Geography and History

Antarctica is very different from the other polar environment being the Arctic. The Arctic is mostly sea surrounded on its edges by the northern parts of Asia, Europe and North America. By contrast the Antarctic is mostly land, covered with permanent ice and isolated from all other continents by thousands of kilometres. The nearest land is the tip of South America which is 970km from the Antarctic Peninsula. Also Antarctica is much colder then the Arctic.  This is due to the very high winds which sometimes get up to 240km per hour. The highest temperature so far recorded is -10 degress C in the mildest region.

In this session topic you will learn about what the continent of Antarctica is like. By the end of this session you will know about the history of Antarctica and should be able to locate the Australian bases. Make sure you carefully read all the information before each activity.

• Locate the file, "Blank Map" on the Junior School Server. This is a map of Antarctica. PRINT out 2 copies of this file. Add the following features to one of your maps and use light colouring when complete.

• The Australian BASES,
• The OCEANS and SEAS,
• The SOUTH POLE. 

• Visit the Antarctica - Virtual Tour website. Read the information in the site, especially the section titled, "Some Brief History". Within this section, click on the link to the "poles page" and make notes in your SOSE book about the 3 different poles. 

• Visit the Antarctica Online website and view some of the statistics about Antarctica. Use this information to create a graph which compares the area of Antarctica to Australia, Canada and USA. Use a Clarisworks Spreadsheet to table the data, then make a pie-chart. Ask your teacher for assistance if necessary.

• The Antarctica Online website also has some information on the history of the different Australian bases in Antarctica. Read this information and answer the following questions in your SOSE Book:
• Casey Station:
• What was the Casey Station originally named?
• When was the Casey Station fully operational?
• Mawson Station:
• In what year did they erect the living quarters?
• When and who first raised the Australian flag at the Mawson station?
• Davis Station:
• What year was a small ceremony held to officially open the new Davis Station?
• Who made up the first party to spend the winter in the Vestlfold Hills?
• Macquarie Island:
• What year was Macquarie Island granted World Heritage?
• How long has Australia operated a research station at the northern end of the island?

• Begin to search the internet for "web sites" on Antarctica. Record in your SOSE Book the URL's of any that you find.

 
• Email your teacher when you have completed all of the above activities.