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Casey history

Introduction

Casey Station lies on the Budd Coast, just North of the Antarctic Circle in that part of East Antarctica called Wilkes Land. Casey is located at 66 degrees 17 minutes south and 110 degrees 32 minutes east, on the Bailey Peninsula overlooking Newcomb Bay in the North Eastern end of the larger Vincennes Bay. Vincennes Bay was named by Mawson after the Vincennes, a vessel of USA exploration expedition of 1838 to 1842, which carried the first explorers into the area. The Commander of the Vincennes was Lt. Charles Wilkes, U.S.N. The islands offshore are collectively known as the Windmill Islands.

Wilkes

1957 was the International Geophysical Year (IGY) which heralded a burst of scientific activity world wide, and was the catalyst for a number of stations being built in Antarctica. The United States established Wilkes in an area that had previously been considered as an ideal area for an Australian base. Glaciology was the main science conducted at Wilkes at this time. Following an offer from the US, Australia took over the operation of the Wilkes station on Clark Peninsula in January 1959, two years after it was opened.

According to those who lived at Wilkes it was a very comfortable station even though it was only built as a temporary station for the IGY. It wasn't actually built to last, a lot of the panelling was plywood, not the sort of material to withstand the harsh Antarctic climate.

Wilkes was built in the middle of a hollow and once the buildings were constructed, snow drifts were created which didn't completely melt away over Summer so it soon became obvious that Wilkes would be buried by the deepening snow as it progressively deepened and turned to ice. Wilkes was quite a large base, so for the Australians who took it over with only about half the personnel that the Americans had it was a challenge to manage. By all accounts Wilkes Station was warmer in Winter than Summer because the snow would cover the buildings in Winter and provide some insulation while in Summer after the snow melted the wind would blow through cracks in walls.

Wilkes was a self-contained station with corridors inter-connecting all the buildings. The outside doors of Wilkes station were often blizzed in so it was a regular job to dig them out. Apparently expeditioners did not worry too much about going outside and many just lived within the station building only venturing out occasionally.

Today the majority of the old Wilkes station is buried under ice and snow with a few roofs of different buildings protruding but they too are progressively disappearing under the continual snow accumulation each year. During the Summer melt, expeditioners visiting Wilkes from Casey can wander around the area and reflect on the activities that might have happened at that once busy station. The impact of the station on the natural attributes of the local environment is unfortunately obvious, particularly at the old tip site. The Division is planning contaminated site studies of the remaining rubbish as well as a heritage assessment of the Wilkes Station.

The "Casey Tunnel"

In 1964 work commenced on a replacement station for Wilkes, known at the time as "Repstat", it was located 2 kilometres south of Wilkes on the shore of the Bailey Peninsula.

The station was a unique design and was built on scaffold piping with the main line of buildings lying at right angles to the prevailing east wind and elevated up to three metres above the rock surface. The aerodynamic shape allowed drifting snow to blow away underneath. It was a very innovative idea, built on a shoestring budget and designed by staff of the Division.

The station was built by ANARE expeditioners, which according to Phillip Law a former Director of the Antarctic Division, resulted in good team spirit amongst expeditioners and greater economies. The station became known as the tunnel because of the covered corrugated iron corridor which connected all the work and living areas, thus expeditioners did not need to go outdoors to move from building to building. There were 13 separate buildings in a row connected by this one walkway.

When it was fully operational in February 1969, Repstat was renamed Casey, in honour of the Governor General at the time, Lord Casey, who had been a staunch supporter of Australia's fledgling Antarctic program through the fifties and sixties. Wilkes station was decommissioned in 1969.

Casey Station

By the mid 70's, Australia's Antarctic stations (Casey, Mawson and Davis) were becoming increasingly expensive to maintain, and a major rebuilding program was planned for the 1980's. Reconstruction of Casey Station commenced in February 1979. The new stations were constructed with a steel frame on concrete foundations, with an external skin of 150mm thick panels of steel clad polystyrene foam. They were designed to withstand the harsh climate and provide a great degree of comfort and safety. State-of-the-art facilities to support science programs. Their bold colours and heavy construction provided a substantial statement of Australia's presence and future in Antarctica.

The 16 buildings of the present Casey station 1km further west of the “Tunnel” site on Bailey Peninsula were officially opened in December 1988, and the tunnel was decommissioned in March 1989, demolished over the 1991/2 and 1992/3 summers, and returned to Australia.


 

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