The Mawson’s Huts Replica Museum on the Hobart waterfront is one of the city’s leading tourist attractions, offering visitors a glimpse of the ‘heroic era’ of Antarctic exploration.
The museum is a full-scale replica of the historic huts at Antarctica’s Cape Denison, which were used as the main base of the 1911 to 1914 Australasian Antarctic Expedition, led by Sir Douglas Mawson.
Heritage architects and builders constructed the museum using hundreds of photographs, in order to replicate every possible detail. The timber used is from the same region in Finland as that used in the original, of exactly the same dimensions and imported into Australia by the same merchant who supplied Mawson.
Visitors to the museum learn how the 18 explorers worked, slept and survived at Cape Denison – the world’s windiest location at sea level. Mawson called it the “home of the blizzard”, as it has an average daily wind strength of over 70 kilometres per hour.
The museum tells the story of this important part of the country’s Antarctic history, providing details of the remarkable young men who forged it. The huts are the birthplace of Australia’s Antarctic heritage, and the Replica Museum is a moving, historical experience.
Corner Argyle and Morrison Streets, Hobart 7000
Tel: +613 6231 1518
Images courtesy of Mawson’s Huts