Wilkes station and inside the 'Red Shed'

Last weekend I set off as part of a group of 8 people for the old Wilkes station, which is located on the other side of Newcomb Bay to Casey station.

Wilkes station

Wilkes station was built in the late 1950's by the United States, and later handed over to Australia. The station was built in an area that sees quite a lot of snow and ice accumulation, and since the station was abandoned it has become encased in ice. During the summer period, parts of the buildings will be exposed during the melt.

Wilkes is one of the areas around Casey where a field hut is located. Unlike the other huts in the region, which are generally fabricated out a shipping containers, insulated and stocked with emergency supplies, and would normally sleep 4 people, the hut at Wilkes is in the old 'radio' building from the Wilkes site. It is larger than the other huts, sleeping 8 people, and also having an old timber stove/fire in it.

View over Newcomb Bay to Casey station

Below is a video from my trip over to Wilkes.....

Below is another video clip in the ongoing 'tour' of Casey station. This clip takes you on a tour of part of the 'Red Shed', mostly around the 'common' areas, and through to my room, which is a bunkroom, but I have it all to myself.

The Red Shed is much larger than the areas that are shown in the video, with most of the other area comprising bedrooms, bathrooms, the laundry and storage rooms.

With the Aurora Australis (resupply ship) due to arrive here on Sunday, there has been plenty of activity around the station. From the ship, people and cargo will be loaded onto a barge, then taken to the wharf and offloaded for transport up to the station... distance of several hundred metres. Back loaded onto the ship will be any people returning to Australia... including those who have been here over the past winter period. Also to go onto the ship is all the RTA (return to Australia) goods, this includes pretty much everything no longer required here on station, from pieces of equipment/machinery, to samples collected during science work, to waste and recyclables.... including all the 'solids' from the waste treatment plant.

The trip from the wharf to the station is through a small valley, and climbs a couple of slopes. As result, the containers, loaded onto trucks/sledges cannot be driven across the snow, as they will become easily bogged. A road needs to be dug out each year, between the station and the wharf. This road is dug down to the ground (frozen) so that the vehicles can travel without problems.

Digging out Wharf road

Aerial shot of Casey and Wharf road in foreground

Below are few links to stories that have have been in the news recently.

7:30 report when you got to this website, you will have to select Archives - November 2011 - 30/11/2011.
UTas Alumni news
Herald Sun article on Mawson Centenary
Mercury, newspaper article
Illawarra Mercury, newspaper article
Daily Telegraph, newspaper article
another Mercury, newspaper article