Dogs of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition information
One of the twenty-one dogs donated to the Australasian Antarctic Expedition by Roald Amundsen for its unplanned second season in Antarctica
In common with many of the expeditions of the Heroic Age, Douglas Mawson's Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) employed dog-hauled sledges as a principal means of transportation during exploration of the continent. Dog sledges could carry more weight and travel faster than man-hauled sledges; they were more reliable in the freezing temperatures than motor-sledges; and dogs had proved to be more adaptable to harsh Antarctic conditions than ponies.
Mawson purchased fifty sledge dogs from Greenland and transported them to Antarctica on the expedition's ship SY Aurora. The trip was arduous for the dogs and by the time the expedition arrived in Antarctica on 8 January 1912 only 28 of the dogs were still alive. These were split into two groups: nineteen stayed with Mawson at the expedition's main base and the remaining nine were sent with Frank Wild to the western base. All of the original dogs at the main base were dead by the end of 1912; accidents and illness had accounted for many of them and some were killed and eaten when food ran out on Mawson's main sledging journey. At the western base two dogs survived to accompany the party home.
Three pups had survived at the main base and their numbers were supplemented by 21 dogs donated to Mawson by Roald Amundsen on his return from the South Pole. Eleven of Amundsen's dogs were shot almost immediately to conserve the food supplies. During the year another dog was attacked by his companions and had to be destroyed, and the only bitch died during an operation. One puppy was born though, so twelve dogs were picked up with the party at the end of 1913.
The dogs were put briefly into quarantine in Adelaide Zoo and then a number were adopted by members of the expedition. Two were donated to the zoo, and the remaining dogs were sent to Kosciuszko National Park where they joined the surviving dog from the western base pulling sledges for visitors.
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