British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition

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Douglas Mawson (third from right) and other BANZARE participants taking possession of Proclamation Island for the British Crown.

The British Australian (and) New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition ( BANZARE ) was a research expedition to Antarctica that was conducted between 1929 and 1931 and included two voyages in consecutive Antarctic summers. It was a Commonwealth expedition that was motivated by geopolitics rather than science. It was funded by the United Kingdom , Australia and New Zealand .

The head of the BANZARE was Sir Douglas Mawson . There were various sub-leaders (Captain Kenneth Norman MacKenzie (1897-1951) replaced Captain John King Davis in the second summer) on board the RRS Discovery , the ship that had previously been used by Robert Falcon Scott . The BANZARE, which also made several flights in a small plane, mapped the coast of Antarctica , gave the Banzare coast its name, and discovered Mac Robertson Land and Princess Elizabeth Land (which were later incorporated into the Australian Antarctic Territory ).

The expedition was a "profit-oriented exploration expedition", with Mawson proclaiming British sovereignty for every land sighting - with the agreement that the territory would later be transferred to Australia (happened in 1933). Such a proclamation was made on January 5, 1931 at Cape Denison , where Mawson's Australasian Antarctic Expedition 1912/13 was based.

However, the BANZARE also conducted scientific research and produced thirteen volumes of reports on geology, oceanography, meteorology, geomagnetism, zoology and botany between 1937 and 1975.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Christy Collis: The Proclamation Island Moment. Making Antarctica Australian . In: Law Text Culture 8, 2004, pp. 1-18
  2. ^ A. Grenfell Price: The Winning of Australian Antarctica. Mawson's BANZARE voyages, 1929-31. Based on the Mawson Papers . Angus & Robertson, Sydney 1962