Living on Macquarie Island

Macquarie Island station is on a narrow, windswept isthmus near Wireless Hill. It is the longest continuously operating Australian station in the sub-Antarctic or Antarctica.

Macquarie Island life

Video transcript

Dr James Doube

It’s a pretty amazing place to live. It’s, both from a community sense, you're with a group of really interesting people who've genuinely done a wide variety of things before and come down here, not because it’s just another job but because they're wanting that greater experience or that interaction with the environment. It’s almost like living in some sort of nature documentary. There are so many animals packed in such a small space. Most of the animals that we think about living in the Antarctic don’t actually want to have their babies on the ice so many of the seals, the albatrosses and many species of penguin that may feed further south want to lay their eggs on the last bit of sort of normal green-covered dirt rather than ice and that’s what Macquarie Island represents.

[end transcript]

Macquarie Island station is made up of more than 30 separate buildings. These include accommodation, a communal mess, a doctor’s surgery, stores, workshops, communications and power generation facilities. Most of the research and scientific buildings are also located on the isthmus. These include facilities for studying geophysics, biology, upper atmosphere physics and meteorology.

Macquarie Island station was established by the first ANARE in 1948. Since then, the station has seen a series of upgrades and refurbishments.

The Southern Aurora donga (otherwise known as SAD) is one of the original structures in the complex. It dates from 1958. SAD has 18 cubicle style rooms, with toilet and shower facilities at one end. It is the only traditional style donga left on any of the Antarctic stations.

Garden Cove, built in 1969, contains 8 larger rooms with communal bathroom facilities. The rooms have raised bunk style beds and windows that can be opened.

Hasselborough House is more modern. This accommodation, contains 11 rooms, a laundry, a drying room, toilets and showers.

Cumpston Cottage is a prefabricated two-storey timber house. It was built during the 1995–96 summer. The cottage has living quarters for the station leader, doctor and chef. It also contains the station leader’s office.

The kitchen and the mess are the social heart of the station. This space is a venue for everyone to spend time together in a community atmosphere.

The number of expeditioners on station varies from 14 to 40. This depends on the season and on research or construction projects.

Photo gallery

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A mixed group of expeditioners pose sitting on tussock grass while smiling.

Expeditioners conduct inflatable rubber boat training.

This content was last updated 4 years ago on 15 September 2020.