Commonwealth Bay was Australia’s gateway to Antarctica.

Aerial shot showing the bay, the peninsula and the wooden hit that looks very small compared to the sea and icy landscape.
Cape Denison, Commonwealth Bay and Mawson’s Huts Photo: Alisdair McDonald

In 1912, Douglas Mawson established the headquarters of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) at Commonwealth Bay.

This is where the 18 members of the Cape Denison party lived for up to 2 years. The wooden buildings still stand today.

The ferocity of the weather has taken its toll. The Australian Government provides grants to assist in the maintenance of these structures.

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The hut still stands with old wooden boxes strewn on the ground behind.
An old wooden chair sits in a small room by a hard bunk bed. Books on a shelf are frozen and drip ice.
Expeditioners pose inside Mawson's Hut
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