Mawson Centenary

Living History! What a fabulous experience to be in the same room with descendants of Sir Douglas Mawson and the original Expedition members of 1911, and hear their connections, their stories their pride in their relatives…

There were 67 tables of 10 at the Hotel Grand Chancellor in Hobart, Tasmania, on Thursday night 1st December 2011, each table filled with people connected to Antarctica. Not only descendants, but modern scientists and historians, modern pioneers and explorers, people who have visited the frozen continent, people who have worked there, who have wintered over, who have written about their experiences, who have imminent departure. All these people like-minded, with a heart and soul for the bitterly cold, blue/white continent, each of these people had a yarn to spin….

The Mawon’s Huts Foundation, in organizing this event, had brought together all facets of Australian Antarctic History. They understood that the achievements of Sir Douglas Mawson and the Australian Antarctic Expedition of 1911 were and are many and varied, important to the Australian identity – and psyche – and it is good and right to honour them.

As Patron of the Mawson’s Huts Foundation, the Governor General of Australia, Her Excellency, Ms Quentin Bryce and her husband Mr Michael Bryce would attend the Dinner. Well known for her interest and concern for women and their activities, as well as her love of wool, I wondered if she might like to have a good look at the Balaclava and hear the story of its production. So I sent her an email. Her positive reply saw us gather in the upstairs foyer of the Grand Chancellor Hotel, a few minutes before the Dinner, inspecting the balaclava and chatting about it. Coming from a sheep property in outback Queensland, Ms Bryce is very familiar with wool and appreciated the whole project. She also has the story in her new book published recently “Dear Quentin – Letters Between a Governor General and Her People” (April 4, 2017)

The Governor of Tasmania, Mr Peter Underwood and his wife, and the Mayor of Hobart, along with an array of political figures added their special touch to the historic occasion. As for me, spinning yarn at Cape Denison gave me a yarn to spin at this Dinner! Meet Emma McEwin, Sir Douglas Mawson’s Great Granddaughter….

To upkeep the historic site at Cape Denison takes an enormous amount of funding and effort. All team members, specialists in their fields, working in a 6 weeks window, have to take all their food, materials, equipment with them, and when the season is finished, take the leftovers back north with them, leaving the area clear, clean and unspoiled. All this is about $600,000 each season. The Auction formed one of the main fundraising avenues at the dinner.

The items on offer for auction included paintings, drawings, books and other items – a bottle of special vintage port – 10 items in all. But out there on the display table, and unlike any of the other items on offer, one item stood out and stood alone, unblinking and waiting. The Balaclava.

Handspun on site at Cape Denison, using Australian Corriedale wooltop, plied on the Southern Ocean, Skeined and washed in New Zealand, knitted in Australia by a Canadian person (Marion), using a photo supplied by the Mawson family as the basis for the pattern, the replica balaclava, being worn by the felted model head and sitting on its Hand-crafted shoulder stand, was – as Sir Douglas Mawson’s great granddaughter, Emma McEwin remarked – a Gift from the Heart.