Title Mawson and Mirnyy stations; the spatiality of the Australian Antarctic Territory, 1954-61
Author Collis, C.
Author Affil Collis, C., Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensl., Australia
Source Australian Geographer, 38(2), p.215- 231, . Publisher: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, Sydney, N.S.W., Australia. ISSN: 0004- 9182
Publication Date July 2007
Notes In English. 50 refs. Ant. Acc. No: 83615. GeoRef Acc. No: 282551
Index Terms exploration; history; Australia; Antarctica--East Antarctica; Antarctica-- Mirnyy Station; Russia; Antarctica; Australasia; Commonwealth of Independent States; East Antarctica; Mawson Station; Mirnyy Station; Russian Federation
Abstract This article focuses on the spatiality of the Australian Antarctic Territory in the important 1954-61 period. Attending particularly to three key components of polar spatiality--geopolitics, international territorial law, and the built environment-- the article analyses the development of the Territory as a unique Australian space. The 1954-61 period is particularly significant: during this period, the International Geophysical Year brought an unprecedented number of people to Antarctica; the continent's first permanent colonies were constructed; and, despite Cold War tensions, the 1961 Antarctic Treaty established the spatial configurations and rules which continue to govern the continent today. The article focuses particularly on two key stations in the Territory constructed during this period: Australia's Mawson Station and the Soviet Mirnyy Station. Mawson is a legal colony, designed to cement Australia's claim to 42 per cent of the Antarctic continent. (mod. journ. abst.)
URL http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00049180701422407
Publication Type journal article
Record ID 62002894