Macquarie
Island - Then and Now. [pg1,
pg2,
pg3,
pg4]
Introduction; by Louise
Crossley
In 1911, the Australasian
Antarctic Expedition under Sir Douglas Mawson called at Macquarie
Island and left a party of five men to spend two years, recording
meteorological data, which they sent back to Australia by
radio. In addition, to the radio operators and met observer,
the party included a surveyor and geologist, Leslie Blake,
who made the first map of the island and took many photographs,
often from his survey 'stations' on the highest hills or rocks
in the area.
In 2003
I came to Macquarie Island to work at the Australian research
station, and as part of a project on the environmental history
of the island, discovered many of the photographs taken by
Blake, and others, over 90 years before which were posted
on the website of the State Library of New South Wales, which
has a large collection of the original negatives of the Australasian
Antarctic Expedition.
I thought
it would be interesting to see how, if at all, the topography
and vegetation of the island had changed in 90 years, so armed
with prints of Blake's photographs, I set out to find his
viewpoints all over the island. The first thing I discovered
was that he 'went high'! Never satisfied with a view from
the beach or a flat area, he sent me scrambling up rocks,
pinnacles and mountains to find the exact spot from which
he had taken his shots. I have had a lot of fun, got very
fit, explored the island more comprehensively than I would
otherwise have done, and experienced the exhilarating feeling
of treading, literally, in the footsteps of a pioneer. I also
made some interesting discoveries about how the island has
indeed changed.
Louise
sets off with a portfolio of Blake photographs to find
his elusive viewpoints. |
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