Spinning Yarn: Inside the Hut

There are two parts to the building erected on the windiest place on Earth. The first room is the workroom where preparations and projects were undertaken. The second is the living quarters holding the men and their belongings in safety and relative warmth for the duration of their stay.

Entering the main hut is by ducking down through the snow-piled doorway. Watch your head on the way in. The workroom is relatively bare with shelves and alcoves around the walls. Despite the snow an ice that now inhabits this room, there are strategically placed piles of modern equipment here so that the Conservation Team has their materials to hand as they work. This is an important Archaeological site and items are catalogued and assessed as they are uncovered and exposed.

The Living room, though now covered to knee deep in a blanket of thick and icy, dirty snow and decorated with the most delicate ice crystals, is much the same as the expeditioners left it back in 1914. There is the smell of old and dry wood,  of magazines and books unread for 100 years, of the warming dampness of semi-melting snow and ice (produce by all of us visitors), combining with the faint odour of burnt blubber, that fills your lungs with the Aroma of History. It is an emotional experience.

The famous “Hyde Park Corner” of the room, their briefing place, has the name written on the rafters, next to the bunks of Belgrave Ninnis and Xavier Mertz, Mawson’s sledging companions who died on the ice that last trip. History lives in this room…. 

                                              We see Frank Hurley’s Darkroom next to his bunk. We know it is his, because he wrote his name on it. In fact, each member of the expedition has his name on his bunk. As we visit, we touch nothing. No need for us to disturb the peace and awe of this place.