Abstract
This chapter addresses the effects of the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition’s presence in Hobart, Tasmania on the Australians, the Norwegians, and the world, and details the presentation of 21 of Roald Amundsen’s sled dogs to the Douglas Mawson Australasian Antarctic Expedition, as well as the subsequent division of the Norwegian expedition into four parties. Using information compiled from the crewmen’s diaries and from Australian and New Zealand newspapers, the documentation includes the sled dogs’ presence on the Fram as the Norwegian ship remained anchored in the bay; the arrival of the Australian Polar ship Aurora in Hobart on March 12, 1912; Amundsen’s and Captain John King Davis’s meeting on March 13, 1912; the disembarkation of 21 pre-selected dogs from the Fram to the Nubeena quarantine station in Taroona that same day; the photojournalistic coverage of the dogs; the acrimonious dismissal of Hjalmar Johansen on March 15, 1912; and the flocking of civilian visitors to the ship to admire the dogs. Featured in this chapter is the author’s identification of the 21 dogs remaining in Hobart to later board the Australian expedition ship Aurora, and the 18 dogs remaining on the Fram to journey on with the Norwegians to Buenos Aires.
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References
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Notes on Original Material and Unpublished Sources
Notes on Original Material and Unpublished Sources
Roald Amundsen’s expedition diary, quoted in this chapter, is in the Manuscripts Collection at the National Library of Norway (NB) in Oslo. (The excerpts quoted are translated from the original Norwegian.)
All Roald Amundsen letters of correspondence quoted in this chapter, written from and to Roald Amundsen and Leon Amundsen, are in the Manuscripts Collection at the National Library of Norway (NB) in Oslo.
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King George V to R. Amundsen, telegram in English, 8 March 1912, received 9 March 1912, NB Brevs. 480:B.
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R. Amundsen to King George V, telegram in English, 9 March 1912, NB Brevs. 480:B.
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Former President T. Roosevelt to R. Amundsen, telegram in English, 11 March 1912, received 12 March 1912, NB Brevs. 480:C.
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Personal written communication, John Williamson, Head of Humanities, Fahan School, Sandy Bay, Tasmania, University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, 19 May 2013.
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R. Amundsen Antarctic expedition diary, 15 March 1912, NB Ms.8º 1196.
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R. Amundsen to L. Amundsen, letter in Norwegian, sent from Hobart, undated, ca. March 15, 1912, (translated for the author by Anne Melgård during the author’s research at the National Library of Norway) NB Brevs. 812:1.
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Author’s viewing of photographs from Small Photo Album—Expedition Ship Fram in River Derwent, Amundsen Expedition 1912: “Fram at Hobart”, by John Watt Beattie; made available to the author by Maritime Museum of Tasmania Inc., Hobart, D_1999-010.
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R. Amundsen Antarctic expedition diary, 16 March 1912, NB Ms.8º 1196.
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R. Amundsen Antarctic expedition diary, 18 March 1912, NB Ms.8º 1196.
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10.
R. Amundsen Antarctic expedition diary, 20 March 1912, NB Ms.8º 1196.
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Tahan, M.R. (2021). Twenty-One Sledge Dogs for Douglas Mawson. In: The Return of the South Pole Sled Dogs. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65113-8_7
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