Album Antarctica (back then) from tiabunna

Nella Dan departs

nobody@ipernity.com (tiabunna) — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 06:07:47 +0000

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"Nella Dan" headed north from Mawson 60 years ago today, on 15 February 1966, not to return for another year. Copied from an old negative developed at Mawson.

"Nella Dan" off the rocks

nobody@ipernity.com (tiabunna) — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 06:07:46 +0000

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Some time ago, I posted an image (clickable PiP) of the Nella Dan hard against the rocky shore of Horseshoe Harbour at Mawson, maintaining her position with throttle at half power because her mooring cables had broken during a 200 kph blizzard. This is an image of her getting moving and being turned with the help of a boat, on 14 February 1966. In the foreground is the Mawson flagpole, flattened by the wind.

Two "Dans" together

nobody@ipernity.com (tiabunna) — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 06:35:49 +0000

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From my archives. An old (January 1966) black and white film photo of the "Nella Dan" and "Thala Dan" together at what became Casey Station in the Antarctic.

Through the blizzard

nobody@ipernity.com (tiabunna) — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 02:35:21 +0000

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Taken at Mawson Antarctica 58 years ago today, on 13 Feb 1966, an unforgettable day. During the previous night a blizzard brought winds gusting over 100 kt (185 km/hr) which broke the mooring cables of our ship, the "Nella Dan". Before the winds could blow it onto the rocks across the harbour, the captain ordered the engines to "half ahead" and drove her onto the rocks. As an ice-strengthened ship, the bows were able to take this and the engines kept her in place. This was taken on b/w film as I came off night shift, I also later took a coloured image when the wind and drifting snow eased. FOOTNOTE. The following day the ship backed off the rock bank undamaged.

Nella Dan departure for Antarctica, Dec 1965, Melbourne

nobody@ipernity.com (tiabunna) — Sun, 05 Nov 2023 11:13:37 +0000

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The Yarra River, as it was, with wharves on both sides.

Away!

nobody@ipernity.com (tiabunna) — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 11:29:36 +0000

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From an old slide. That's me, launching a weather balloon in the Prince Charles Mountains back in 1966. On the tripod I have a theodolite for taking measurements of the balloon's position, allowing me to calculate the upper winds in the area. The PiP shows me taking temperature readings from instruments mounted on the main living caravan - the coldest we experienced on the trip was -39C, accompanied by about 60km/hr winds. The rounded van in the PiP is the second living caravan

Unfortunately, Pauline's health is not good, so I expect to be largely absent from ipernity in the coming weeks. I shall drop by when there is an opportunity and maybe even post an occasional image. Best wishes, everyone.

South of Mount Lacey

nobody@ipernity.com (tiabunna) — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 04:56:57 +0000

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Looking southward into the Prince Charles Mountains, this is a stitched panorama of the view from our survey point on Mount Lacey (see earlier image with Tellurometer). The distant range is about 30km away (see map in Location). This is best viewed large.

The large mountain at the far left is Mt Bechervaise, which some of the better climbers also ascended - note the massive wind scour in the snow alongside it (the scale is better illustrated in the PiP, showing the climbers en-route). Images from old negatives developed at Mawson on our return.

Surveying southward

nobody@ipernity.com (tiabunna) — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 12:32:01 +0000

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My colleague Ken using a Tellurometer for survey work on Mt Lacey, in the Prince Charles Mountains. Obsolete now due to satellites and GPS, back in 1966 the Tellurometers were the best way to measure distance between two points. With two on separate mountains firing a microwave beam to each other, it was possible to measure distances to within a few centimeters. When this was taken, we were in contact with a surveying field party further to the south. Temperatures were about -12 C at this stage.

Final stop for the main tractor trains

nobody@ipernity.com (tiabunna) — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 10:05:39 +0000

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Taken near midnight, not long after our tractor trains arrived at our main southerly campsite at the northern "Athos" range of the Prince Charles Mountains. The large mountain behind the vans is Mt Bechervaise. To the right is Mt Lacey, where I spent many days helping with the survey of the area. Weasel Gap, shown in my other image (PiP) is immediately to the right of this image. We were here for about three weeks, partly working on the survey and partly held down by bad weather.

Midnight Sun

nobody@ipernity.com (tiabunna) — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 10:07:37 +0000

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Taken at about midnight after we arrived at our final stop for the tractor trains, with the sun still shining due south of us over the ridge running across "Weasel Gap". The name was given to the gap by the only previous expedition to this area, ten years earlier, when they passed through the gap with their light (WW2 vintage) Weasel vehicle.

The area was too badly crevassed for our heavy tractor trains to safely go further, though our survey field party travelled further south with light Snowtrac vehicles. Our tractor trains were stopped just to the left of this image (see PiP).

On Peak 7

nobody@ipernity.com (tiabunna) — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 12:22:41 +0000

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Copied from an old colour slide. My workmate and a partly installed survey marker (two fuel drums welded together) on "Peak 7" on our surveying trip inland in Antarctica, November 1966. This site was part of the mountains ahead in my previous image.

To quote from my 1966 diary "Arrived at the top and what a view. As far as the eye could see to the south was just mountains, mountains and more mountains! The nearest ones were about 15 miles away, the next lot about 30, and we estimated mountains some 100 miles distant were visible..." OK, this photo was taken in a slightly different direction (the nearest mountains about 2-3 miles / 4-5 km distant), but it gives the idea and shows the two drum survey trig point marker being erected. The guy wires were tightened soon after taking this photo.

We were fortunate here that it was possible to drive our motorised toboggan on a snow slope almost to the top of the peak: that meant that the drums, rock drill and survey equipment, battery etc did not need to be carried far.

Late evening running

nobody@ipernity.com (tiabunna) — Sun, 07 Feb 2021 12:01:15 +0000

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Continuing my updates of old copied Antarctic slides. Because we'd been delayed so much by bad weather, we continued late into the Antarctic evening (see also PiP). Here we're heading toward the Stinear Nunataks (the mountains ahead), our next major base and survey point. These images also give a good representation of Sastrugi, the name for the wind-carved snow surface of the plateau. It made travelling in the caravans a test of sea-sickness resistance. :-) View large.

Rolling past Depot Peak

nobody@ipernity.com (tiabunna) — Sat, 06 Feb 2021 09:06:25 +0000

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Back to my updates of old copied Antarctic slides. We were delayed for some days near Mt Twintops (previous image in series) by bad weather. We also had done our major climbing onto the Antarctic plateau at that point (to about 1500M above sea level), so we left one dozer there and reassembled everything into two trains of sleds. After a day's travel, again we were stopped by weather. Then at last, we had clear weather and good travelling. The D4 tractors rattled along at about walking speed and, with several fuel stops, we made a little over 25 miles (40 km) on our best day. Given the right conditions, such as this, walking alongside was enjoyable. Best viewed large.

Blizz'd in

nobody@ipernity.com (tiabunna) — Sat, 30 Jan 2021 06:18:56 +0000

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An updated copy from an old 1966 slide. We did our surveying work at Mt Twintops, but then we were shut down for several days by a blizzard (generally just called a "blizz") with strong winds and zero visibility from drifting snow. This was taken in near whiteout conditions at the end, when the wind and snow had eased and we were preparing to move again.

The central bulldozer is hooked to a preheater to warm the engine before being started. The preheater is the orange box containing a small engine running a fan and petrol heater and connected by the large curly pipe to the tent arrangement covering the bulldozer's engine,. Before moving, of course, it also was necessary to dig out all the sleds and other equipment buried in snow drifts. Best viewed large.

From Mt Twintops

nobody@ipernity.com (tiabunna) — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 11:06:26 +0000

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An updated copy from an old 1966 slide. I was assisting with the surveying from this peak (mainly lugging equipment uphill). Here looking down on our tractors, caravans, and the tracks they left as we arrived (view large and they are easier to find). The "cloud" effect is from light on sastrugi (ridged snow), the blurred black foreground was from the rocks close to me. This was our first major camp on the field trip and, having climbed the steepest part of the rise onto the plateau, we depoted one of the bulldozers here, continuing with just two.

Spring Tripping

nobody@ipernity.com (tiabunna) — Tue, 26 Jan 2021 10:12:30 +0000

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An updated copy from an old 1966 slide. The major field trip away from the station was the Spring Trip, here seen at its first stop. The trip was to the northern Prince Charles Mountains and involved seven of us surveying previously unvisited mountains, some 300 km inland - we were away for four months. Everything was moved in caravan trains, drawn by D4 bulldozers.

On the right, the large box is the living caravan for three of us, also serving as the meteorology office, surveyor's office, radio shack, kitchen and mess. Behind it is the smaller rounded living caravan for the other four on the trip. The left hand D4 is pulling two Snowtracs on sleds, while the distant third train is the mechanical workshop, plus fuel and other equipment.

Only a short distance inland, the blue ice seen at the edge of the Antarctic plateau gives way to compacted snow, carved by the wind into waves known as "sastrugi", as seen here. View large.

Icy abstract

nobody@ipernity.com (tiabunna) — Wed, 20 Jan 2021 02:36:29 +0000

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Another copied slide from 1966, which I don't believe I've previously posted here. This is an image of a very thin slice of glacial ice, taken with backlighting and a polarising filter on a special viewer in the Mawson glaciology lab, and showing the ice crystals and entrapped air bubbles.

Aurora Australis to the SE

nobody@ipernity.com (tiabunna) — Sat, 16 Jan 2021 01:22:01 +0000

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Well, after the "no uploads" problem and the frustration of having to use the original tiny copies for old images I was bringing forward, I decided it was time to replace a few. That was when I found the latest "bug" - it's possible to upload but at present the system cannot handle replacements - the new image won't connect to the old. So, as a workaround, I've included the old (2012) version as a clickable PiP to preserve the original comments etc. Apart from the year, the date is meaningless. :-)

Mawson lies under the auroral oval, the annular zone around the south magnetic pole where auroras are most prevalent. In plain language, there was an aurora most nights. They were so commonplace that, when someone entered a building and said there was an aurora outside, the usual question was "is it a good one?" before anyone would consider going out to look! This is from one of the Ektachrome films we "home developed" while there, hence a little grit.

Frosty beard

nobody@ipernity.com (tiabunna) — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 08:51:59 +0000

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Copied from an ancient negative (1966). That's me among the Central Masson Ranges, after a climbing day a short distance inland from Mawson Station in Antarctica. The surface is blue ice and I'm leaning on VW "Antarctica 3" - the third in a series and the first 'usable' motor cars on the continent (one of the early explorers had a car which proved near unusable). Here's a musical link.

I originally posted this in conjunction with my ipernity article "Preserving history".

Sunset and a parting iceberg

nobody@ipernity.com (tiabunna) — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 12:04:56 +0000

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From an old slide. As we sailed home across the Southern Ocean, this was one of the last icebergs sighted. Unlike our trip southward, we had mainly good weather on our return.