Recently the wintering expeditioners at Mawson received a very special gift of fabulous bespoke beanies knitted by textile artist Hadley Westwood.
Hadley was inspired by photographs of Mawson and its surrounds (many taken by Antarctic Infrastructure Manager David Waterhouse) and the iconic image of Sir Douglas Mawson in his balaclava, to create unique and colourful headwear.
She spent two years researching and drawing up images and then knitted full time from February to September 2018 to complete the project. The beanies were knitted with very fine Australian tapestry wool left over from Hadley’s Diploma of Arts in Tapestry which she completed over 20 years ago. The beanies have amazing details that faithfully reproduce many iconic Mawson scenes.
The beanies made their way to Mawson on Voyage 3 in January 2019 and have been secretly guarded by our station leader Kyle until they were revealed just prior to Midwinter. It was a bit of a dilemma to decide who would receive which hat, so, in the end we did a bit of a ‘lucky dip’ in the box of beanies. It was just like Harry Potter and the sorting hat, the hats chose their owners. The individual hats could not have gone to more appropriate recipients and everyone was absolutely delighted with their selection. Chef Kim is sporting pancake ice (complete with a plate and cutlery), Senior Field Training Officer Ian has a set of quad bike tyre tracks, while Chippie Chris has his own workshop (aptly named Rosella) on his cranium.
We are all delighted with our new beanies which, apart from looking stylish, are toasty warm.
Thanks Hadley!
Doctor Jan (Mawson Expedition Medical Officer)
