'Home of the Blizzard' (two volume set) by Douglas Mawson inscribed by the author to Tannatt Edgeworth David

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Type: Books
Date: 1915
Place: London, England; Antarctica
Materials: Ink, Paper, Textile - non specific
Collection: National Antarctic Heritage collection
Accession number: 2024.0001.0245

Description

Two books titled 'Home of the Blizzard'. On the cover of both books is an embossed silver enamelled image of a man with a pickaxe hovering over ice and text that reads 'Leaning on the wind'. There is embossed gold enamelled text which reads 'THE HOME OF / THE BLIZZARD / SIR DOUGLAS MAWSON'. On the spine of one book is embossed text that reads 'THE / HOME / OF THE / BLIZZARD / SIR DOUGLAS MAWSON / VOL. I / HEINEMANN' and 'THE / HOME / OF THE / BLIZZARD / SIR DOUGLAS MAWSON / VOL. II / HEINEMANN' on the other book's spine. Volume I contains 371 pages of Sir Douglas Mawson's first-hand account of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911-1914. It also includes an inscription and a poem dedicated to Tannatt William Edgeworth David, and photographs by Frank Hurley. Volume II contains 349 pages of Sir Douglas Mawson's first-hand account of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911-1914. It also includes an inscription dedicated to Tannatt William Edgeworth David, photographs by Frank Hurley and maps.

In 1915, Douglas Mawson published his first hand account of the Austrasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911-1914 as the 'Home of the Blizzard: Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition'. with images by Frank Hurley. He inscribed this copy with an evocative poem dedicated to his mentor, Tannatt William Edgeworth David, with whom he had travelled on the 1907-1909 Nimrod expedition. The words are adapted with minor changes from a 1909 poem, "Ballads of a Cheechako", by the Canadian Poet Robert William Service. 'Perhaps when on my printed page you look Your fancies by the fireside may go homing To that land where bravely you endured And if perchance you hear the silence calling The frozen music of star-yearning heights Or, dreaming, see the seines of silver trawling Across the ship's abyss on vasty nights You may recall that sweep of savage splendour That land that measures each man at his worth And feel in memory, half fierce/half tender The brotherhood of men that know the South'

About the collection

This collection comprises approximately 600 objects acquired by the Australian Antarctic Division and its predecessors between the 1940s and 2010s. It includes scientific and communication equipment, navigation and cartographic equipment, specimens, commemorative objects, building fabric, field support vehicles, clothing and field work supplies relating to Australia’s long and distinguished tradition of research and exploration within the Antarctic region. These objects are the largest and most diverse assemblage of surviving material culture demonstrating Australia’s relationship with the subantarctic islands and Antarctic continent between the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries. The collection offers remarkable natural and historical significance, notably nineteenth century commercial activities and the early twentieth century expeditions of Sir Douglas Mawson and other explorers that expanded scientific knowledge and laid the foundation for Australia’s enduring presence in the region. From the 1940s, the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions undertook major exploratory and scientific work to understand and protect the Antarctic landscape. Australia took a leading role in the International Geophysical Year and the negotiation of a comprehensive environmental protection regime for Antarctica with the establishment of the Antarctic Treaty System from 1959. It records how the Australian Antarctic Division continues to manage Australia’s interests in the Antarctic region, overseeing world-leading research at three permanent continental research stations - Mawson, Casey and Davis - and at subantarctic Macquarie Island.

Read live from the Museum's Collection API (12/11/2026, 5:03:22 am). Record last updated by the Museum 2026-09-08. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.