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In 1971 the Library purchased a collection of papers containing Frank Wild's memoirs of the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901-1904, British Antarctic Expedition 1907-1909, Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914, and British Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914-1917. The following extract is taken from Frank Wild Memoirs, 1937? MLMSS 2198 / vol. 1

In January 1912 the main party, led by Douglas Mawson was established at the base at Commonwelath Bay. The Western Party then left on the Aurora to find a location for the second base which was eventually established on the Shackleton Ice shelf.

Frequent gales interfered however, & the last load was not landed until the 19th January, & our farewells over, the “Aurora" steamed away ....to the West to find if possible another landing place for my party, Mawson’s instructions being that this must not be less than four hundred miles from the main base.

For a few hours only we were able to keep within five miles of the land, & then the ship was forced to the north by impenetrable pack for three days, when we were able to make south again. We sailed over the charted positions of Cote Clarie & Cape Carr & soon afterwards sighted new land but were unable to get within twelve miles. Several days of southerly gales drove us again to the north, & driving snow rendered everything invisible. Collisions with icebergs were frequently averted with only a few yards to spare. When the weather cleared again our observations placed us on Sabrina Land so that also was wiped off the charts.

Battling on to the west we passed within a few miles of Totton High Land, also charted by Wilkes, but saw nothing of it. I have never seen so many icebergs in sight at the same time as we encountered on this trip. From the “Aurora’s" masthead one morning I counted one hundred & twenty seven & many others must have been hidden by high ones in the foreground. One thing about these icebergs we appreciated thoroughly was the shelter they afford in bad weather. A ship can ride out a gale under the lee of a large berg as comfortably as though in harbour. The largest iceberg I have ever seen was forty miles long & fifteen wide with an average height of two hundred feet, which would mean sixteen hundred feet under water, a fairly open sea bounded on the east by a huge ice shelf & on the south by new land. Unfortunately twenty five miles of solid unbroken floe anything from ten to forty feet thick prevented us reaching the land. By this time the coal supply on the Aurora was getting very low & it was necessary to make a landing somewhere or return to Hobart with the “Aurora". The latter could not be thought of & I asked Captain Davis to take the ship as near the iceshelf as possible, so that I might make an examination of it with a view to making our base upon it.

The Western Party was landed on the Shackleton Ice Shelf, in the vicinity of Queen Mary Land, by the SY Aurora on 15 February 1912.

You can also listen to an account of the search for a landing place in the interview with Morton Moyes recorded by Ros Bowden in 1977

On Wednesday 1 February, in association with the Finding Antarctica exhibition. Professor Robert Clancy will be giving a presentation on the Mapping of Antarctica, 6 pm to 7 pm in the Dixson Room, State Library of New South Wales.

Emeritus Professor Robert Clancy has had a distinguished career as a clinical immunologist. He has been awarded an AM for services to cartography (as a collector of early maps of Australia) and to the field of immunology. Professor Clancy’s talk will focus on his knowledge of the historical Antarctic maps.

$25 Adult, $20 Seniors, $15 Friends   Bookings 

In 1767, Alexander Dalrymple published An account of the discoveries made in the south Pacifick Ocean, previous to 1764. According to Dalrymple a giant, unknown southern continent lay in the Pacific Ocean, somewhere between 28°S and 40°S latitude. Cook's second voyage disproved Dalrymple's theory on the existence of this great southern continent. The Library has recently digitised Dalrymple's published account from 1767 along with a number of his published charts held in the collection. This material can be viewed through the Voyages of discovery pages on the website.