The Australian Antarctic Expedition 1910 - 1913 (lead by Sir Douglas Mawson from Adelaide) established the first scientific base on Macquarie Island & were also the first Antarctic expedition to use the latest technology of the time - Wireless. Other polar explorers of the time such as Scott, Amundsen & Shackleton saw little use for it, however it is to Mawson's credit that he realised the important role it could play in exploring the then unknown Antarctic regions.  On arrival of the expedition ship Aurora, several very large wooden masts were painstakingly transported from sea level & erected on Wireless Hill to support the huge Long Wave  antennas being used. At that time, refraction of HF by the ionosphere was unkown & frequencies in the  100kHz - 500kHz range were being used with simple spark gap transmitters. Five men were left on Macquarie Island to act as a weather station & radio relay for the major part of the expedition that established itself at Commonwealth Bay 1600 km to the south. Meteorological data & personal messages to keep up morale during the long nights of Antarctic winter were the main reason for the use of this novel technology. Unfortunately,  unknown to Mawson, Commonwealth Bay is the windiest place on Earth & the masts there literally couldn't stand up to the relentless katabatic winds, so the link was never used as much as originally planned. On his return, Mawson relentlessly lobbied the Australian Government to have Macquarie Island designated a wildlife reserve, something that was virtually unheard of in the early 1900s. He was eventually successful & a total ban on sealing at the Island was put into effect - a ban that remains to this day.  Macquarie Island is now a World Heritage listed wildlife reserve centred in  a 400km diameter marine sanctuary.  Mawson never tried to reach the South Pole; he instead successfully concentrated on exploring the coast & hinterland of Eastern Antarctica. As a professional geologist, he was more interested in hard science than glory. He also lead a small team that were the first to reach the South Magnetic Pole. Australia's first scientific station on the Antarctic mainland established in 1954 is named in his honour & until recently, Australia's highest denomination banknote featured Mawson on one side. The high winds at Macquarie Island were a constant problem for the two radio operators Sandell & Sawyer,  with the antennas being regularly blown down & the masts themselves collapsing on several occasions. All that remains of the masts today are a few short stubs & heavily rusted metal brackets. It is likely that most of the masts were blown over the high cliffs into the sea sometime after the expedition left in 1913. Many of the place names on the Island are from this time & it is fitting that one of  the VHF repeaters in use today is located on the summit of Mt Jeffryes, named after Mawson's radio operator at Commonwealth Bay.
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