Douglas Mawson
Alone in Antarctica: The Thousand-Mile Trek That Should Have Killed Him
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- Survival Stories
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The audiobook covers Mawson's early life, education, and career as a geologist. It details the Nimrod Expedition of 1907–1909 and BANZARE from 1929 to 1931. Chapters include his personal life, honors, and collections. The book also contains transcriptions of early diaries and lists places and landmarks.
This is essential listening for anyone interested in Antarctic exploration or survival stories. It offers a clear record of one man's endurance through extreme conditions.
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Douglas Mawson entered the world on May 5th, 1882, as the second son of Robert Ellis Mawson and Margaret Ann Moore, who hailed from the Isle of Man. He saw his first two years in Shipley, West Riding of Yorkshire, before his family moved to Australia, settling at Rooty Hill, now part of western Sydney. His elder brother William was about two years his senior.
In 1893, the family moved to Glebe, an inner-Sydney suburb, where they lived at 28 Toxteth Road in a double-storey Victorian house that was later nominated for a Blue Plaque. Douglas first went to Plumpton Public School, then called Woodstock, later known as Plumpton Primary School, along with his brother William. They both attended Forest Lodge Superior Public School in Glebe, and then Fort Street Model School in Observatory Hill, Sydney, graduating in 1898 despite their age difference. It was at Fort Street that Mawson developed his interest in geology.
Douglas Mawson entered the University of Sydney in March 1899 at just sixteen years old, the same year as his brother. He studied mining engineering, and by his second year had earned first-class honours in geology and mineralogy, along with a prize in petrology. He graduated on April 19, 1902, with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in mining and metallurgy, achieving second-class honours. Even before finishing, he was appointed as a junior demonstrator in chemistry, approved by Professor Archibald Liversidge and recommended by geologist Edgeworth David, both of whom became major influences in his geological career.
He returned to study at Sydney University in 1904, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree with first-class honours in geology and mineralogy on 6 May 1905. By the time he graduated, he had already completed fieldwork for two papers, first in Mittagong, New South Wales, and then the New Hebrides (Vanuatu).
In 1909, Douglas Mawson received his Doctor of Science degree from the University of Adelaide for his geological research on the Barrier Ranges in South Australia's Olary region and extending into New South Wales. This academic achievement marked a significant milestone in his scientific career, recognizing his work in understanding the geological formation of this area. The thesis he submitted formed the foundation for his later expeditions and established him as a serious geologist working in remote Australian landscapes. His research in the Barrier Ranges demonstrated both his dedication to fieldwork and his scholarly approach to understanding the continent's geological history.
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In 1903, Douglas Mawson published a geological paper on Mittagong, New South Wales, with his fellow science student and friend Thomas Griffith Taylor. The work was based on joint field trips completed over about eighteen months, building on data from the Geological Survey of New South Wales. Their study focused on igneous rocks, especially their chemical composition. The paper was presented at the Royal Society of New South Wales in October 1903 by Edgeworth David.
Mawson's first major independent geological work came in 1903 when he was appointed geologist by Edgeworth David for an expedition to the New Hebrides, now known as Vanuatu. He traveled there with medical student W. T. Quaife, who served as the expedition's biologist, aboard the Ysabel under British Deputy Commissioner Captain Ernest Rason, with HMS Archer joining the trip. The South Australian Museum has many of Mawson's original field notes and photographs from the journey, as well as a bibliography he compiled before departure. His findings were first presented in January 1904 at a meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science in Dunedin, on his behalf by David, who was then president of the AAAS. A more detailed report titled "The Geology of the New Hebrides" was later published in December 1905 in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales and became one of the first major geological studies of Melanesia, including maps of Efate and Santo.
In 1904, Douglas Mawson and chemist T. H. Laby identified radium-bearing ore in Australia, finding monazite samples from the Pilbara in Western Australia. They also studied samples from New South Wales, including the Barrier Ranges near Olary, South Australia, where uranium was later discovered. Mawson built an electroscope based on C. T. R. Wilson’s design at Sydney University's engineering laboratory to test these samples. Professor Edgeworth David presented their findings formally to the Royal Society of New South Wales on October 5th, 1904, on their behalf.
In 1905, Douglas Mawson began working as a lecturer in petrology and mineralogy at the University of Adelaide. Using a government-provided rail pass meant for geological research, he traveled widely across South Australia, visiting places like Kangaroo Island, the Flinders Ranges, and the Yorke and Eyre Peninsulas. He also explored the region between Olary and Broken Hill, traveling on horseback and by motorbike. He led student field trips, planning logistics for extreme weather conditions. His detailed diaries from these journeys have been transcribed by volunteers at the South Australian Museum. In 1906, government geologist Henry Y. L. Brown accused Mawson of running commercial operations alongside his academic work at Elder's Rock, leading to the temporary withdrawal of his rail pass.
Mawson showed early interest in using geology for business, especially after uranium was found near Olary, sparking a rush to mine the mineral. Commercial demand grew after Marie Curie’s work and radioactivity's medical uses. In 1906, he displayed radioactive minerals—including carnotite from Olary—at a Royal Society meeting in South Australia. That September, he named a new mineral, davidite, found at the Olary site, which he called Radium Hill. The Radium Hill Company developed the area, though it shut down in 1914 with World War I’s start. Mawson stayed interested in Radium Hill and davidite throughout his life, as the find marked Australia’s first major radioactive ore discovery.
After W. B. Greenwood sent rocks he found near Mount Painter in the northern Flinders Ranges in October/November 1910, Mawson identified the mineral torbernite in uranium-bearing rock. Greenwood had previously sent samples to the government in 1899, after radium was discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie, but they went missing while geologist Henry Y. L. Brown was away. When more samples arrived in 1910, Brown dismissed them, but Mawson, having recently visited Curie in Paris and been encouraged to search for radium, thought they were worth analyzing. He used a gold-leaf electroscope given to him by Curie. Mawson traveled to the area with Harry Fabian, W. B. Greenwood, Gordon Arthur "Smiler" Greenwood, and H. Y. L. Brown. They visited sites including the Mount Rose Mine, Mueller Hill, Yankaninna, and Wheal Turner Mine, and Mawson concluded the region may hold “the most extensive uraniferous lode formation in the world.”
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After his Antarctic adventures, Douglas Mawson returned to the University of Adelaide in 1919. When Howchin retired in 1920, Mawson was promoted to professor of geology and mineralogy in 1921, a position he held until his retirement in 1952. He built a strong teaching and research department, always involving students in field work.
Along with Cecil Madigan and their students, Mawson made a significant contribution to the knowledge about the Cambrian. During these 30 years, much of his research was focused on the Adelaide Superbasin of Precambrian rocks, especially in the northern Flinders Ranges. He showed that glacial beds extended for 930 miles, and also that glacial conditions existed on and off throughout the Proterozoic period. In August 1924, Mawson undertook fieldwork as part of his teaching and research programme in the northern Flinders Ranges, which led to the discovery of an extensive Cambrian outcrop near Mt McKinlay in the Gammon Ranges.
After returning from BANZARE, which ran from 1929 to 1931, Mawson went back to studying the Cambrian period in the late 1930s, working with students and publishing research in 1937, 1938, and 1939. He also produced a sketch map in 1942, including detailed measurements of rock layers from the Flinders Ranges that showed Cambrian formations.
He continued his scientific work with interest in geochemistry, studying igneous and metamorphic rocks and the geological significance of algae. His reputation attracted help from specialists worldwide who assisted him in identifying rocks and fossils he'd collected in both Australia and Antarctica.
Douglas Mawson interested in petroleum geology studied coorongite, first found in 1852 at Salt Creek on the Coorong. Some believed it formed from oil seepage due to its viscous nature and flammability, but scientists later determined it came from Botryococcus braunii algae. Mawson did extensive fieldwork in the Coorong and at Lake Albert—being the first geologist to visit there—in January 1938, February 1940, and January 1941. He only published one study in 1938, though his personal letters show continued interest in oil. His collection at the South Australian Museum includes a sample of crude oil from Oil Creek near Titusville, Pennsylvania, where Edwin Drake's 1859 discovery marked the first commercially successful oil well in the U.S. After retiring in 1952, Mawson was appointed inaugural director of Santos in 1954 but resigned quickly due to health issues, becoming an honorary consultant instead.
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While working on his doctorate, Douglas Mawson joined Ernest Shackleton’s Nimrod Expedition to Antarctica from 1907 to 1909, serving as surveyor, cartographer, and magnetician. He wanted to study glaciation and its effects on rocks, building on earlier work in South Australia that had examined the largest Precambrian glacial deposits ever found. Originally planning to stay only during the first summer, Mawson ended up staying an extra year with his mentor, Edgeworth David. Together with Alistair Mackay and a group of three support men, they became the first to climb Mount Erebus, Antarctica’s second-highest volcanic peak at 3,794 meters. They also trekked to the South magnetic pole locality, which was over land at that time. On the return journey, Mawson fell into a crevasse and had to be rescued.
During their stay, they also wrote, illustrated and printed the book Aurora Australis. Mawson contributed with the science fiction short story "Bathybia".
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Douglas Mawson turned down an invitation to join Robert Falcon Scott's Terra Nova Expedition in 1910 because Scott wasn't interested in letting Mawson do scientific research. Instead, Australian geologist Thomas Griffith Taylor went with Scott. Mawson decided to lead his own mission, the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, or AAE, targeting George V Land and Adélie Land—areas of Antarctica immediately south of Australia that were almost unexplored. The goals included geographical exploration and scientific studies, including a trip to the South magnetic pole. He raised funds from British and Australian governments and private backers interested in mining and whaling. Over nearly three years, the team mapped the coastline, explored nearby places like Macquarie Island, and ventured inland for over 500 kilometers, gathering geological and scientific data. Mawson had planned to return in February 1913, but due to problems during his Far Eastern Party expedition and losing some companions, he missed the return ship and ended up spending another year in Antarctica.
The Australasian Antarctic Expedition began when the ship SY Aurora, led by Captain John King Davis, sailed from Hobart on 2 December 1911. They reached Cape Denison on 8 January 1912, where they set up the Main Base in Commonwealth Bay. That spot was named after Hugh Denison, a key supporter of the mission. A second camp was later built further west on the ice shelf in Queen Mary Land. The weather at Cape Denison was brutal—average winds were around fifty miles per hour, with some gusts nearing two hundred miles per hour. In his 1915 book The Home of the Blizzard, Mawson described these winds as "Herculean," and later learned they had reached close to two hundred miles per hour. These katabatic winds can hit speeds of around 300 kilometers per hour, earning Cape Denison its nickname as “the windiest place on Earth.”
Mawson wanted to do aerial exploration and brought the first "air tractor" to Antarctica. The aircraft, a Vickers R.E.P. Type Monoplane, was to be flown by Francis Howard Bickerton. When it was damaged in Australia shortly before the expedition departed, plans were changed, and it was to be used only as a tractor on skis. However, the engine did not operate well in the cold, and it was removed and returned to Vickers in England. The aircraft fuselage itself was abandoned. On 1 January 2009, fragments of it were rediscovered by the Mawson's Huts Foundation, which works on restoring and conserving the original huts.
Mawson was part of a three-man sledging team called the Far Eastern Party, with Xavier Mertz and Lieutenant Belgrave Ninnis. They set out on 10 November 1912 to map George V Land. After five weeks of good progress, they were crossing the Ninnis Glacier, 480 kilometers east of the main base, when Ninnis fell through a crevasse. His weight broke the snow bridge above, and the accident took six of their best dogs, most of their food, their tent, and other supplies. Mertz and Mawson found one dead dog and one injured dog on a ledge 165 feet below, but Ninnis was never seen again.
After a brief service, Mawson and Mertz turned back immediately. They had one week's provisions for two men and no dog food, but plenty of fuel and a Primus stove. Their lack of provisions forced them to use their remaining sledge dogs to feed the other dogs and themselves: There was a quick deterioration in the men's physical condition during this journey. Both men suffered dizziness; nausea; abdominal pain; irrationality; mucosal fissuring; skin, hair and nail loss; and the yellowing of eyes and skin. Mertz began to deteriorate rapidly, with diarrhoea and madness, eventually falling into a coma and dying on 8 January 1913. It was unknown at the time that high levels of vitamin A are toxic to humans, causing liver damage, and that husky liver contains extremely high levels of vitamin A. Mawson himself also became very ill, with the soles of his feet becoming detached.
Mawson cut his remaining sledge in half to make it lighter and easier to single man-haul, taking on the barest minimum equipment with him. The half sledge is displayed in the South Australian Museum.
He continued the final 160 kilometres alone and slowly, back to Main Base. When he finally made it back to Cape Denison, the ship Aurora had left only a few hours before. It was recalled by wireless communication, only to have bad weather thwart the rescue effort. Mawson and six men who had remained behind to look for him wintered a second year until December 1913. In Mawson's book Home of the Blizzard, he describes his experiences. His party, and those at the Western Base, had explored large areas of the Antarctic coast, describing its geology, biology and meteorology, and more closely defining the location of the South magnetic pole. They had covered around 4,000 miles.
After returning from the expedition, Douglas Mawson gave public lectures, sharing photographs and stories from the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, including one at Adelaide Town Hall on 9 September 1914. He also edited the 22 volumes of the A.A.E. Scientific Reports, which were finally published in full.
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Douglas Mawson led the British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition, known as BANZARE, between 1929 and 1931. With support from both the Australian National Research Council and the Australian Government, following the Imperial Conference of 1926, Mawson used the ship Discovery for this expedition. Unlike previous efforts, BANZARE did not establish land bases but instead focused on collecting data about geology, magnetism, zoology, and botany. The work done during these expeditions contributed to the creation of the Australian Antarctic Territory in 1936, through the enactment of the Australian Antarctic Territory Acceptance Act in 1933.
The BANZARE expedition carried out extensive marine science work, with specimens studied by specialists around the world over the following fifty years, leading to the 13-volume B.A.N.Z.A.R.E. Scientific Reports, with the final volume only published in 1975. The narrative of the voyage was written by Archibald Grenfell Price, using Mawson's papers, and was published commercially by Angus & Robertson in 1962 as The winning of Australian Antarctica; Mawson's B.A.N.Z.A.R.E. voyages, 1929-31.
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Douglas Mawson served as Honorary Curator of Minerals for the South Australian Museum from 1907 until 1958, and also chaired the museum's Board of Governors from 1951 through 1958. In 1915, he represented the University of Adelaide at a conference called by Prime Minister Billy Hughes to found the Advisory Council of Science and Industry. That body later became the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, or CSIRO. Mawson took part in the first executive meetings of the new organization in early 1916, where they worked out its charter and how it would operate.
On 21 August 1919, Mawson became a founding member of the Australasian Research Council, representing the science of geography, based in Sydney. The council was later formalised by the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science and renamed the Australian National Research Council in July 1921, eventually dissolving in 1955 when its functions were taken over by the Australian Academy of Science. Mawson was a petitioner for the academy in 1953, a founding fellow from 1954 to 1958, and served as a council member from 1954. From the end of World War I until 1923, he also served on the committee of the Australian War Museum, which later became the Australian War Memorial.
Douglas Mawson served on the council and later became president of the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia, holding that role from 1924 to 1925. In 1920, he was elected president of Section E, which focused on geology, within the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science. He continued in leadership, later becoming president of the association by then renamed the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science, a position he held from 1932 through 1937.
After World War II ended in 1945, Mawson promoted the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions and served on the Australian Antarctic Executive Planning Committee until his death. He had many interests beyond exploration, including conservation, farming, and forestry. His wife said he found greatest joy in planting trees. In 1920, along with artist Hans Heysen, he helped found the South Australian Forest League, dedicated to protecting forests and encouraging native tree planting. Mawson owned a 1,200-acre farm called “Harewood” at Meadows and was a founding director of S.A. Hardwoods Pty Ltd. He also established a mill near Kuitpo Forest. A painting by artist Sam Leach of the farm, based on childhood memories and assisted by AI, was a finalist in the Wynne Prize in 2022.
Douglas Mawson continued his advocacy work after returning from Antarctica in 1914. He pushed for decimalisation and supported strict regulations on the whaling industry. His efforts led to Macquarie Island being proclaimed a sanctuary in 1916, a goal he had been determined to achieve since his return from the frozen continent.
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Douglas Mawson received recognition for his scientific achievements during his lifetime. He was made a fellow of the Royal Society in 1923, and was a foundation Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. He was also made a life fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1913. These honors acknowledged his contributions to exploration and science, particularly his work in Antarctica. His fellowships reflected the respect he earned from leading scientific institutions of his time. The Royal Society fellowship came after his return from expeditions, while his connection to the Royal Geographical Society began earlier. His foundation fellowship with the Australian Academy of Science showed continued support for his research. These honors marked him as a significant figure in Antarctic exploration and geoscience.
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Douglas Mawson married Francisca Adriana “Paquita” Delprat on 31 March 1914 at Holy Trinity Church of England in Balaclava, Melbourne. Captain John King Davis, who had captained the Aurora and served as second-in-charge of the AAE, was best man. Paquita was the daughter of G. D. Delprat, a Dutch-born metallurgist and general manager of BHP, whom Mawson had met during his time in Broken Hill. They first met when she was 17, shortly after Mawson’s return from the Nimrod Expedition in 1909. They became engaged before Mawson left for the Australasian Antarctic Expedition in 1911. A collection of letters written by both of them between 1911 and 1914 was published in 2005 as This Everlasting Silence: The Love Letters of Paquita Delprat and Sir Douglas Mawson, 1911–1914, introduced and annotated by Nancy Robinson Flannery.
Their first daughter, Patricia Marietje Thomas, later a notable parasitologist, was born in 1915. The family moved into an apartment in the recently-completed Ruthven Mansions in Pulteney Street, Adelaide, which was their first home together. However, Douglas was called to do war service in England, so they were only there for around a year. Paquita and Patricia went to stay with Mrs Delprat in Melbourne for some time, before Paquita, too, went to assist Mawson in his wartime role at the Ministry of Munitions in England, leaving Pat with her mother. Their second child, Jessica Paquita "Quita" Mawson (1917–2004; married name McEwin), who became a bacteriologist, was born in London.
In 1920, Douglas and Paquita Mawson moved into their new home called "Jerbii," located at 44 King Street in Brighton. This house was built on land owned by Paquita's parents, who gave it to the couple as a wedding present. Before moving in, they had rented a place on the South Esplanade while the new home was being built. They returned from England after World War I before taking up residence. The Mawsons lived in Brighton until 1958, when Douglas died.
Paquita Mawson worked for the Mothers' and Babies' Health Association, serving as its president for nine years, and was also active in the Australian Red Cross Society. She was deeply involved in Adelaide's social and cultural life, much like her husband Douglas. She wrote two books: A Vision of Steel, a biography of her father G. D. Delprat published in 1958, and Mawson of the Antarctic, about her husband, published in 1964. She was awarded an OBE, and after Douglas's knighthood, became Lady Mawson.
During his time in England in 1916 working for the War Office, Mawson developed a close personal relationship with Kathleen Scott, the widow of Robert Falcon Scott. Historian David Day suggested they had an affair that year in Sandwich, Kent. But Tom Griffiths argues they were united in grief and found comfort in each other, perhaps sharing an emotional or spiritual bond. This claim is also disputed by Mawson's great-granddaughter Emma McEwin, who has read Kathleen Scott’s diaries and written about her great-grandparents’ marriage, as well as adventurer Tim Jarvis.
Mawson's elder brother William studied medicine at Sydney University and became a GP in Campbelltown. He cared for their parents in their later years, with their father Robert dying in 1912 aged 58 and their mother Margaret at the same age in 1917. Mawson Park in Campbelltown was named after William in 1938. William died in 1939.
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After retiring from teaching in 1952, Douglas Mawson was made an emeritus professor of the University of Adelaide. The university published a special volume called Sir Douglas Mawson Anniversary Volume: Contributions to geology in honor of his 70th birthday. This collection featured contributions from colleagues and students celebrating his lifetime of work in geology. Mawson had built a distinguished career studying the Earth's structure and history, particularly in Antarctica. His research helped shape understanding of the continent's geological formation and ancient climate patterns. The anniversary volume recognized not only his scientific achievements but also his enduring influence on the field of geology. This publication marked the end of his active teaching career while celebrating his remarkable contributions to Antarctic exploration and earth sciences.
On March 12, 1958, Douglas Mawson visited the Soviet Antarctic ship Cooperatzia, also known as Kooperatsiya or Cooperatsiya. He spent several hours speaking with Soviet scientific leader Alexey Tryoshnikov. The ship's visit was meant to help build better relationships between Australian and Soviet scientists. American scientist G. D. Cartwright was also aboard the vessel during this meeting.
Sir Douglas Mawson died at his Brighton home in South Australia on 14 October 1958 from a cerebral haemorrhage, aged 76. Prime Minister Robert Menzies said of him upon hearing of his death: "Sir Douglas Mawson was one of the very great men of my lifetime. He had courage, remarkable ability, great vision and great tenacity. Future generations of Australians will look back on his life as a source of inspiration".
Douglas Mawson received a Commonwealth state funeral on 17 October at St Jude's Church in Brighton, South Australia, where he was also buried. The Governor-General Sir William Slim could not attend, but was represented by Brigadier G. E. H. Bleby at the ceremony.
On 31 October 1958, members of the Soviet Geographical Society honored Douglas Mawson's memory at a special meeting. Evgeny Suzyumov, who was part of the First Russian Antarctic Expedition, spoke about how Mawson had built friendships with Soviet Antarctic explorers during his later years. This tribute marked a recognition of Mawson's lasting influence and connections across international scientific communities, even as he faced the final chapters of his life in Antarctica.
In 2008, the Brighton Historical Society installed an official monument at the gravesite of Douglas Mawson and his wife Paquita, with support from the Mawson and Sprigg families and endorsed by the Holdfast Bay Council. The monument features a granite boulder from Arkaroola, gifted by the Sprigg family with approval from the Adnyamathanha people. A small plaque acknowledges the gift, while the main plaque highlights some of Mawson's achievements.
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Douglas Mawson's early geological work earned him recognition from his peers, including Frederick Chapman, who used Mawson’s studies from New Hebrides in two of his own papers. In 1906, they co-published a paper in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, a notable achievement for someone so young. Later, Mawson’s research was cited in support of a UNESCO World Heritage Site application for seven areas in the Flinders Ranges, submitted in 2021 and still pending as of August 2025. Chapman and others credited Mawson as one of the founders of geochemistry in Australia based on his early chemical studies. As leader of the BANZARE expeditions, he helped establish a territorial claim covering 42% of Antarctica between 1929 and 1931, under legislation passed in 1933.
Douglas Mawson was widely admired for his contributions to geology, extending and developing knowledge across many fields and locations, and through his leadership, he created opportunities for major advances in numerous disciplines. His lectures about Antarctica were acclaimed around the world. His former mentor, Edgeworth David, called him the real leader of their Magnetic Pole expedition, comparing him to the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, noting Mawson's resourcefulness, physical strength, and remarkable tolerance for cold. J. Gordon Hayes wrote that Mawson’s expedition was the greatest and most successful Antarctic venture ever undertaken, judged by both its scale and achievements.
Soon after news of the disastrous Far Eastern expedition broke, Mawson's decision to put such a large amount of their essential provisions on one sledge was criticised. Mark Pharoah, researcher and curator of the Mawson Collection at the South Australian Museum, said that since the release of his journals and other expedition records, historians have questioned his navigational and leadership abilities, and criticised his risk-taking. J. Gordon Hayes was critical of the three men not using skis. His image appeared on several postage stamps of the Australian Antarctic Territory: 5 pence (1961), 5 pence (1961), 27 cents and 75 cents (1982), 10 cents (2011) and 45 cents (1999).
The centenary of Douglas Mawson's birth was celebrated in 1982, when the Fourth International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences took place at the University of Adelaide in August. The event was moved up two years to honor the occasion, and its proceedings were dedicated to him. The following year, 1983, the Douglas Mawson chair of geology was set up at the University of Adelaide. As of 2024, Professor Alan Collins holds that position.
Douglas Mawson’s image graced Australia’s first one-hundred-dollar note from 1984 to 1996, and again in 2012 on a $1 coin in the "Inspirational Australians" series. One of his students at the University of Adelaide was Reg Sprigg, who in 1946 found Precambrian fossils while examining an old mine site in the Ediacara Hills. That discovery helped define a new geological period, the Ediacaran, which was officially recognized by the IUGS in 2004. Sprigg and his wife Griselda co-founded the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary, and they named their son Douglas after Mawson. As of 2024, Doug Sprigg still runs the sanctuary.
In 2007, adventurer Tim Jarvis re-enacted Mawson's Antarctic expedition, following the same route and simulating the 1912 conditions, though they didn't eat any dogs like Mawson's team had. Afterward, Jarvis said the experience gave him a newfound respect for Mawson. Then, in May 2012, the Australian Antarctic Magazine published a "Mawson Centenary Special" issue to mark 100 years since the Australasian Antarctic Expedition.
In 2013, the Australian Mawson Centenary Expedition led by Chris Turney and Chris Fogwill from UNSW Climate Change Research Centre took 48 people including scientists and the public to study Antarctic oceanography, climate, and biology. They visited Mawson's huts at Cape Denison, using tracked vehicles to travel the 65 km ice journey. On their return, their ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy got trapped in ice. After two other vessels couldn't reach them, the expedition was airlifted to the Chinese research ship Xue Long while Russian crew stayed aboard. Turney shared their findings at the Royal Institution in London in July 2014. In The Observer, Paul Harris called Mawson "the unsung hero of Antarctica," noting that David Roberts' 2013 book Alone on the Ice explains why Mawson remained lesser known—partly due to British press focusing on Scott and partly because Mawson chose science over polar exploration races.
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In 1937, English ichthyologist John Roxborough Norman named a fish species Dissostichus mawsoni, the Antarctic toothfish, in honour of Douglas Mawson. The species' type specimen was obtained during the 1911–1913 Australasian Antarctic Expedition, which Mawson led. This expedition collected the fish that would later bear Mawson's name, marking a lasting tribute to his work in Antarctica.
In 1966, a fossil genus named Mawsonites was established to honor Douglas Mawson, dating back to the Ediacaran period. The type species of this genus, Mawsonites spriggi, was named after his student Reg Sprigg by Martin Glaessner and Mary Wade. This naming recognized both Mawson's contributions to Antarctic exploration and the significant fossil work conducted in the region during that time.
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The Australian Polar Collection of Antarctic exploration artefacts is on permanent display at the South Australian Museum. Previously known as the Mawson Gallery, in 2018 the gallery underwent development to expand the displays of two other South Australian explorers, John Riddoch Rymill and George Hubert Wilkins. The Mawson collection is the largest of the three collections, containing over 100,000 items. These were acquired in two lots: one came from the Australian Museum in Sydney, while a larger collection of items was donated by the Mawson family via the University of Adelaide in 2000. The collection includes Mawson's balaclava, as illustrated on the hundred-dollar note, as well as his earliest surviving field notebook after arriving in Adelaide, which include notes on Mount Lofty, Kangaroo Island, Broken Hill, and Olary. The Mawson Collection Trust, made up of descendants of Douglas and Paquita Mawson, provided significant funding towards renewing the gallery in 2017.
The Douglas Mawson Antarctic Collection lives on today at the Tate Museum in Adelaide, housed within the Mawson Building alongside countless minerals, rocks, and fossils tied to geological discoveries. This museum, named after Ralph Tate—founder Elder Professor of Natural Sciences at the university from 1875 until 1901—first opened its doors in 1902. It later relocated to the Mawson Laboratories building when that facility opened in 1952.
The Australian Museum houses a significant collection of Antarctic rocks and minerals gathered during the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, now known as the Sir Douglas Mawson Collection. This remarkable assemblage includes two thousand specimens that document the scientific work of Douglas Mawson and his team. The collection represents one of the most important geological records from early Antarctic exploration, preserving samples from the remote continent that helped shape our understanding of its ancient history. These specimens, carefully collected during Mawson's groundbreaking expedition, serve as tangible evidence of humanity's earliest efforts to study Antarctica's unique geology and mineralogy. The museum's holdings provide researchers and visitors with direct access to the physical remains of one of Australia's most celebrated polar expeditions.
The National Library of Australia in Canberra holds a collection of papers relating to the Mawson family, collected by Gareth Thomas and presented to the library in 2010. Most of the papers consist of personal correspondence of Paquita Mawson principally with her daughter Patricia, but also includes letters to her daughter Jessica and other members of her extended family, some written from the Netherlands in Dutch. There are a few letters written by Douglas Mawson to Patricia between 1925 and 1931.
The Sir Douglas Mawson Collection at the National Museum of Australia holds four items connected to BANZARE in 1931. Among them are three proclamations that declared land claims in Antarctica, and a food canister from the expedition. These objects represent a small but significant part of Mawson's work in the frozen continent, offering a glimpse into the challenges and ambitions of early Antarctic exploration. The collection preserves tangible reminders of his efforts to map and claim territory in one of Earth's most remote regions. Each item tells a story about the men who ventured into the unknown, driven by scientific curiosity and national pride. The canister, like the proclamations, connects us directly to that time when Antarctica was still largely uncharted.
Douglas Mawson served as honorary curator of the South Australian Museum from 1906 to 1958, and in that role he helped build its minerals collection. In 1906, he arranged the purchase of part of the John Henry Dunstan Collection, which included important specimens from copper mines at Burra, Moonta, and Wallaroo Mines. That acquisition became the core of what is now an extensive minerals collection, and at the time it was the largest private mineral collection in the country. Mawson also assisted in acquiring the Hall and Watkin Brown Collections, which contained many specimens from Broken Hill and other significant locations in New South Wales.
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Douglas Mawson's Antarctic and field diaries are kept in the South Australian Museum. Those pertaining to his extensive Australian geological field work have been transcribed fairly recently at the museum. The transcription work, undertaken by volunteers including Mawson's grandson Alun Thomas, was undertaken from around 2005 to 2025.
Between 1905 and 1953, Douglas Mawson made about seventy field trips, mostly in northeastern South Australia, and he kept a diary for each one. Over thirty field notebooks recording these trips are held at the South Australian Museum in the Polar Collection, along with more than two thousand photographs, many taken during his excursions. Some of the diaries include hand-drawn sketches and geological sections, which have been scanned and inserted into the transcribed texts. The diaries also describe annual trips with third-year geology students; the number grew from just a few in the early years to seventeen by 1948. When a female student joined, a female chaperone was included, and in 1937 Mawson’s daughters Patricia and Jessica participated in a student trip.
Mawson's diaries contain detailed geological notes he made for his own research, using abbreviations that are hard for ordinary readers to understand. These have been decoded with help from geologist Jim Jago so they can be shared more widely. The diaries also serve as a historical record of the time. The work of transcribing and preparing them continues, with hopes to make the full content — including drawings and photographs — available to more people.
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The geology building at the University of Adelaide was renamed Mawson Laboratories in 1952, and is now called the Mawson Building. In 1959, the Mawson Institute for Antarctic Research was formed within the Department of Geology, later known as the Mawson Geo Centre by 2025. It aimed to support Antarctic research through a library, collections, and public lectures. The institute opened on 15 April 1961, with Prime Minister Robert Menzies in attendance. It housed Mawson’s geological and historical items left by his widow, Paquita Mawson. In October 1952, Mawson Peak, an active volcano on Heard Island, Antarctica, was officially named in his honour.
Mawson Station in Antarctica was officially named after Douglas Mawson on February 13, 1954. Phillip Law, the first director of the Australian Antarctic Division, chose the site near Horseshoe Harbour as Australia’s first overwintering station south of the Antarctic Circle. That same day, Law conducted a flag-raising and official naming ceremony. Mawson is the oldest station established in that region. The Mawson Coast was also named after him. In 1959, a mountain peak in Tasmania was gazetted as Mount Mawson, located within the Mount Field National Park.
Mawson is a suburb of Canberra named after Douglas Mawson, who was gazetted in 1966. The theme for street names in this area is Antarctic exploration. Mawson Plateau, located in what is now the Arkaroola Protection Area in the Northern Flinders Ranges, was originally known as the Freeling Heights lower granite plateau and was named after Mawson sometime before 1984. Mawson Valley is also in Arkaroola, and Mawson was responsible for naming a rocky granite outcrop in the valley "Sitting Bull" in 1945.
Minor planet 4456 Mawson was named in his honour after its discovery on 27 July 1989 by R. H. McNaught at Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales. As is Dorsa Mawson, a wrinkle ridge on the Moon. The Mawson Trail, a cycling and walking trail created in the 1990s, stretching from the Adelaide Hills to the Flinders Ranges, was named after Mawson.
The Mawson's Huts Foundation, based in Sydney, was established in 1996 as a charity. It works on conserving Mawson's Huts at Cape Denison, has funded and organised 14 major expeditions there, and in 2013, it opened the Mawson's Huts Replica Museum in Hobart. The museum is located on the waterfront, near the wharf used by SY Aurora. The suburb Mawson Lakes, a northern suburb of Adelaide, was founded in the late 1990s and named in his honour, and one of the two man-made lakes in the suburb is called the Sir Douglas Mawson Lake. A campus of the University of South Australia in the suburb is known as the Mawson Lakes campus.
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Lennard Bickel wrote a book called This Accursed Land about the 1912 Antarctic expedition, and Sir Edmund Hillary wrote the foreword. The book was published in Edinburgh by Birlinn Ltd in 2001. It's about Douglas Mawson's difficult journey in Antarctica where he nearly died during what became known as the Thousand-Mile Trek. Bickel's work focuses on that dangerous expedition, documenting the hardships and survival challenges faced by Mawson and his team. The book provides insight into the extreme conditions and personal courage required during those early Antarctic explorations. This account captures the essence of one of Antarctica's most challenging expeditions from the early 20th century.
Adrian Caesar's book The White: Last Days in the Antarctic Journeys of Scott and Mawson 1911–1913 was published by Pan MacMillan in Sydney in 1999. This work examines the final expeditions of both Robert Falcon Scott and Douglas Mawson during the crucial years between 1911 and 1913. The title references the harsh Antarctic environment that claimed so many lives during this period. Caesar's study focuses on how these two explorers navigated the treacherous landscape while competing for scientific and geographical achievements. His account explores the tragic consequences of their expeditions, particularly Mawson's harrowing journey through the frozen continent. The book presents a detailed look at how both men faced extreme conditions that tested human endurance to its limits. Through careful research, Caesar illuminates the final chapters of these Antarctic adventures. This publication serves as an important contribution to understanding the era's exploration history.
David Roberts wrote a book about Douglas Mawson's Antarctic adventures called "Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration." This work explores Mawson's remarkable endurance during his expeditions, particularly focusing on the harrowing experiences that tested human limits in one of Earth's most unforgiving environments. Roberts examines how Mawson's leadership and determination shaped the course of Antarctic exploration, chronicling events that pushed men to their absolute physical and mental extremes. The book presents these historical accounts with compelling detail, revealing how Mawson's expeditions became legendary for their combination of scientific achievement and brutal survival challenges. Through Roberts' narrative, readers encounter the raw reality of polar exploration during a time when human courage faced nature's harshest conditions.
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