A team of conservationists will embark on a five-week restoration expedition to the "windiest place on earth" in a homage to Antarctic explorer Sir Douglas Mawson.
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On December 2, 1911, Sir Mawson began the voyage to Antarctic on what would become the first Australasian Antarctic Expedition to Cape Denison.
This week to mark 110 years since the fateful voyage, six Australian conservationists have made the similar 2500 km journey from Hobart to the remote Antarctic outpost.
Currently, the team are in hotel quarantine before they embark on the French Antarctic program Vessel L'Astrolabe at the end of the week.
Sir Mawson is best remembered for his lone trek across the polar icecap after the death of two companions on a sledging journey.
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He arrived back at the hut to see his relief vessel sail north over the horizon, leaving him stranded for another year.
Over the next five weeks, the Australian conservationist team will live in the same outpost, restoring the wooden huts that housed Sir Mawson during the 1911-1914 expedition.
Now heritage listed, the huts have remained largely untouched since Mawson left but due to the frequent blizzards, the outpost has not been visited in six years.
The Mawson's Huts Foundation team consists of expedition leader Marty Passingham, of Hobart Tasmania; conservation team leader Ian Godfrey of Perth, Western Australia; materials conservators Karina Acton and Eoin Eoin O'Suilleabhain of Sydney; expedition doctor Roger Booth and base camp manager David Killick, both of Hobart.
"Antarctica is never predictable. On previous trips, we've faced winds of over 100km/h, blizzards that went for days and temperatures down to minus 20," said expedition leader Marty Passingham.
"It can be a challenging place to live. The work we're doing this summer is the culmination of 14 visits to the site over two decades This work is integral to the buildings' survival."
The team will camp on the Antarctic coastline hundreds of kilometres from the nearest Australian base, where they will not have access to showers, laundry facilities or running water. Instead, they will melt ice to drink.
During summer, Antarctica sits under 24 hours of sunlight, which will aid in the conservation efforts. While there, the team will also construct an automatic weather station and survey the region's penguin population.
"Mawson's Huts are Australia's most important historic site in Antarctica. The team's work this summer will help ensure these examples of our priceless Antarctic heritage are preserved for the future," said Greg Carter, CEO of the Mawson's Hut Foundation.
"This work is not possible without the generous support of the Australian and French Antarctic programs and the support of the Foundation's many donors and volunteers."