Douglas Mawson was educated at Fort Street Model School, Sydney.
College/University
Gallery of Douglas Mawson
Camperdown NSW 2006, Australia
Douglas Mawson entered the University of Sydney in 1899, took a Bachelor of Engineering degree in 1901, and under the influence of the famous Sir Edgeworth David, professor of geology, decided to become a geologist. He received a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Sydney in 1952.
Gallery of Douglas Mawson
Adelaide SA 5005, Australia
Douglas Mawson received a Doctor of Science in 1909 from the University of Adelaide.
Career
Gallery of Douglas Mawson
1909
Antarctica
Mackay, David, and Mawson raise the flag at the Magnetic South Pole on 16 January 1909.
Gallery of Douglas Mawson
1914
175-177 Chapel St, Balaclava VIC 3183, Australia
Douglas Mawson and Francesca (Paquita) Delprat on their wedding day, 31 March 1914. From left: Hester Berry (bridesmaid), J.K. Davis (best man), William Mawson, Douglas Mawson, G.D. Delprat (bride’s father), Paquita Mawson, H Delprat (bride’s mother), Elizabeth Delprat (bride’s sister), T.W. Edgeworth David and G.D. Delprat Jr. (bride's brother, groomsman)
Gallery of Douglas Mawson
1914
Sir Douglas Mawson in 1914 after receiving his knighthood.
Gallery of Douglas Mawson
1914
Australian geologist and explorer Douglas Mawson in knight's regalia.
Gallery of Douglas Mawson
1914
Seated outdoor portrait of a dapper Sir Douglas Mawson around the time he received his knighthood in 1914.
Gallery of Douglas Mawson
1929
Sir Douglas Mawson in the Commander's Cabin on the Discovery, 1929.
Gallery of Douglas Mawson
1930
Portrait of Sir Douglas Mawson by Frank Hurley.
Gallery of Douglas Mawson
1930
Antarctica
Douglas Mawson and Flying Officer Stuart Campbell leaving the Discovery in a Gipsy Moth to survey newly discovered territory during the British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition.
Gallery of Douglas Mawson
1930
Antarctica
Inspecting a haul from the sea. From the left Douglas Mawson, Dr. W. Ingram, J. W. S. Marr. Photo by F. Hurley.
Gallery of Douglas Mawson
1931
Antarctica
Return of the Discovery in 1931. Mawson in balaclava in the middle row.
Gallery of Douglas Mawson
1954
Portrait photo of Sir Douglas Mawson in 1954.
Gallery of Douglas Mawson
1957
Brighton, South Australia, Australia
Sir Douglas and Lady Mawson at Brighton home in South Australia. The late 1950s.
Achievements
Adelaide SA 5005, Australia
Bust of Sir Douglas Mawson at the University of Adelaide North Terrace.
Membership
Royal Society
1923 - 1958
Douglas Mawson was a fellow of the Royal Society from 1923.
Australian Academy of Science
1954 - 1958
Douglas Mawson was a foundation fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.
Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science
1935 - 1937
Douglas Mawson was the president of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science in 1935-1937.
Douglas Mawson and Francesca (Paquita) Delprat on their wedding day, 31 March 1914. From left: Hester Berry (bridesmaid), J.K. Davis (best man), William Mawson, Douglas Mawson, G.D. Delprat (bride’s father), Paquita Mawson, H Delprat (bride’s mother), Elizabeth Delprat (bride’s sister), T.W. Edgeworth David and G.D. Delprat Jr. (bride's brother, groomsman)
Douglas Mawson and Flying Officer Stuart Campbell leaving the Discovery in a Gipsy Moth to survey newly discovered territory during the British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition.
Douglas Mawson entered the University of Sydney in 1899, took a Bachelor of Engineering degree in 1901, and under the influence of the famous Sir Edgeworth David, professor of geology, decided to become a geologist. He received a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Sydney in 1952.
The Home of the Blizzard: A Heroic Tale of Antarctic Exploration and Survival
(In The Home of the Blizzard, Sir Douglas Mawson records h...)
In The Home of the Blizzard, Sir Douglas Mawson records his historic expedition to explore uncharted land in Antarctica. Pitted against formidable natural forces, he and his team faced unrelenting winds with speeds of up to two hundred miles per hour as well as freezing temperatures and day-long blizzards. They traversed the previously unexplored King George V Land directly south of Australia and collected geological samples and magnetic readings. After accident and illness led to the death of his two teammates, a starving and frostbitten Mawson finished one hundred miles of the return journey alone. Mawson kept a detailed journal of his expedition, reprinted here in the popular abridged version from 1930. He puts the reader at the cold, windy scene with vivid descriptions of the men and their sled dogs persevering over rough terrain. Mawson's thoughts upon losing his colleague Lt. Belgrave Ninnis in a deep, snow-covered crevasse in a glacier or while dangling from his own sled in another crevasse while alone and near death convey the dual excitement and danger that accompany his unique expedition. Readers will be swept up in Sir Douglas Mawson's amazing and historic adventures. The over 300 accompanying photographs taken during the Antarctic trip paint a vivid picture of that harsh and extraordinary land.
(Sir Douglas Mawson, Australia's greatest Antarctic explor...)
Sir Douglas Mawson, Australia's greatest Antarctic explorer, made four trips to the Antarctic during his long and storied career. He traveled south in 1907 with Shackleton's British Antarctic Expedition; in 1911 as leader of the Australasian Antarctic expedition; and twice between 1929 and 1931 as leader of the British, Australian, and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition. Gathered here are Mawson’s diaries from each of these four trips, volumes which provide an intimate perspective on the stress and conflicts inherent to each journey, their achievements and failures, joys and tragedies. Gripping and unrestrained, this is a revealing look at one of history’s most daring adventurers.
Douglas Mawson was an Australian geologist and explorer. His travels in the Antarctic earned him worldwide acclaim. He is famous for the first ascent of Mount Erebus, a member of the first team to reach the South Magnetic Pole, and the sole survivor of the Far Eastern Party.
Background
Douglas Mawson was born on May 5, 1882, in Shipley, York, United Kingdom as the younger son of Robert Mawson and Margaret Ann Moore, both of long-established Yorkshire families. The family sailed to Australia in 1884, where the father eventually attained some success as a lumber merchant.
Education
Douglas Mawson was educated at Rooty Hill country school and later at Fort Street Model School, Sydney. He entered the University of Sydney in 1899, took a Bachelor of Engineering degree in 1901, and under the influence of the famous Sir Edgeworth David, professor of geology, decided to become a geologist. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1904, a Doctor of Science in 1909 from the University of Adelaide, and a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Sydney in 1952.
In 1903 Mawson was invited to accompany the team which made the first intensive geological survey of the New Hebrides Islands in the Pacific. From 1905 he held the lectureship and later the professorship of mineralogy and petrology (geology) at the University of Adelaide. He quickly gained the reputation of an outstanding teacher as well as that of a fine scientist.
By 1907 Mawson had turned his mind and energies toward Antarctica. Hitherto Britain, Sweden, and Germany had been engaged in surveying the land mass of the continent. Ernest Shackleton, a member of Robert F. Scott's team, had determined that year to reach the South Pole. Mawson accompanied the expedition as physicist and surveyor, and Edgeworth David joined the party. During 1908, together with Dr. A. F. MacKay, Mawson and David conquered the summit of Mount Erebus - an ice-covered volcanic cone 11,400 feet high - for the first time. Among other notable achievements they observed, also for the first time, the shifting position of the magnetic pole. It was a thorough and successful introduction to the life and labor demanded of Antarctic scientists and explorers. Mawson had earned an invitation to join Scott in his forthcoming voyage of discovery.
In January 1911 the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science initiated a government-aided expedition under Mawson's leadership to survey the unknown and unmapped ice plateau west of the magnetic pole. When the expedition sailed from Hobart, Tasmania, in December, Mawson had already earned the utmost affection and respect of his crew.
During the course of the survey, Mawson found himself, after the death of two companions, alone, without supplies, on foot, and a hundred miles from safety. His courage and ingenuity enabled him to survive a most terrible journey through blizzards and across frightening crevasses. At one stage the soles of his feet separated from the flesh. Yet by 1914 the objects of the scientific research had been triumphantly achieved.
In 1929 Mawson was asked to lead a combined British, Australian, and New Zealand expedition to Antarctica and to explore that huge part of the continent which lay to the south of Australia. Scott's old ship, the Discovery, was fitted out for them, and on the voyage from Cape Town Mawson carried out research on the unexplored islands of the Crozets and also on Kerguelen and Heard islands. The phenomenon of the shallowing of the ocean depths toward the Antarctic was observed carefully.
Mawson named Mac-Robertson Land and, in the 1930 season, Princess Elizabeth Land. Notable was his use of an airplane for scientific purposes. As an outcome of this expedition and of Mawson's work, Britain made over to Australia its claims in Antarctica, and in 1936 the present Australian sector of the continent was annexed. The chief Australian Antarctic base was named after Mawson, and he firmly established his country's status as an Antarctic power.
In addition to many scientific papers and reports, Mawson wrote a remarkable two-volume book on his experiences, The Land of the Blizzard (1915).
Though Mawson is chiefly remembered for his Antarctic exploration, his geological work at the University of Adelaide was outstanding. He was a pioneer in research on uranium and other minerals connected with radioactivity.
(In The Home of the Blizzard, Sir Douglas Mawson records h...)
1912
Religion
Douglas Mawson was a member of Anglican Church. Born and raised in this confession he was married at Holy Trinity Church of Balaclava and buried at the historic Anglican cemetery of St Jude's Church.
Views
Keen to further Antarctic discovery, Mawson lobbied the British, Australian and New Zealand governments to fund expeditions. Philanthropist Macpherson Robertson donated 10,000 pounds to the expedition, a huge sum in 1928. In appreciation, Mawson named MacRobertson Land after the entrepreneurial owner of the Melbourne confectionery company.
Mawson was a persistent advocate of decimal measures, a supporter of strict regulation of the whaling industry, and was influential in having Macquarie Island declared a sanctuary.
Quotations:
"In no department can a leader spend time more profitably than in the selection of the men who are to accomplish the work."
"Dangling in space I realised I could always slip out of the harness. I looked forward to the peace of the great release."
"It's dead easy to die; it's the keeping on living that's hard."
"If we ignore the facts contained in one part of the world, surely we are hampering scientific advance."
Membership
Douglas Mawson was a fellow of the Royal Society from 1923, a foundation fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, and president of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science in 1935-1937.
Royal Society
,
United Kingdom
1923 - 1958
Australian Academy of Science
,
Australia
1954 - 1958
Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science
1935 - 1937
Personality
Apart from geology and Antarctica, Mawson cultivated a broad range of interests including conservation, farming, and forestry. Mawson owned and worked a small farm, which he named Harewood, at Meadows, south of Adelaide.
Interests
conservation, farming, forestry
Connections
Mawson had married Francisca Adriana "Paquita" Delprat, daughter of Guillaume Delprat on 31 March 1914 at Holy Trinity Church, Balaclava, Melbourne. They had two daughters Patricia and Jessica.