PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS, LUI 



The provisional conclusion may be drawn that, since the time 

 of Wilkes' voyage, there has been a solid advance northerly of tlie 

 front of the Great Ice Barrier in this locality to the extent of about 

 at least 80 miles. ^ It is the more rem.arkable. in view of the fact 

 that, in the Ross Sea region as well as in the Graham Land region 

 of the Antarctic, there is every evidence of an extensive recent 

 retreat of the glaciers and ice-fields in general. 



At Adelie Land, Mawson has established his head-quarters at 

 a bay called by him Commonwealth Bay. He has with him an 

 expert magnetic observer in Mr. E. N. Webb, of New Zealand, 

 trained under Mr. E. Kidson of the Carnegie Institute; and in the 

 matter of magnetic instruments, is probably better equipped than 

 any preceding Antarctic expedition. 



The proximity of the base of the South Magnetic Pole renders 

 continuous observations here of extreme scientific interest. It 

 was Dr. Mawson's great ambition to make good the work already 

 begun on the South Magnetic Pole 'by the Shackleton Expedition, 

 and to connect the name of Australia indissolubly and honorably 

 for all time with the work of exploring this wonderful focus of the 

 magnetic force in the Southern Hemisphere. When it is considered 

 that the magnetic lines of force in the Southern Hemisphere are 

 chiefly controlled by this Pole, and that the Pole has undoubtedly 

 been in movement since its position was theoretically calculated by 

 Sir James C. Ross in 1840, and that upon the trend of these lines 

 depends the various directions in which ships' compasses point on 

 the Southern seas, it will be seen that any advancement of our 

 knowledge of these magnetic conditions will not only be of great 

 scientific use and necessity, but will also make for greater accuracy 

 and security in the navigation of the many thousands of ships 

 which yearly furrow our southern seas. 



If the work in this department of magnetism alone be fully and 

 successfully accomplished, as there is every reason to believe it will 

 have been, the expedition will have fully justified its existence in 

 the eyes of the world, as well as in those of this society, which 

 originated it; and the patriotic individual donors, and the Federal 

 and State Governments of the Commonwealth, as well as the British 

 Government, will feel convinced that the money they have so 

 liberally contributed has been spent on a most worthy object. But 

 there are many other branches of science which we hope will benefit 

 materially from the Australasian Antarctic Expedition. 



' On the other hand it is possible that this barrier m y be formed of vast fleets of bergs 

 cemented together by sea ice, and with the original spaces between them filled in with drift 

 snow. Such a mass of ice would be anal gons to the " Schollen " ice, described by DrygalEki, 

 to the west of the wintering station of the Gauss, near Gaussberg. 



