It is over 100 years since their deaths but finally a memorial to the only two casualties of the 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) will be unveiled in Hobart next Tuesday (May 25)
British Army officer Lieut. Belgrave Edward Ninnis and Swiss mountaineer, ski champion and scholar Dr Xavier Guillaume Mertz were the only two fatalities of the expedition led by Australia’s Dr (later Sir) Douglas Mawson.
Bronze plaques honouring the two men will be unveiled by the Swiss Ambassador to Australia Pedro Zwahlen and the British High Commissioner to Australia Vicki Treadell CMG, MVO in Mawson Place, Hobart on Tuesday May 25 just 150 metres from where Mawson’s expedition departed for Antarctica on 2 December 1911.
Outside a solitary wooden cross at Cape Denison, East Antarctica where members of the AAE lived for two years in what are known as Mawson’s Huts, the bronze plaques form the only memorial in the world to honour their lives.
The memorial, which also commemorates the legacy of Antarctic scientific research, was organised and funded by the not for profit Mawson’s Huts Foundation in partnership with the governments of Switzerland and the United Kingdom, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and supported by the Hobart City Council.
Mawson, Ninnis and Mertz formed a party to explore a region east of their base at Cape Denison. Tragedy struck on 14 December 1912 when Ninnis disappeared down a crevasse taking with him a team of six huskies and most of the team’s supplies.
Mertz and Mawson were left 500 kilometres from home with very few provisions and were forced to eat the remaining huskies to survive. Mertz succumbed during the return journey leaving Mawson to walk back alone. The Australian barely survived arriving at Mawson’s Huts on 8 February 1913 just hours after the rescue ship had departed forcing him to spend a further 10 months at the base with six companions who had stayed behind to wait or search for the ill-fated sledging party.
Ambassador of Switzerland Pedro Zwahlen said: “We stand here to commemorate the extraordinary courage and pioneering spirit of Swiss citizen Dr Xavier Mertz and his British friend Lieutenant Belgrave Ninnis, and their contribution to Science and Antarctic exploration. Dr Xavier Mertz is the first Swiss who set foot on the Antarctic continent. He has left his mark on the history of polar research, and his contribution to Mawson’s expedition was the first in a long series of Swiss-Australian collaboration projects in and around Antarctica.”
Vicki Treadell, British High Commissioner to Australia said: “It is our privilege to pay tribute to Lieutenant Belgrave Ninnis, a serving British Army officer, and Swiss national Dr Xavier Mertz with the unveiling of this plaque.
“These men lost their lives far from home in the pursuit of advancing human knowledge through scientific discovery. Their contributions to the achievements of the Australian Antarctic Expedition are not forgotten, and our nations honour their legacy and celebrate the unending spirit of scientific adventure.”
Mawson’s Huts Foundation chairman David Jensen AM said the memorial to the two was long overdue but it will help to tell the story of the two men and Mawson’s expeditions.
“The deaths of Ninnis and Mertz and Mawson’s survival is one of the most horrific stories from the heroic era of Antarctic exploration. The two were close friends and well liked members of the AAE which consisted of 31 land based men.
“Thanks to the support of the Hobart City Council the memorial is ideally placed, situated in Mawson Place on the Hobart waterfront and adjacent to the Mawson’s Huts Replica Museum.
“It will also contribute further to promoting Hobart’s Antarctic history and heritage, ” said Mr Jensen.
