Walker (representing New South Wales) and Professor
G. C. Henderson (representing South Australia).

Soon after this meeting the Commonwealth Government voted L5000,
following a grant of L2000 made by the British Government at the
instance of Lord Denman, who from the outset had been a staunch friend
of the Expedition.

At the end of October 1911 all immediate financial anxiety had
passed, and I was able to devote myself with confidence to the final
preparations.

Captain Davis brought the 'Aurora' from England to Australia, and on
December 2, 1911, we left Hobart for the South. A base was established
on Macquarie Island, after which the ship pushed through the ice and
landed a party on an undiscovered portion of the Antarctic Continent.
After a journey of fifteen hundred miles to the west of this base
another party was landed and then the Aurora returned to Hobart to refit
and to carry out oceanographical investigations, during the year 1912,
in the waters south of Australia and New Zealand.

In December 1912 Captain Davis revisited the Antarctic to relieve the
two parties who had wintered there. A calamity befell my own sledging
party, Lieut. B. E. S. Ninnis and Dr. X. Mertz both lost their lives
and my arrival back at Winter Quarters was delayed for so long, that the
'Aurora' was forced to leave five men for another year to prosecute a
search for the missing party. The remainder of the men, ten in number,
and the party fifteen hundred miles to the west were landed safely at
Hobart in March 1912.

Thus the prearranged plans were upset by my non-return and the
administration of the Expedition in Australia was carried out by
Professor David, whose special knowledge was invaluable at such a
juncture.

Funds were once more required, and, during the summer of 1912,
Captain Davis visited London and secured additional support, while
the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science again
successfully approached the Commonwealth Government (The Right Hon. J.
H. Cook, Prime Minister). In all, the sum of L8000 was raised to meet
the demands of a second voyage of relief.

The party left on Macquarie Island, who had agreed to remain at the
station for another year, ran short of food during their second winter.
The New Zealand Government rendered the Expedition a great service in
dispatching stores to them by the 'Tutanekai' without delay.

Finally, in the summer of 1913, the 'Aurora' set out on her third crui