Antarctic heritage assessment

The Australian Antarctic Division recently conducted an assessment of its historical artefact collection with the help of professional curators and knowledgeable staff members. The assessment will enable the Division to make informed decisions about the storage, conservation, display, lending and disposal of items. Many of the items have heritage significance, including a ski stock, ice axe and a man-hauling harness belonging to geologist, Dr Frank Stillwell, who formed part of Mawson’s Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911–14. Other objects of interest included artefacts from Mawson’s Huts, medical equipment, an old wooden wind turbine generator from Mawson station, a 1943 Weasel tractor and various de Havilland Beaver aircraft parts. Several of the aircraft parts were later shipped to New Zealand for use in a display aircraft at the Air Force Museum, Christchurch.

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