The Use of Monitoring as a Decision-Making Tool in the Mawson’s Huts Historic Site Conservation Management Plan and the Results of Monitoring for the Period 1999-2002

Abstract

Mawson’s Huts, a symbol of Australia’s historic past, comprises a group of four historic hut structures and other relics associated with the 1911-14 Australian Antarctic Expedition located at Cape Denison, Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica. The paper will describe the background to and process of developing a conservation management plan (CMP) for the site and the inclusion of monitoring as a key element in conservation policy identified in the CMP. Specifically, monitoring is used as a tool to assist decision making in relation to the removal of ice inside Mawson’s Hut and the management of snow ingress. This paper will highlight many wider issues and problems in decision making in a remote location, as well as the different views of stakeholders. This paper also will highlight issues that are important for the practical implementation of standards or guidelines and the need for an agreed understandable outcome. This paper also briefly describes the data collection methodology and analysis of an extensive temperature and relative humidity monitoring program in Mawson’s Hut.