Then and Now pg2


1911: Blake outside the primitive hut at Sandy Bay, the most luxurious of the camps from which he did his pioneering survey of the island.	2003: The site today, in habited by King Penguins. Only a few boards remain; in fact Blake discovered the hut had burned to the ground on one of his later visits.

1911: The Nuggets, a prominent landmark on the east coast of Macquarie Island. Note the outlying 'tooth' rocks on the far right; also the huts, and the people on the far left. The penguins in the foreground are Royal Penguins which breed only on Macquarie Island. At this time, the Nuggets was the site of a factory (out of the frame on the left) in which penguins were boiled down for their oil in steam pressurised digesters. Each penguin yielded about 2 litres of oil, which was used for lighting and lubrication.	2003: The same view. Notice that the 'tooth' is missing, swept away by the storms of 90 years. Gone too are the huts, and the factory. There are no penguins because this shot was taken in winter - but there are still lots of them in summer!

1911: Royal Penguin colonies above the Nuggets, from which birds were fed into the digesters on the beach	2003: The same view, looking down towards the east coast from the slopes of Mt Elder, with North Head at top left. Notice that in several places, the area of the penguin colony has shrunk, especially in the centre of the picture, where a small offshoot colony higher up the opposite slope has entirely disappeared. It is impossible to know if this was caused by the slaughter of the penguins in the Nuggets Point digesters, which continued until 1919. Between 50,000 - 150,000 penguins were killed each year, for nearly 30 years.

1911: Looking across Garden Cove to the 1911 expedition hut, built on a narrow isthmus that joins North Head (on right) to the rest of the island.	2003. The modern station, fist established in 1948, has been built on the same site and now fills the gap, with residential building in the centre, water tanks on the left, and a science laboratory on right.