Macquarie Island Station

This article is about a research base. For the island, see Macquarie Island.

Macquarie Island Station
Subantarctic base
Macquarie Island Isthmus, looking south from the summit of Wireless Hill, overlooking the research station.
Macquarie Island Isthmus, looking south from the summit of Wireless Hill, overlooking the research station.
Nickname: 
Macca
Location of Macquarie Island Station, relative to Australia and New Zealand
Location of Macquarie Island Station, relative to Australia and New Zealand
Macquarie Island Station
Location of Macquarie Island Station, relative to Australia and New Zealand
Coordinates: 54°29′56″S 158°56′20″E / 54.498889°S 158.938889°E / -54.498889; 158.938889
Country Australia
StateTasmania
LGAHuon Valley Council
Administered byAustralian Antarctic Division
Established1911 (1911)
Named forLachlan Macquarie
Population
 • Summer
40
 • Winter
16
Time zoneUTC+10:00 (AEST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+11:00 (AEDT)
UN/LOCODEAU MQI
Active timesAll year-round
StatusOperational
Activities
List
  • Meteorology
  • Biology
Facilities[1]
List
  • Accommodation
  • Communal mess
  • Doctor's surgery
  • Stores
  • Workshops
  • Communications
  • Power generation facilities
  • Research and scientific buildings (geophysics, biology, upper atmosphere physics and meteorology
  • 30 separate buildings
Websiteantarctica.gov.au

The Macquarie Island Station, commonly called Macca,[2] is a permanent Australian subantarctic research base on Macquarie Island, situated in the Southern Ocean and located approximately halfway between mainland Australia and Antarctica, managed by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD). The station lies at the base of Wireless Hill, between two bays on the isthmus at the northern end of the island.

The island and its surrounding waters are administered as a nature reserve by the Tasmanian Government Parks and Wildlife Service. In 1997, the island was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as a site of major geoconservation significance, being the only place on Earth where rocks from the Earth's mantle are actively exposed above sea-level.[2][3]

  1. ^ "Living on Macquarie Island". Australian Antarctic Division. Department of the Environment, Australian Government. 18 December 2006. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  2. ^ a b "Macquarie Island station". Australian Antarctic Division. 22 June 2016. Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  3. ^ "Macquarie Island". World Heritage List. UNESCO. 1997. Retrieved 8 July 2016.