These abandoned huts still contain the remains of the early 20th-century Australian explorer’s work. On the edge of Cape Denison in Antarctica sits a small group of huts that were built by Australian Antarctic explorer Douglas Mawson in the early 20th century. Built between 1911 and 1914, the small research station is now known simply as Mawson’s Huts. It is one of the last remaining outposts from the so-called Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration, and the only one established by Australians. Mawson and his 17-man team, the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, set out for Commonwealth Bay to conduct experiments on a variety of topics, including continental drift, native wildlife, and glaciation.

Given the harsh climate, life in the huts was meager. Snowstorms and hurricane force winds were the norm, and communication was difficult, despite a radio relay that had been installed on a nearby island. Mawson would later write of the experience: “Temperatures as low as -60 degrees have been observed with hurricane force winds sometimes exceeding one hundred miles an hour. However, air and low temperatures, or high winds and moderate temperatures, are quite tolerable; but the combination of high winds and low temperatures is difficult to endure.” When the expedition left the site, they left their huts in place and set out. Some of the huts had succumbed to the harsh winter conditions, but the main hut and the adjacent magnetograph house are still intact, retaining some of the original equipment, such as the iron stove.