Sir Douglas Mawson

(1882 - 1958)

Douglas Mawson was an Australian by adoption who was offered a place on Scott's Terra Nova expedition but turned it down to lead the Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911 - 1914 sailing on the Aurora. Though less prestigious, this was a wide ranging scientific and exploratory expedition to previously unknown and unvisited regions of the Antarctic continent. It included a dramatic sledging journey that Mawson undertook with two companions, he was to be the only survivor, against the odds in appalling conditions.

This is one of the most heroic and epic tales of Antarctic exploration.

(Source: Coolantarctica)

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