PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 15 



Van Waterschoot Van der Gracht, the brother of the 

 Government Geologist to the Netherlands, who has placed 

 his unique skill as a cartographic artist entirely at Dr. 

 Mawson's disposal. The scientifically accurate and artis- 

 tically beautiful sketches which he has brought back and 

 now presented to the University of Sydney, will be an 

 invaluable historic record of the general appearance and 

 condition of the Antarctic coast at the time of his visit at 

 the beginning of 1913. 



One of the greatest triumphs of Dr. Mawson's expedition 

 has been the establishment of wireless communication with 

 his subsidiary base at Macquarie Island. The Australasian 

 Wireless Company supplied all the necessary apparatus at 

 generous rates, special attention being most kindly given 

 by Mr. H. Leverrier to the requirements of the expedition. 



The general installation of the wireless apparatus was in 

 charge of Mr. W. H. Hannam, who was the first to transmit 

 a wireless message from Antarctica to the outside world. 

 The receiving apparatus was not equally successful at first. 

 On October 13, 1912, one of the masts blew down in a gale 

 in which the wind velocity reached 97 miles an hour. There 

 was no opportunity for repairing this mast until the arrival 

 of the "Aurora " in January of this year. On this occasion 

 the sailors of the "Aurora " added 25 feet to the stump of 

 the old mast already 90 feet in height, thus making the 

 total height 115 feet. At the same time two pieces of the 

 other broken mast were erected respectively 30 feet and 

 35 feet high close to the 115 feet mast, and an umbrella 

 aerial was then stretched between. It being necessary for 

 Mr. Hannam to return to Australia, Mr. Jeffryes, formerly 

 wireless operator on the " Westralia " feook his place, and 

 was the first to receive wireless messages in Antarctica. 

 Since then the wireless has been working quite successfully 

 except when atmospheric conditions are abnormally bad, 



