Antarctic Connections

Hobart is a major world centre for work involving Antarctic and subantarctic regions and their oceans.

The capital, Hobart, is the site of the Australian Antarctic Division’s headquarters and has been the staging post for Antarctic expeditions since the early 1800s.

Tasmania has strong historic links with the frozen continent and you can discover them as you explore Hobart’s waterfront area and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

There is a rich collection of Antarctic memorabilia in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery’s 'Islands to Ice exhibition which is on a tour of major Australian museums as part of the centenary year of Douglas Mawson's journey to the ice; our Maritime Museum; at a small museum in the Australian Antarctic Division Headquarters in Kingston, just outside Hobart; and at historic sites such as Hadley’s Hotel in Murray Street, where Roald Amundsen stayed in March 1912, after returning from his successful journey to the South Pole in December 1911.

In Franklin Square you will see the statue of one of Tasmania’s early Governors (1837 to 1843), Sir John Franklin, who died searching for the North West Passage in Canada’s icy north.

As you walk Hobart’s docks look out for the life-size bronze statue telling the story behind the 1898-1900 Antarctic Expedition, the first to spend the winter on the ice. The Polar Pathways Walk and Tour takes you to some of Hobart's unique Antarctic and Southern Ocean connections and sites.

You can even experience subantarctic temperatures, and learn how plants survive on Macquarie Island, in the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens Subantarctic Plant House.

Macquarie Island, a Tasmanian subantarctic island in the Southern Ocean, provides a rich Antarctic experience to the small number who visit each year.