Heard & McDonald Islands Proverbs (10)

“We were all the time nearing the object, and on looking again the Captain pronounced it to be land.”

The moment aboard the Oriental in 1853 when Fidelia and John Heard realized the distant shape they had first mistaken for an iceberg was in fact an undiscovered island.

“I think it must be a twin to Desolation Island; it is certainly a frigid looking place.”

Fidelia Heard's first written description of the newly sighted island, comparing it to the already-known Kerguelen Islands, then commonly called Desolation Island.

“We put up a flag and buried a capsule with the proclamation.”

Stuart Campbell recalling how he improvised the formal claiming of Heard Island for Australia on 26 December 1947, having received orders with no instructions on how to conduct the ceremony.

“Even here, at the edge of the world, the fingerprints of global warming are unmistakable.”

A 2025 comment on new research showing Heard Island's glaciers had retreated by nearly a quarter since 1947, underscoring that climate change reaches even the planet's most remote, uninhabited places.

“It was absolute magic, a magic that was never to fade.”

Grahame Budd's description of his first impression of Heard Island, a feeling he said endured across his many later Antarctic expeditions.

“Four days later the weather cleared, and after a nine-hour climb we reached the summit, elated and relieved to have climbed our mountain at last.”

Budd recalling the moment on 25 January 1965 when he and four companions completed the first ascent of Big Ben (Mawson Peak) after days of storm delay.

“Heard is so isolated and its weather is so capricious that only three parties have succeeded in climbing Mawson Peak in the five decades since our success.”

Budd, writing in 2015, on how rarely the 1965 first ascent of Big Ben (Mawson Peak) had been repeated in the fifty years since.

“Big Ben stood clear and magnificent, vapour billowing from its peak.”

Budd's description of Heard Island's active volcano, Big Ben, seen clear of the cloud that usually shrouds it.

“Like Mawson's, ours was a challenging mixture of exploration, science, and adventure. And like Mawson we sailed to our destination in the 19 metre crayfishing schooner Patanela, skippered by the renowned Himalayan explorer and high-latitude sailor HW Tilman.”

Deacock, leader of the 1965 Southern Indian Ocean Expedition, comparing his team's Heard Island venture to Sir Douglas Mawson's earlier Antarctic expeditions.

“Seeing vapour emanating from both of Australia's active volcanoes and witnessing an eruption at Mawson Peak have been an amazing coda to this week's submarine research.”

Voyage chief scientist Mike Coffin describing the rare moment in late January 2016 when the crew of CSIRO research vessel Investigator witnessed Big Ben erupting.