6 
AUSTRALASIAN ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. 
It has been regularly surveyed and mapped; its physiography and geology have been 
carefully investigated; and large collections have been made in all branches of biological 
science. Among the latter are the botanical specimens gathered by Mr. Harold 
Hamilton, upon which this memoir, dealing with the vascular plants of the island, is 
mainly based. 
II. PHYSIOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, METEOROLOGY. 
The physical features, geology, and climate of Macquarie Island so largely affect 
its vegetation that a brief account is requisite for the proper understanding of the strictly 
botanical portion of this memoir. In what follows I have very largely drawn upon 
information contained in Sir Douglas Mawson’s “ The Home of the Blizzard,” and other 
publications relating to the Expedition. 
Macquarie Island is rather more than 600 miles to the south-west of New Zealand, 
and is approximately 920 miles south-east of Tasmania. It is quite 970 miles from the 
nearest point of the Antarctic Continent. It is situated in 54° 30' S. lat. and 158° 57' E. 
long., and consists of one long and narrow island with its axis lying north by east by 
south by west. Its greatest length is a little less than 21 miles, while its extreme breadth 
is under 4 miles. About 8 miles to the north are two isolated rocks known as the Judge 
and Clerk. They are about 80 feet in height, and are devoid of vegetation, but in the 
breeding season are covered with immense numbers of sea-birds. About 20 miles to 
the south of the main island, and in the same line as it, are two islets to which the names 
of Bishop and Clerk have been applied. The former, which is much the larger, is covered 
with a growth of tussock; the other is mostly bare rock. The whole group thus stretches 
over a distance of nearly 50 miles. As reefs and comparatively shallow water extend for 
some distance north and south of the main island, while immensely deep water is soon 
reached to the east and west, it is evident that the present islands are simply the summits 
of a continuous submarine ridge. 
The main island is little more than a range of mountains, everywhere descending 
rapidly towards the sea, thus forming bold headlands or almost precipitous cliffs. 
Once beyond the coastal hills, which have an average height of from 500 to 700 feet, 
the centre of the island is seen to be occupied by a more or less undulating plateau, 
with occasional peaks rising to an altitude of 900 to 1,424 feet, the latter, or Mount 
Hamilton, being the highest point on the island. All the chief summits and the more 
exposed ridges are bare, barren and wind-swept, and present a most desolate appearance. 
In the hollows between the peaks, or among the minor undulations, are numerous lakes 
or tarns, some of considerable size. Most are comparatively shallow, and all are 
evidently of glacial origin. The coastal hills are deeply scored by ravines, down which 
small streams rush towards the sea, often forming waterfalls along their course. 
