Weddell Seals pupping.

Tide crack near iceberg

The first Weddell Seal pup has been sighted near Mawson, unfortunately it hadn’t survived.

A small colony of Weddell seals (about 10) have maintained an exit hole in the sea ice along a large tide crack near a large iceberg a short distance from the station. The pup was born between visits on the 8th and 11th September.  A further visit on the 24th September revealed no more pups.

First seal pup did not survive.

Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) belong to a group of seals known as Phocidae or true seals. The most commonly known example of the group is the harp seal.Weddell seals are large animals with both adult males and females about three metres long and weighing around 400–500 kg.

Pregnant female.

The head is small relative to body size and the colour is usually dappled grey and black on the back with a mostly white under-belly.Weddell seals have a circumpolar distribution and are coastal, staying around the fast ice and venturing only 15–20 km into the Southern Ocean to feed.

Ice Hole.

Weddell seals are incredibly placid sedentary animals. They can be approached without much apparent stress to the animal. They haul-out onto the stable fast-ice to rest and moult, and for females to pup, returning to the same area each year. Females of six years and over give birth in October to one pup per year. Pups weigh 25–30 kg at birth and mothers care for them for six weeks by which time they have grown to 110–140 kg. Pups learn to swim and haul-out of the water from one week old.

Seal returning to the colony after feeding.

Weddell seals are the most southerly ranging mammal to permanently inhabit the Antarctic continent. Sightings of the seals have been made in New Zealand and Australia, though they are very rare.

A visit on quads.

Weddell seals are carnivores. Their food varies with time and location but mid-water (pelagic) and bottom dwelling (benthic) fish, squid, octopus and prawns are common.

Sun through alto stratus cloud

Weddell seals are very capable divers, remaining under water for up to 45 minutes and reaching depths as great as 720 m in search of prey. (Source AAD)

Large tide crack near seal colony

looking for new pups.

Go Cats!!

An article that appeared in the Geelong Advertiser that featured Scott the Mawson Chef, an AFL aficionado who cleaned up first prize in the Mawson station as well as the Antarctic Division footy tipping competition at Hobart.
 

Geelong fan's chilling tale of devotion

Noel Murphy   |  September 24th, 2011

GREAT GRAB: Geelong supporter and Mawson Station chef Scott Bryce takes a mark over plumber Rodney McCulloch as electrician ``Muzza'' Murray comes in for a late tackle. Looking on are electrician Lisa O'Conner and carpenter Tim Kerr.

 PRELIMINARY finals used to be played at Arctic Park, out Waverley way, but today it's Antarctica where one of the Cats' most enthusiastic fans will be whooping, hollering ... and shivering.
And Mawson Station chef Scott Bryce says the West Coast Eagles don't have a snowflake's chance against the Cats.

The South Pole expeditioner the Cats' very own Scott of the Antarctic grabbed his Sherrin and donned his best, furriest, blue and white hoops before venturing into very crisp blue skies and white snow to encourage another Scott's charges to victory.

Looking resplendent in bespoke neck-to-knee and beanie, he apologised for not wearing a regulation Cats guernsey. "Just too cold down here for a sleeveless jumper minus 20 today. Thought I would manufacture a 'winter' uniform instead," he said.

That minus 20 was in fact minus 50 with the chill factor, while the wind was belting a tidy 40 knots.
Bryce has his work cut out following the Cats from the faraway frozen reaches but he's nothing if not dedicated.

"Following footy down here, well, it's not that easy but if you are keen you find a way," he said. "We can get games downloaded in Tassie then sent via satellite. "Unfortunately for me, I can't wait a day so I tend to stream radio in live over the net. Not great, I know, and I am certainly missing my regular live footy fix.
"Still, I manage to keep in pretty good touch with what is going on ... couldn't bear to think of a year without footy."

Bryce's home is in Brisbane but he hails from the Riverina and has been following the Cats since his university days in Canberra in the early '80s. Naturally, he's confident as to today's outcome. "I think we will win and comfortably at that," he said simply. "The Cats have been playing outstanding footy coming into the finals and I don't think West Coast hold any real surprises for us. "I feel that we have the better skills and pace to carry the ball out of defence. We have been great at this all year."

Giving credit where it's due, Bryce said West Coast rucks Dean Cox and Nick Naitanui were "hard to match up" but he he felt the Cats' midfield would counter that and dominate the centre regardless. Similarly, he said shutting down Shannon Hurn's ability to drive the Eagles forward from the backline would be key.

And not getting ahead of himself or anything, but he's confident about next week, too. No pretending to keep the lid on down south. "Chalk another one up for the Cats," Bryce said.

Mawson Medical Team

Australian Antarctic stations have a medical doctor and 4 lay surgical assistants who make up the medical team. If there is a medical emergency or a significant patient management need the doctor calls upon station staff who have been trained as surgical assistants, to help. Two staff at each station are trained as lay scrub nurses and 2 are trained as lay anaesthetic nurses.

Lay surgical assistant trainees - Macquarie Island and Mawson

Training of lay surgical assistants takes place at Royal Hobart Hospital in the surgical ward over 2 weeks prior to departure for Antarctica. My role in the medical team is as one of the anaesthetic assistant.

 During training at Royal Hobart Hospital lay surgical assistant nurses learn, in a polar medicine context, about infection control procedures, maintaining a sterile field, scrubbing and gloving, operating theatre procedures, anaesthetic procedures including drugs, setting up and monitoring machines that beep and alarm, remote emergency medical response etc.

Mawson lay surgical assistants at Royal Hobart Hospital.

The anesthetic assistant helps the anaesthetist (station doctor) manage a patient during an operation. This learning included theory and practical sessions using dummies, models and simulations. We also had time in various operating theatres working alongside surgeons and anaesthetists learning and understanding their role and what would be required of us in Antarctica for an emergency.

Emergency Muster on Helicopter deck.

 Fire and Medical emergency on the Aurora Australis.
These new medical skills are then practiced during emergency exercises involving the Fire or Search and Rescue (SAR) teams.

Burns patient safely to the surgery

Our first medical exercise was on the Aurora Australis during our voyage to Mawson. A galley explosion and fire set off the alarms and resulted in an unconscious burns victim. All on board were required to muster on the Helicopter deck in full kit ready to abandon ship if necessary.

The ships fire team quickly suppressed the fire and the medical team provided first response treatment and helped transfer the patient in a stretcher up the flights of stairs to to the ships surgery and then assessed and treated the patient.

Mawson Medical Facilities. 

Emergency resuscitation bay

Medical facilities at Mawson include a consulting and examination room, a small operating theatre and dental suite, a resuscitation bay for emergencies, a well stocked pharmacy, a 2 bed ward and small diagnostic laboratory.

Dental suite

Operating Theatre

Rod the Plumber in the resuscitation bay. (C Wilson)

Assessing a patient (C Wilson)

Fire and medical emergency exercise.

Our first training exercise at station included a fire incident at ‘Warren’ (the industrial incinerator) where Rod the plumber was seriously burnt. The exercise required the fire team to turnout in full fire gear with the fire Hagglund and manage the fire as well as rescue the burn victim and transport him to the surgery for emergency care. Rod made a miraculous recovery. The exercise was a success and highlighted areas to be improved.

Assessing the patient. (C Wilson)

Rich and Lisa on the job.

Lisa monitoring the ECG

Debrief

SAR and Medical Exercise.
Our 2nd exercise had Cotty (another plumber) failing to arrive for lunch triggering a SAR search. The outdoors search resulted in him being found cold and semi conscious potentially suffering hypothermia and from fall injuries.

Plastering a broken leg

He was located on a rock near the tank house. Doctor Rich administered first aid and managed the patient while he was stretchered to the surgery. The rest of the medical team set up the surgery for the arrival of the patient. Rich then assessed and managed the patient in the resuscitation bay with the support of the lay surgical assistants.

The patient was diagnosed with a broken leg and mild hypothermia. The break was set and plastered. After the exercise a debrief was held to determine what worked well and what could be improved.


Ongoing training.

Suturing a tendon.

Fortnightly training sessions are held for the medical team by the doctor. Training activities include setting up the surgery for an operation, setting the anaesthetic machine and ventilator, drawing up the drugs required for a particular operation, setting out the instruments and simulating procedures. Various people volunteer to be patients. Other medical training activities include practicing suturing, injections etc. The aim is that the medical team is familiar with the processes and equipment in case of an emergency. To date there have been no medical emergencies at Mawson.

Plastering practice - Lisa and Tim.

Now where is the vein.

Nunatak Brewery.

Necessity is the mother of invention. With limitations on personal cargo allocation and alcohol rations, expeditioners since the earliest expeditions to Mawson have brewed beer at the station. Over time technology has changed the brewing process considerably. No longer is the brewer required to start from first principles. Successive brewers have enhanced the brewery so that bottle washing, filling capping and storage are now very efficient.

Bottling home brew, Biscoe Hut, Mawson 1959

An extract from the ANARE Club archive by Grahame Budd. about early brewing.
'I had brought the recipe from Heard Island, where in 1954 it had been known as ‘Azorella juice’.  But my grateful patients at Mawson had produced the poster seen on the door, which celebrated its virtues and ended with the punch-line “Your doctor will tell you - it’s good for you!”  The figures, left to right, are ionospherics physicist Ross Dunlop and senior meteorologist Ian Widdows, who earlier in the year had had a retrocaecal appendix removed while lying on one of the mess tables and (being a tall sort of chap) the sewing machine.  My most popular medical decision of the year was when exploding homebrew bottles on a shelf in the kitchen had obliged me to declare a Public Health Emergency, requiring that the hazard be removed forthwith by emptying the bottles in an appropriate manner.  Compliance, I’m happy to report, was 100%.'

Bottling Red Shed Plant Room - a team effort.

Home brewing is a popular activity and many commercial breweries now sell a variety of styles. Beer is made by taking the canned wort and adding it to a water and sugar mix at a controlled temperature to which powdered yeast is added. The yeast turns the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide gas is produced as a by product. Boutique beers are made up in 20 litre lots and the staple draught and larger are scaled up and made in 200 litre drums. The finished product is stored in tall bottles or in 10 litre kegs. 

Storage shelves for filled bottles.

The brewery at Mawson is called the Nunatak  Brewery. Essentially a home brew setup but scaled up for a winter population of 18 and in summer of around 30. Brewing is a team effort and one day a week a number of the brewing team gather in the Nunatak brewery located in the plant room under the mess in the red Shed. The pattern is generally brew one week then bottle the next. There are a number of 20 litre vats that are used for boutique beers such as Canadian Blonde, Pale Ale, Stout, Wheat Beer, Pilsener, Dark Ale, Sparkling Ale, Ciders, Indian Pale ale, Black and Tan, Ginger Beer and more. There are 2 x 200 litre vats that are used alternately for draft and lager.

Nanatak Brewery

Bottles to be washed

Bottle washing, the bain of every brewer, is made easier by an initial rinse when emptied at the Katabatic Bar on the first floor. The slushy when cleaning the bar during the day restocks the fridge and returns the empties to the brewery in the plant room located at the basement via the dumb waiter. The Dumb waiter operates between the bar on the first floor, the kitchen on the ground floor and the brewery in the basement.

Bottle washer

A locally fabricated bottle washer is used to clean 12 bottles at a time in a couple of minutes. Sugar is added to each bottle (I teaspoon) to gas the bear, the bottle is filled with brew that has reached the correct specific gravity during fermentation and capped by hand. 30 tall bottles are produced by the 20 litre vat and 280 tall bottles by the 200 litre vat. Once capped the bottles are left on the shelves for as long as possible to mature.

Recording details.

Filling the bottles

Capping.

200 litre vats for draught and lager