish Government), and second in charge of expedition.[1]
The voyages, which took place between 1929 and 1931 over consecutive Austral summers, primarily comprised an "acquisitive exploratory expedition".[5] The brief of the expedition was to chart the coastline and its offshore features such as islands, rocks, andshoals betweenQueen Mary Land andEnderby Island; and to "plant the British Flag wherever you find it practicable to do so".[3]
The focus in the first summer was onoceanography, Antarctic and subantarcticmarine biology, and Antarctic coastal exploration west of theShackleton Ice Shelf.[1] During the second summer, further oceanographical work was carried out, and this time a party was able to land atCommonwealth Bay, and Mawson claimed possession ofKing George V Land, between 142° and 160°E.[1]
BANZARE made three new landings, and short flights in a small plane discovered theBanzare Coast andPrincess Elizabeth Land. The expedition mapped the Antarctic coastline from 45°E to 160°E, and defined the limits of what was to become later proclaimed as theAustralian Antarctic Territory.[2] The expedition also discoveredMac. Robertson Land.
Mawson made proclamations of British sovereignty over Antarctic lands at each of their five landfalls—on the understanding that the territory would later be handed to Australia (as it was in 1933). One such proclamation was made on 5 January 1931 atCape Denison, the site which Mawson'sAustralasian Antarctic Expedition had occupied in 1912–13. A handwritten copy of the proclamation was left at the site, enclosed in a container made of food tins and buried beneath a cairn. The letter was retrieved in 1977 by an Australian Antarctic expedition, and became part of the Sir Douglas Mawson Collection at theNational Museum of Australia.[6]
The BANZARE was also a scientific quest, producing 13 volumes of reports, on geology,oceanography, meteorology,terrestrial magnetism, zoology, and botany, between 1937 and 1975.[7][8]
Mawson led the expedition. Other staff through the first summer, 1929–30, were:[2][3]
The crew ofRRSDiscovery in 1929–30 were:[2]
During the second summer in 1930–31,magnetician A.L. Kennedy joined the group, and cartographer C. Oom, of theRoyal Australian Navy, replaced Morton Moyes.[2] The ship's crew had two changes: K.N. Mackenzie became Captain and Second in charge of expedition, and Max Stanton was First officer.[2]
Petty officers included:[3]
The expedition was highly successful scientifically, producing large amounts of data about theSouthern Ocean, increasing the knowledge base created by theChallenger expedition of 1872–1876. The research done by the scientists also showed the existence an undersea land platform, indicating that Antarctica was a continent rather than a series of islands.[1] The expedition brought back a large number of samples for further analysis.[3]
It also turned out very well for Australia; the land that Mawson had claimed for Britain (42 per cent of the continent) was transferred to Australia in 1935.[1] TheAustralian Antarctic Acceptance Act was enacted in 1933, becoming law in 1936. This established the Australian Antarctic Territory from 45°E around to 160°E, with the exception of a narrow strip ofFrench Antarctic Territory excepted.[1]
Two films about BANZARE, the silent filmSouthward Ho with Mawson (1930) and thetalkieSiege of the South (1931), both made by Frank Hurley using footage filmed by him on the expeditions, were released in cinemas as official recordings of the voyages.[9] Takings from the film contributed to defray the costs of the expedition,[10] and schoolchildren's attendance contributed significantly to the takings.[9]
These images were on display at the NFSA in Canberra in 2012 as part of theExtreme Film and Sound exhibition. Prime Possum visited the exhibition and met NFSA curator Morgyn Phillips.
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