Amazing Islands: Heard and McDonald. Amazing Islands: Heard and McDonald Inhospitable Heard Island

Heard Island and McDonald Islands, abbreviated HIMI) is a small uninhabited archipelago in the southern part Indian Ocean. It consists of two main islands - Heard and McDonald, as well as many small outlying islets, rocks and reefs. All of them are external territories of Australia.

Geography

Landscape of Heard Island overlooking Mawson Peak Archipelago map

The islands are some of the most remote landmass on Earth: they are located approximately 4099 km southwest of Perth (Western Australia), 3845 km southwest of Cape Louwin (the extreme southwestern point of Australia), 4200 km southeast of South Africa, 3830 km southeast of Madagascar, 1630 km north of Antarctica and 450 km southeast of Kerguelen.

Heard Island (53°06 S 73°31 E / 53.100° S 73.517° E / -53.100; 73.517 (G) (O)) is the summit of an underwater volcano of the Kerguelen Plateau and It is 43 kilometers long and 21 kilometers wide. Mawson Peak is the highest point of the island, the height above sea level is 2745 meters. This is one of two active volcanoes and at the same time the most high point in Australian territory. About 80% of Hurd's surface is covered with snow and ice, which form the character coastline islands. The area of the island is 368 km.

McDonald Island (53°03 S 72°37 E / 53.050° S 72.617° E / -53.050; 72.617 (G) (O)) - small and rocky, located 44 kilometers to the west, also volcanic in origin. Its highest point is 230 meters above sea level. The island is bordered by steep cliffs and previously consisted of two parts - the northern plateau and the southern steep Maxwell Hill, connected by a narrow isthmus. The area of the island is 2.5 km.

Of the remaining islands of the archipelago, the largest is Shag Island, as well as Morgan Island, Sail and Black rocks are located 10 kilometers north of Heard, and Flat Island (now part of MacDonald) and Meyer Rock are slightly north of MacDonald . The total area of all these small islands and rocks is 1.1 km. The territory also includes all territorial waters within 12 nautical miles from the coastline. Together with these islets, the total area of the archipelago is 372 km.

After being dormant for 75,000 years, the McDonald Island volcano has become active since 1992, with several eruptions since then. Satellite images taken in 2004 showed that volcanic activity had merged McDonald Island with Flat Island into one island, roughly doubling its area. As a result volcanic activity between November 2000 and the end of 2001, the area of McDonald Island increased from 1.13 to 2.45 km, and the largest high peak currently has a height of about 230 meters instead of 186 meters in 1980. However volcanic activity destroyed almost all the vegetation on the island. Last eruption, presumably occurred on August 10, 2005. Restoration of vegetation cover is currently ongoing.

Judging by NASA satellite data, at the end of October 2012, the eruption of the Mawson Peak volcano began on Heard Island and continues to this day.

There are no ports or harbors on Heard and Macdonald, sea vessels you have to drop anchor off the shore. The coastline is 101.9 km long, there are 12 miles (22 km) of territorial waters, and a 200 mile (370 km) zone declared by Australia as an exclusive fishing zone.

The antipode for the central Mawson Peak is located less than 70 kilometers southwest of Prince Albert (Saskatchewan, Canada).

Climate

The climate is subantarctic - mild winters (+0.1 °C) and cold summers (+4.2 °C). Most days of the year are windy and cloudy. Winds are predominantly westerly and consistently strong. Monthly average wind speeds range from about 26 to 33.5 km/h, with gusts in excess of 180 km/h recorded. Annual precipitation at sea level on Heard Island is typically between 1300 and 1900 mm. Precipitation occurs every three out of four days, usually in the form of drizzle or snow.

Flora

Conditions

The islands are in the insular tundra ecological region of the southern Indian Ocean, which includes several sub-Antarctic islands. In this cold climate, plants are mainly grasses, mosses and lichens. Low plant diversity is due to island isolation, small land size, harsh climate, short, cold growing season and, in Hurd's case, significant ice cover. The main environmental determinants of vegetation on subantarctic islands are: exposure to wind and salt spray, water availability, soil composition, nutrient availability, trampling by birds and seals, and, in some cases, altitude. In Hurd's conditions, salt spray impacts and the presence of breeding and moulting birds and seals have particularly strong effects on the composition and structure of vegetation in coastal areas.

Mosses, liverworts and lichens

Bryophytes and lichens make a significant contribution to the overall biodiversity of the Heard, with 43 species of mosses, 19 liverworts and 71 lichens recorded, often occupying habitats unsuitable for vascular plants, such as rocks. Bryophytes are present in most large plant communities. Lichens are common on outcrops and are the dominant vegetation in some areas. MacDonald's 1980 study recorded a significantly lower diversity of such plants, namely four species of mosses, eight lichens and some algae and fungi.

Seaweed

At least 100 species of terrestrial algae are known on Heard, typically growing in permanently moist and ephemeral habitats. Sea forests of the giant Antarctic kelp Durvillaea antarctica are found in various locations on the island and at least 17 other seagrass species will be added once the latest specimens collected are identified. The low algae diversity is due to the island's isolation from other areas, uninhabitable beaches, constant friction from waves, tides and small rocks, and the extension of glaciers into the sea in many areas.

Fauna

King Penguin on Heard Island

The islands, now little touched by human activity, are home to huge populations of penguins, pinnipeds and seabirds.

Mammals

Pinnipeds on the Heard were virtually extirpated in the late 19th century, after which seal numbers became too low for economic use. Since then, their population has increased and been protected. Among the pinnipeds that breed on the Heard are southern elephant seals, Kerguelen and subtropical fur seals. Leopard seals regularly visit the rookeries in winter, but they do not breed on the archipelago. Crabeaters, Ross and Weddell seals are only occasional visitors.

Birds

Heard and MacDonald are predator-free and provide favorable habitat and breeding habitat in the middle of the vast Southern Ocean for a variety of birds. The surrounding waters provide food for the birds. The islands have been identified by BirdLife International as an important area for birds as they contain a very large number of seabird nesting sites.

19 species of birds have been recorded as breeding on Heard and McDonald Islands, although volcanic activity on McDonald over the past decade has likely reduced vegetation cover and reduced the number of bird nesting sites.

Story

Processing harvested elephant seals on Heard Island - 19th century

Heard Island was discovered by American captain and sealer John Heard on November 25, 1853, while his ship Oriental was sailing from Boston to Melbourne. Shortly after Heard's discovery, on January 4, 1854, the captain of the ship Samarang, William MacDonald, discovered the island named after him. After this, for more than 20 years, the islands were regularly visited by hunting expeditions, and a small settlement of hunters arose (up to 200 people). However, by 1880 most of the seal population was destroyed and hunters left the island. After this, until Douglas Mawson's expedition in 1929, practically no one showed economic or scientific interest in the archipelago. People have landed on MacDonald only twice in history - in 1971 and 1980. No official landings have been recorded on the neighboring island of Flat Island.

The archipelago has belonged to Great Britain since 1910, when the flag of this country was raised on Heard. On December 26, 1947, the islands were transferred to Australian administration and became part of the Australian Antarctic Territory, but after Australia signed the Antarctic Convention in 1961, they formed a separate external territory. There is no permanent population, but the islands are visited by tourists (without landing) and scientific expeditions (to Heard Island).

Heard and Macdonald Islands were designated a National Treasure of Australia in 1983 and listed in 1997. World Heritage UNESCO.

Although the islands are uninhabited, they have been assigned their own .hm domain.

Governance and Economics

The Islands are a territory (Heard Island and McDonald Islands Territory) administered by Australia, administered from Hobart by the Australian Antarctic Survey of the Department of Sustainable Development, Environment, water resources, people and communities of Australia. They are home to a large number of seals and birds. There is a marine reserve on the islands with total area 65,000 km, visited mainly by researchers. There is no permanent population.

From 1947 to 1955, scientists visited a camp on Heard near Atlas Cove in the northwestern part of the island, which was again occupied by American scientists in 1969 and expanded in 1971 by French explorers. Scientists landed on MacDonald in 1971 in the area of Williams Bay. Later expeditions used a temporary base near Spit Bay in north-east Heard on several occasions, for example in 1988, 1992-93 and 2004-05.

Without population there is no economic activity. The only one natural resource the islands are fish; The Australian government allows limited fishing in surrounding waters. Time zone of the islands: UTC +5.

The climate is subantarctic - mild winters (+0.1 °C) and cold summers (+4.2 °C). Most days of the year are windy and cloudy. Precipitation often occurs in the form of drizzle or snow.

The islands, little affected by human activity, are home to huge populations of penguins, seals and seabirds.

The archipelago has belonged to Australia since 1947 as part of the Australian Antarctic Territory, but after Australia signed the Antarctic Convention, the islands began to form a separate external territory. There is no permanent population, but the islands are visited by tourists (without landing) and scientific expeditions (to Heard Island).

Heard Island and McDonald Island, located 44 kilometers to the west, are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Although the islands are not inhabited, they are given their own domain.hm.

Heard Island was discovered by American captain and sealer John Heard on November 25, 1853, while his ship Oriental was sailing from Boston to Melbourne.

Heard Island (53°06′S 73°31′E (G) (O)) is the summit of an underwater volcano on the Kerguelen Plateau and is 43 kilometers long and 21 kilometers wide. Mawson Peak is the highest point of the island, the height above sea level is 2745 meters. This is the only active volcano and at the same time the highest point in the territory belonging to Australia. About 80% of Heard's surface is covered with snow and ice, which form the character of the island's coastline.

The area of the island is 368 km².

MacDonald

Shortly after Heard's discovery, on January 4, 1854, the captain of the ship Samarang, William McDonagh, discovered the island named after him.

McDonald Island (53°03′S 72°37′E (G) (O)) is small and rocky, also volcanic in origin, the highest point is 230 meters above sea level. The island is bounded by steep cliffs and consists of two parts - the northern plateau and the southern steep Maxwell Hill, connected by a narrow isthmus.

The area of the island is 2.5 km².

People have landed on the island only twice in history - in 1971 and 1980.

Other islands

The largest of them, Shag Island, is located 10 kilometers north of Heard Island, and Flat Island and Meyer Rock are slightly south of MacDonald. The territory also includes all territorial waters within 12 nautical miles from the coastline.

The total area of the archipelago is 412 km².

No official landings have been recorded on Flat Island.

The Australian mainland, located in Pacific Ocean, is located in the equatorial climate zone. This means that it is warm there in winter and summer. However, the state once owned several more islands in the Indian Ocean: Heard and Macdonald. The weather there is diametrically opposite; the mercury there does not rise above +5 degrees Celsius in the summer.

Let's go to virtual trip on holiday to Heard and McDonald Islands to explore the local attractions in 2020.

An interesting and unusual sight opens in the southern Indian Ocean. It is a whole cluster of islands. Among them are Heard and McDonald Islands. Their rocky shores are not suitable for human habitation due to the rocky terrain and cold climate.

The only inhabitants of these wastelands are birds and penguins. Also lives here great amount seals, arctic loons and other bird species. Entomologists and zoologists are interested in the islands. They observe the behavior of seals, penguins and birds in wildlife among the Arctic climate.

Heard and McDonald Islands are located in the “eternal cold” zone. In winter the weather is never too cold. Mostly the temperature here is close to zero. But due to constant winds and cloudy weather, the islands seem completely unattractive for human life. There is practically nothing for people to do there.

In summer, the temperature on these islands does not rise above five degrees Celsius, which is very pleasant local residents- penguins and seals. Constant cold winds blowing from Antarctica in winter and summer blow any plant from the surface of the islands. The entire space here is covered with non-melting snow and ice.

But this archipelago, oddly enough, has belonged to Australia since 1947. They were part of the Antarctic territory of this country until Australia signed the Antarctic Convention. After this, the islands became a separate territory belonging to this country.

No one lives here permanently, but numerous tourists visit regularly. People do not land on the shores, but view the coastal rocks from the decks of tourist ships.

Scientific expeditions visiting Heard Island study bird populations and other inhabitants. Meteorologists and geologists are also frequent guests here.

All the islands of the archipelago, Heard and Macdonald, are recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The McDonald Islands group is located west of Heard, at a distance of forty-four kilometers.
Islands on the map:

Heard Island

The island was stumbled upon quite by accident by seal and fur seal hunters scouring the ocean in search of prey. The leader of the beast hunters was a man named Heard. In his honor geographical discovery an unnamed island was named after him. This happened in the middle of the 19th century.

In this cruel way, fishermen killed seals and fur seals at the beginning of the 20th century.

By its origin, Heard Island is the top of a volcano that lies underwater. In ancient times, when the volcano was just forming, this territory was a plateau. Now it is called the Kerguelen Plateau and has an impressive size.

The island's area is forty-three kilometers long and twenty-one kilometers wide. The crater of the volcano is the highest point on the island. It rises 2745 meters above sea level. This is the only volcano that is active today in Australia. At the same time, it is the highest point in modern Australia. The area of the island is small, it is 368 km2.

Macdonald Islands

It didn't take long after Heard Island was discovered. In 1854, the captain of the ship Samarang, who was sailing to Melbourne, saw another unnamed island from his bridge. The sailors approached the shore, lowered the boat and went to explore the unknown continent. The navigators found no traces of people. And the island, according to existing custom, was named after the first discoverer - MacDonald.

This is a very small island with an area of two and a half square kilometers. It was formed from solidified lava of a once active volcano. The island consists of two parts, which are connected by an isthmus: the northern plateau and the rocks of the southern part of the island.

Steep cliffs, covered with snow in winter, surround the entire island. The rocks rise 230 meters above sea level. Looking at the inhospitable landscape, it seems that people have never landed on these shores. But that's not true. The human foot has set foot on the uneven shores only twice: in 1971 and 1980.

Other islands of the archipelago

Looking through binoculars or taking a souvenir photo of sea kittens frolicking is a great success for a tourist

The remaining islets are Shag Island, Flat Island and Meyer Rock. All these formations are rocky shores and cliffs, completely lifeless and cold. The largest of them is Shag Island. What we can say about it is that it is located ten kilometers north of Heard Island. This is a rocky formation of volcanic origin. People, if they landed on it, only once or twice.

Flat Island and Meyer Rock are south of McDonald. There has not been a single landing of people on them since the day they opened. All waters that are located within 12 kilometers also belong to Australia. The area of the entire archipelago is four hundred twelve kilometers.

You can get to these islands from Australia, from where tourist routes depart from time to time.

Natural attractions of the islands

A flock of penguins gazes at the stormy ocean

No matter how cool it is on Heard and McDonald Islands, tourists tend to get there because the northern uninhabited islands, inhabited by birds, penguins, seals and fur seals, people are interested in. These lands contain many secrets and exoticism, which can only be experienced on the deck of a tourist liner.

Several decades ago, Russian and American filmmakers loved to make adventure films about uninhabited islands in the “cold seas.” The main plots of the films were shipwrecks, the passengers of which managed to escape and people swam to the deserted shores of small continents.

This is exactly what tourists should feel when they look at the animal world on rocky patches of land with binoculars and modern telescopes. Everyone imagines themselves without the trappings of modernity on such a lonely cliff, surrounded by the boundless expanse of water of the Indian Ocean.

And there is something to think about! How can a person, left without warm clothes, without matches, without provisions, without the necessary medicines, survive in constant cold if he suddenly finds himself after a shipwreck on such an island? Rely on search services and wait helplessly for rescue, or start doing something yourself so as not to die from the cold and survive in a deserted world?

Penguins are permanent inhabitants of these latitudes

The only man-made “work of man” is considered to be the building of an abandoned weather station on Heard Island, which operated there from 1947 to 1954. But then the meteorologists were transferred to Antarctica, and their “research institute” remained ownerless.

An unsightly building with a collapsed roof can be seen from tourist ships. It stands on a hillock, and nearby the local inhabitants of the island, penguins, walk around.

Sightseers who come here have a unique opportunity to observe the life of huge birds that cannot fly, but swim perfectly in the ocean, reaching speeds of 35 to 50 km per hour.

Penguins in their real habitat are completely different creatures than those we are used to seeing in our own and foreign zoos, where their territory is limited to a small pond and an artificial rocky shore. And also by zoo employees who feed them fish and other foods on a schedule.

Penguins in the wild obtain their food exclusively in the water. In it they escape from high sub-zero temperatures on the coast of Antarctica. When, for example, the air temperature there is minus 40-50 degrees Celsius, all the penguins move into water, the temperature of which is about zero.

In bird habitats you can count up to several tens of thousands of penguin pairs. After the birth of the chicks, females and males secretly distribute the care of feeding them among themselves. The parent penguins take turns to catch fish, sea cuttlefish, other ocean mollusks and crabs.

Birds can stay underwater for up to 18 minutes and are able to dive to a depth of 50 meters. When hunting for fish, penguins themselves often become prey for leopard seals, whales and seals, which are several times larger in size and have huge fangs.

A leopard seal can attack a penguin underwater at any time

Once caught in the jaws of a dangerous predator, birds have virtually no chance of escape. But if the penguins notice the danger in time, they quickly begin to rise to the surface and, if there are ice floes there, jump out onto them.

Birds are hunted not only by animals, but also by people. And although the extermination of penguins is prohibited throughout the world, poachers hungry for delicious penguin eggs and poultry meat are most often stopped only by the law of the states where they are arrested.

A few words about other inhabitants of the islands

Seagulls live next to penguins, and they often steal eggs from large birds for food. Seals also live here, which can also sometimes be seen from a tourist ship. This species of animal is not so safe for people.

The sea lopard, for example, is a type of seal. That is why all boat excursions to Heard and McDonald Islands take place exclusively by water. None of the travelers ever goes to the shores, so as not to become victims of animals and birds, dissatisfied with the invasion of strangers into their territory.

But photographs and videos of the inhabitants of cold islands taken from ships will be unique, as you can see live penguins, seals, fur seals in their natural environment habitat is not given to every tourist.

Excursion tours there are organized mainly by Australian travel agencies. But Russian travelers still need to get to Australia themselves, which is not cheap at the moment.

However, lovers and admirers of “cold exoticism” are not bothered by this factor. People go there to see how the world works in the “icy latitudes” of the globe.

Some views of Heard Island:

The climate is subantarctic - mild winters (+0.1 °C) and cold summers (+4.2 °C). Most days of the year are windy and cloudy. Precipitation often occurs in the form of drizzle or snow.

The islands, little affected by human activity, are home to huge populations of penguins, seals and seabirds.

The archipelago has been part of the Australian Antarctic Territory since 1947, but after Australia signed the Antarctic Convention, the islands began to form a separate external territory. There is no permanent population, but the islands are visited by tourists (without landing) and scientific expeditions (to Heard Island).

Heard Island and McDonald Island, located 44 kilometers to the west, are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Although the islands are not inhabited, they are given their own domain.hm.

Hurd

Heard Island () is the summit of an underwater volcano on the Kerguelen Plateau and is 43 kilometers long and 21 kilometers wide. Mawson Peak is the highest point of the island, the height above sea level is 2745 meters. It is the only active volcano in Australian territory. About 80% of Heard's surface is covered with snow and ice, which form the character of the island's coastline.

The area of the island is 368 km².

MacDonald

Shortly after Heard's discovery, on January 4, 1854, the captain of the ship Samarang, William MacDonald, discovered the island named after him.

McDonald Island () is small and rocky, also volcanic in origin, the highest point is 230 meters above sea level. The island is bounded by steep cliffs and consists of two parts - the northern plateau and the southern steep Maxwell Hill, connected by a narrow isthmus.

The area of the island is 2.5 km².

People have landed on the island only twice in history - in 1971 and 1980.

Other islands

One of the permanent inhabitants of Heard Island is king penguins. They share the rocky island with a colony of sea lions and huge colonies where gulls and petrels nest.

Subantarctic archipelago of Australia

Heard is rugged and mountainous, covered 80% by compacted snow and small glaciers forming the island's coastline. It represents the surface part of the formerly underwater volcano of the Kerguelen underwater plateau.

Dominates the island mountain range Big Ben with its highest peak, the volcanic Mawson Peak. The volcano is covered with glaciers that go down to the sea steep cliffs 15-30 m high. Mawson is the highest peak in the Commonwealth of Australia. This nearly three-kilometre peak is higher than 2228m Mount Kosciuszko, the highest point in mainland Australia.

Mawson is one of only two active volcanoes located in the Commonwealth of Australia and the entire Antarctic region.

The second volcano is located on the small and rocky McDonald Island, which is located 43.5 km west of Heard. In 1992, it broke its long silence and began to erupt, as a result of which its area doubled (from 1 to 2.5 km 2), its height increased and vegetation was completely destroyed.

Since then, eruptions on MacDonald have occurred from time to time, most recently in 2005. The highest point of the island is a small plateau with a glacier with a total height of 230 m above sea level. The plateau is surrounded by steep cliffs sloping down to the coast and consists of a northern plateau and a steep southern hill, Maxwell Hill.

The other landmass of the archipelago consists of many small outlying islets, rocks and reefs, the largest of which are the Shag Islands, 10 km north of Heard, as well as Flat Island and Meyer Rock, located south of MacDonald.

In 1987, the islands were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

This Australian archipelago includes territorial waters within 12 miles of the coastline of each island.

The abundance of animals, pristine nature and unique landscape of the islands attract many tourists. There are no mooring facilities on the shore; liners drop anchor off the coast, and tourists view the islands from board: landing on the shore is strictly prohibited.

The islands were named in honor of their discoverers. American captain John Heard discovered the archipelago on November 25, 1853, while his ship Oriental was sailing from Boston to Melbourne, and the main island was named after him.

The second largest island was discovered on January 4, 1854 by the captain of the British ship Semarang, William MacDonald, and received his name.

Until the 1880s The islands were visited quite often, but interest in them disappeared, since it turned out to be too expensive to export the hunted animals from here, and almost the entire population of seals was exterminated.

From 1910 the islands were considered a British colonial possession until they were transferred to Australia in 1947.

Nature

Despite the severity of the climate, Heard, Macdonald and the small islands surrounding them are nesting sites for seabirds and rookeries for marine animals typical of the sub-Antarctic belt. Sea pigeons, frigate birds and albatrosses nest on the cliffs and coastline, as well as king and emperor penguins and the world's largest colony of golden-haired penguins. There are hundreds and hundreds of thousands of birds here, especially on the Exile and Franklin rocks on south coast Heard Islands. Mass gatherings of animals - elephant seals, as well as birds appear in summer time year in the Heard territories freed from snow and ice - the Elephant Spit Peninsula, on the shores of the Winston and Manning lagoons, and the Gotley Glacier.

The only structure on Heard Island is the abandoned Anare Station research station, used from 1947-1954. Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition.

general information

Location: south.
Administrative affiliation : Australian Outer Territories.
Main Islands: Hurd and MacDonald.
Origin: volcanic.

Numbers

Heard Island: area - 368 km 2, length - 43 km, width - 21 km.
McDonald Island : area - 2.5 km 2.
Population: uninhabited islands.
The tallest point: 2745 m, Mawson Volcano (Heard Island, Big Ben massif).
Minimum altitude above sea level : 0 m, Indian Ocean.
Length of coastline : 101.9 km.
Remoteness: 4099 km southwest of Perth (Australia), 4200 km southeast of South Africa, 3830 km southeast of the island of Madagascar, 1630 km north of the coast of Antarctica.

Climate and weather

Subantarctic marine.
Mild winter, cold summer.
Average January temperature : +0.1°С
Average temperature in July : +4.2°C.
Average water temperature : +3.5°C.
Average annual precipitation : up to 1900 mm.
Average annual relative humidity : 80%.

Attractions

Natural

Exile and Franklin Rocks, Elephant Spit Peninsula, Winston and Manning Lagoons, Gotley Glacier, Cape Pillar and Meyer Rock (Heard Island), bird colonies, marine animal rookeries, volcanic landscapes, caves

Historical

Remains of a seal hunter settlement (second half of the 19th century), abandoned Anare Station research station (1947-1954).

Curious facts

■ Despite the fact that the islands are uninhabited, a national top-level domain is allocated for them on the Internet - .hm.
■Heard Island Glaciers small sizes and are capable of melting very quickly, reacting to the slightest changes in climate - faster than other glaciers in the world. Therefore, they play a very important role in monitoring climate change. Over the past decades, glaciers have shrunk significantly.
■ The closest land to Heard and McDonald Islands is Kerguelen Island, part of the French Southern and Antarctic Territories, located 450 km
to the northwest.
■ Mawson Volcano on Heard Island holds another record: it is the only continuously known active volcano in the subarctic region of the earth. As for the McDonald volcano, it “awakened” relatively recently, emerging from a state of dormancy that lasted about 75 thousand years.
■ The relatively late discovery of the islands is explained by the fact that they are located at the latitude of the “furious fifties”, located between the “roaring forties” and the “howling sixties”. The conditions here are extremely unfavorable for swimming. sailing ships, always a strong westerly wind.
■ Since Heard Island was discovered in 1855, people have landed on it about 240 times. But MacDonald was set foot only twice: in 1971 and 1980. Scientists - geographers and geologists - visited here, no more than 50 people in total.
■ For collectors, preserved mail from Heard Island, when it operated a post office in the 1940s and 1950s, during the period of the Australian Antarctic research expedition, is of great value.
■ From the point of view of Australians, Mount Mawson is not the highest peak in Australia, but the second. Most high mountain In Australia, its inhabitants consider Mount McClintock (3490 m), located in Antarctica, to be in the Australian Antarctic Territory, as they call the sector of Antarctica claimed by Australia.

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