History of Australia's Antarctic rebuilding program
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| Construction of 14-sided huts for sleeping accommodation. Photo A. Campbell-Drury Cat:187 |
Australia's Antarctic program has increased dramatically since a party of expeditioners landed at Heard Island in December 1947 to establish the first ANARE station. They repaired a twenty year old shipwrecked sailor's hut for temporary accommodation while they erected four more huts, each built out of US Army plywood pre-fabricated materials.
These original huts were a far cry from the facilities available today on the continental stations of Casey, Davis and Mawson. The pioneering work of the engineers and construction teams involved in Australia's Antarctic rebuilding program during the eighties and nineties deserves recognition. The Australian Antarctic Building System (AANBUS) has become an internationally accepted benchmark in antarctic and cold-region design.
