Amazing Islands: Heard and McDonald. Governance and Economics

The climate is subantarctic - mild winters (+0.1 °C) and cold summers (+4.2 °C). Most days of the year are windy and cloudy. Precipitation often occurs in the form of drizzle or snow.

The islands, little affected by human activity, are home to huge populations of penguins, seals and seabirds.

The archipelago has been part of the Australian Antarctic Territory since 1947, but after Australia signed the Antarctic Convention, the islands began to form a separate external territory. There is no permanent population, but the islands are visited by tourists (without landing) and scientific expeditions (to Heard Island).

Heard Island and McDonald Island, 44 kilometers to the west, are included in the list World Heritage UNESCO.

Although the islands are not inhabited, they are given their own domain.hm.

Hurd

Heard Island () is the pinnacle of an underwater volcano on the Kerguelen Plateau and is 43 kilometers long and 21 kilometers wide. Mawson Peak is the highest point of the island, the height above sea level is 2745 meters. It is the only active volcano in Australian territory. About 80% of Heard's surface is covered with snow and ice, which form the character of the island's coastline.

The area of ​​the island is 368 km².

MacDonald

Shortly after Heard's discovery, on January 4, 1854, the captain of the ship Samarang, William MacDonald, discovered the island named after him.

McDonald Island () - small and rocky, also volcanic in origin, the most high point- 230 meters above sea level. The island is bordered by steep cliffs and consists of two parts - the northern plateau and the southern steep Maxwell Hill, connected by a narrow isthmus.

The area of ​​the island is 2.5 km².

People have landed on the island only twice in history - in 1971 and 1980.

Other islands

The largest of them, Shag Island, is located 10 kilometers north of Heard Island, and Flat Island and Meyer Rock are slightly south of MacDonald. The territory also includes all territorial waters within 12 nautical miles from the coastline.

This is one of the most remote places in the world from the continents. The nearest large land for these islands is Antarctica (1600 km), and Australia is almost 4100 km from here.

Heard and McDonald Islands are part of Australia's external territory. This continent is more than 4 thousand kilometers from here, the distance to Antarctica is 1600 km, and South Africa is 4200 km away. Yes, it's not easy to get here. This must be the one the best place on Earth to retire and take a break from civilization and human society.

The island was discovered by an American named John Heard in 1853 - he came across the island (we are talking about the largest of the islands) by chance while hunting seals. After him, this island was discovered by another sea (also an American) - William MacDonald. Both the first and second named the found island after themselves, so the islands have a double name: the name of Heard is the most large island, and small islands, rocks and reefs are named after Macdonald.

The weather on the island is usually inclement, with winds always blowing and snow or cold, light rain falling almost continuously. The neighboring small islands and rocks surrounding Heard Island can only be seen in clear weather.

Heard Island is a very large island: its length is about 43 km and its width is 21 km. It represents the top of an underwater volcano. The highest point of the island is Mawson Peak, which rises 2750 meters above sea level, making it the most high mountain states of Australia. Mawson is an active volcano; it has erupted 10 times in the last 100 years, its last eruption being in 2005.

McDonald Island is quite small and is located 40 km west of its larger neighbor. The volcano on McDonald Island was dormant for about 75 thousand years and woke up quite recently - in 1992. After a period of volcanic activity in 2011, the island's area more than doubled.

The seal hunters built a small settlement on Heard Island, but abandoned it as soon as all of these animals were killed. The ruins of the settlement can still be found on the island. As for pinnipeds, over time their population began to grow again - now, of course, they are under state protection. The island is also home to a huge number of penguins and birds.

There is very little vegetation on Heard and McDonald Islands - mostly mosses, lichens and grasses, but there are about 100 species of algae.

There is no population on the islands; from time to time, only small expeditions of American and French scientists come here.

Fun fact: despite the fact that there is no population on the islands, and it belongs to Australia, it has its own national domain - .hm.

Photos:

Introductory image source: © Lynn Williams / www.antarctica.gov.au

Image 1 (Map): “Heard mcdonald 76″ by Taken from Perry-Castañeda Library (PCL), originally from CIA Indian Ocean Atlas - http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/islands_oceans_poles/heard_mcdonald_76.jpg. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Heard_mcdonald_76.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Heard_mcdonald_76.jpg

Image 2 (Satellite photo):

"Heard Island" Lizenziert unter Public domain über Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Heard_Island.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Heard_Island.jpg

Image 3: www.edinphoto.org.uk

Images 4 and 5: antarctica.kulgun.net

Image 6: www.volcano.si.edu

The Australian mainland, located in Pacific Ocean, is located in the equatorial climate zone. This means that it is warm there in winter and summer. However, the state once owned several more islands in Indian Ocean: Hurd and MacDonald. The weather there is diametrically opposite; the mercury there does not rise above +5 degrees Celsius in the summer.

Let's go to virtual trip on holiday to Heard and McDonald Islands to explore the local attractions in 2020.

An interesting and unusual sight opens in the southern part of the Indian Ocean. It is a whole cluster of islands. Among them are Heard and McDonald Islands. Their rocky shores are not suitable for human habitation due to the rocky terrain and cold climate.

The only inhabitants of these wastelands are birds and penguins. It is also home to a huge number of seals, arctic loons and other bird species. Entomologists and zoologists are interested in the islands. They observe the behavior of seals, penguins and birds in wildlife among the Arctic climate.

Heard and McDonald Islands are located in the “eternal cold” zone. In winter the weather is never too cold. Mostly the temperature here is close to zero. But due to constant winds and cloudy weather, the islands seem completely unattractive for human life. There is practically nothing for people to do there.

In summer, the temperature on these islands does not rise above five degrees Celsius, which is very pleasant local residents- penguins and seals. Constant cold winds blowing from Antarctica in winter and summer blow any plant from the surface of the islands. The entire space here is covered with non-melting snow and ice.

But this archipelago, oddly enough, has belonged to Australia since 1947. They were part of the Antarctic territory of this country until Australia signed the Antarctic Convention. After this, the islands became a separate territory belonging to this country.

No one lives here permanently, but numerous tourists visit regularly. People do not land on the shores, but view the coastal rocks from the decks of tourist ships.

Scientific expeditions visiting Heard Island study bird populations and other inhabitants. Meteorologists and geologists are also frequent guests here.

All the islands of the archipelago, Heard and Macdonald, are recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The McDonald Islands group is located west of Heard, at a distance of forty-four kilometers.
Islands on the map:

Heard Island

The island was stumbled upon quite by accident by seal and fur seal hunters scouring the ocean in search of prey. The leader of the beast hunters was a man named Heard. In his honor geographical discovery nameless island named after him. This happened in the middle of the 19th century.

By its origin, Heard Island is the top of a volcano that lies underwater. In ancient times, when the volcano was just forming, this territory was a plateau. Now it is called the Kerguelen Plateau and has an impressive size.

The island's area is forty-three kilometers long and twenty-one kilometers wide. The crater of the volcano is the highest point on the island. It rises 2745 meters above sea level. This is the only volcano that is active today in Australia. At the same time, it is the highest point in modern Australia. The area of ​​the island is small, it is 368 km2.

Macdonald Islands

It didn't take long after Heard Island was discovered. In 1854, the captain of the ship Samarang, who was sailing to Melbourne, saw another unnamed island from his bridge. The sailors approached the shore, lowered the boat and went to explore the unknown continent. The navigators found no traces of people. And the island, according to existing custom, was named after the first discoverer - MacDonald.

This is a very small island with an area of ​​two and a half square kilometers. It was formed from solidified lava of a once active volcano. The island consists of two parts, which are connected by an isthmus: the northern plateau and the rocks of the southern part of the island.

Steep cliffs, covered with snow in winter, surround the entire island. The rocks rise 230 meters above sea level. Looking at the inhospitable landscape, it seems that people have never landed on these shores. But that's not true. The human foot has set foot on the uneven shores only twice: in 1971 and 1980.

Other islands of the archipelago

The remaining islets are Shag Island, Flat Island and Meyer Rock. All these formations are rocky shores and cliffs, completely lifeless and cold. The largest of them is Shag Island. What we can say about it is that it is located ten kilometers north of Heard Island. This is a rocky formation of volcanic origin. People, if they landed on it, only once or twice.

Flat Island and Meyer Rock are south of McDonald. There has not been a single landing of people on them since the day they opened. All waters that are located within 12 kilometers also belong to Australia. The area of ​​the entire archipelago is four hundred twelve kilometers.

You can get to these islands from Australia, from where tourist routes depart from time to time.

Natural attractions of the islands

No matter how cool it is on Heard and McDonald Islands, tourists tend to get there because the northern uninhabited islands, inhabited by birds, penguins, seals and fur seals, people are interested in. These lands contain many secrets and exoticism, which can only be experienced on the deck of a tourist liner.

Several decades ago, Russian and American filmmakers loved to shoot adventure films about uninhabited islands in the “cold seas.” The main plots of the films were shipwrecks, the passengers of which managed to escape and people swam to the deserted shores of small continents.

This is exactly what tourists should feel when they look at the animal world on rocky patches of land with binoculars and modern telescopes. Everyone imagines themselves without the trappings of modernity on such a lonely cliff, surrounded by the boundless expanse of water of the Indian Ocean.

And there is something to think about! How can a person, left without warm clothes, without matches, without provisions, without the necessary medicines, survive in constant cold if he suddenly finds himself after a shipwreck on such an island? Rely on search services and wait helplessly for rescue, or start doing something yourself so as not to die from the cold and survive in a deserted world?

The only man-made “work of man” is considered to be the building of an abandoned weather station on Heard Island, which operated there from 1947 to 1954. But then the meteorologists were transferred to Antarctica, and their “research institute” remained ownerless.

An unsightly building with a collapsed roof can be seen from tourist ships. It stands on a hillock, and nearby the local inhabitants of the island, penguins, walk around.

Sightseers who come here have a unique opportunity to observe the life of huge birds that cannot fly, but swim perfectly in the ocean, reaching speeds of 35 to 50 km per hour.

Penguins in their real habitat are completely different creatures than those we are used to seeing in our own and foreign zoos, where their territory is limited to a small pond and an artificial rocky shore. And also by zoo employees who feed them fish and other foods on a schedule.

Penguins in the wild obtain their food exclusively in the water. In it they escape from high sub-zero temperatures on the coast of Antarctica. When, for example, the air temperature there is minus 40-50 degrees Celsius, all the penguins move into water, the temperature of which is about zero.

In bird habitats you can count up to several tens of thousands of penguin pairs. After the birth of the chicks, females and males secretly distribute the care of feeding them among themselves. The parent penguins take turns to catch fish, sea cuttlefish, other ocean mollusks and crabs.

Birds can stay underwater for up to 18 minutes and are able to dive to a depth of 50 meters. When hunting for fish, penguins themselves often become prey for leopard seals, whales and seals, which are several times larger in size and have huge fangs.

Once caught in the jaws of a dangerous predator, birds have virtually no chance of escape. But if the penguins notice the danger in time, they quickly begin to rise to the surface and, if there are ice floes there, jump out onto them.

Birds are hunted not only by animals, but also by people. And although the extermination of penguins is prohibited throughout the world, poachers hungry for delicious penguin eggs and poultry meat are most often stopped only by the law of the states where they are arrested.

A few words about other inhabitants of the islands

Seagulls live next to penguins, and they often steal eggs from large birds for food. Seals also live here, which can also sometimes be seen from a tourist ship. This species of animal is not so safe for people.

The sea lopard, for example, is a type of seal. That is why all boat excursions to Heard and McDonald Islands take place exclusively by water. None of the travelers ever goes to the shores, so as not to become victims of animals and birds, dissatisfied with the invasion of strangers into their territory.

But photographs and videos of the inhabitants of cold islands taken from ships will be unique, since not every tourist can see live penguins, seals, and fur seals in their natural habitat.

Excursion tours there are organized mainly by Australian travel agencies. But Russian travelers still need to get to Australia themselves, which is not cheap at the moment.

However, lovers and admirers of “cold exoticism” are not bothered by this factor. People go there to see how the world works in the “icy latitudes” of the globe.

Some views of Heard Island:

This part of the Commonwealth of Australia is located several thousand kilometers from its continental territory. Besides, no one lives here. No natural resources have been found here. And any hunting or even just staying without permission is prohibited. From time to time, the islands are shaken by volcanic eruptions, changing the contours of their coasts. The only inhabitants of the islands are elephant seals and waterfowl, which feel completely safe.

SUB-ANTARCTIC ARCHIPELAGO OF AUSTRALIA

Heard and Macdonald are uninhabited islands in the southern Indian Ocean. They belong to the Commonwealth of Australia, located at a distance of over 4 thousand km from it, and are managed by the country’s Department of Natural Resources and Energy.

Heard is rugged and mountainous, covered 80% by compacted snow and small glaciers forming the island's coastline. It represents the surface part of the former underwater volcano of the Kerguelen underwater plateau.

Dominates the island mountain range Big Ben with its highest peak, the volcanic Mawson Peak. The volcano is covered with glaciers that descend to the sea in sheer cliffs 15-30 m high. Mawson - highest peak Commonwealth of Australia. This nearly three-kilometre peak is higher than 2228m Mount Kosciuszko, the highest point in mainland Australia.

Mawson is one of only two active volcanoes located on the territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and the entire Antarctic zone.

The second volcano is located on the small and rocky McDonald Island, which is located 43.5 km west of Heard. In 1992, it broke its long silence and began to erupt, as a result of which its area doubled (from 1 to 2.5 km2), its height increased and vegetation was completely destroyed.

Since then, eruptions on MacDonald have occurred from time to time, most recently in 2005. The highest point of the island is a small plateau with a glacier with a total height of 230 m above sea level. The plateau is surrounded by steep cliffs sloping down to the coast and consists of a northern plateau and a steep southern hill, Maxwell Hill.

The islands are located in the subantarctic climate zone, where it is windy and cloudy all year round; in the autumn-winter period there can be light rain or snow for a long time.

The other landmass of the archipelago consists of many small outlying islets, rocks and reefs, the largest of which are the Shag Islands, 10 km north of Heard, as well as Flat Island and Meyer Rock, located south of MacDonald.

In 1987, the islands were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

This Australian archipelago includes territorial waters within 12 miles of the coastline of each island.

ADVISING FROM A FAR

The abundance of animals, pristine nature and unique landscape of the islands attract many tourists. There are no mooring facilities on the shore; liners drop anchor off the coast, and tourists view the islands from board: landing on the shore is strictly prohibited.

The islands were named in honor of their discoverers. American captain John Heard discovered the archipelago on November 25, 1853, while his ship Oriental was sailing from Boston to Melbourne, and the main island was named after him.

The second largest island was discovered on January 4, 1854 by the captain of the British ship Semarang, William MacDonald, and received his name.

Until the 1880s The islands were visited quite often, but interest in them disappeared, since it turned out to be too expensive to export the hunted animals from here, and almost the entire population of seals was exterminated.

From 1910 the islands were considered a British colonial possession until they were transferred to Australia in 1947.

Despite the severity of the climate, Heard, Macdonald and the small islands surrounding them are nesting sites for seabirds and rookeries for marine animals typical of the sub-Antarctic belt. Sea pigeons, frigate birds and albatrosses nest on the cliffs and coastline, as well as king and emperor penguins and the world's largest colony of golden-haired penguins. There are hundreds and hundreds of thousands of birds here, especially on the Exile and Franklin rocks on south coast Heard Islands. Mass gatherings of animals - elephant seals, as well as birds appear in summer time year in the Heard territories freed from snow and ice - the Elephant Spit Peninsula, on the shores of the Winston and Manning lagoons, and the Gotley Glacier.

Due to the remoteness of the islands, the nature of these places is almost untouched by humans. There is not a single introduced (alien, imported) species of living organism here. Coastal commercial fishing is permitted to a limited extent.

The only structure on Heard Island is the abandoned Anare Station research station, used from 1947-1954. Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition.

Atlas. The whole world is in your hands #401

AE0EE, HB9BXE, K2ARB, K3EL, KK6EK, KM4MXD, N6TQ, NG2H, NP4IW, UT6UD, VK2BAX, VK6CQ, W7XU, WJ2Owill be active from Heard Island 21 - 10 April 2016 as VK0EK.
They will be active on all HF bands CW, SSB, RTTY.
QSL via M0URX.
Address for QSL direct:
Tim Beaumont, P.O. Box 17, Kenilworth, Warwickshire CV8 1SF, England.

VK0EK News March 23, 2016

The VK0EK expedition began its work.
They are currently active on 40 meters and will soon appear on 30 meters.
Work on antennas for other bands will continue at dawn.

Inhospitable Heard Island

Brief geographical information

Heard Island is one of the islands of the uninhabited archipelago (Heard and MacDonald) in the southern Indian Ocean, Australian territory, included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Area - 368 sq. km

The climate is subantarctic, the highest air temperature is +4 °C, the lowest is 0 °C, the weather is consistently windy, inclement, with daily precipitation - rain or snow.

History of the discovery of Heard Island

Less than two centuries had passed since this island was discovered in the Indian Ocean not even by a navigator, but by an American seal hunter, Captain Hurd, after whom it was named. With Heard’s light hand, the island was chosen by hunters who set up temporary camps on the island during hunting - the remains of tents can be found on Heard today. But soon the seals were driven out almost completely, and hunters ceased to be interested in the island.

From 1910 until the middle of the last century, Heard Island was under British rule, and then the entire archipelago became the Antarctic territory of Australia.

And today, Australian ships often visit Heard - the coastal zone of the island is used for fishing, but there is neither a port nor any harbor on the island, nor is there a permanent population. Tourists sometimes visit it without going ashore - simply peering at its outlines and seal rookeries on the ice.

Features of an inhospitable island

• Heard Island is the summit of a seamount - an active but currently dormant volcano with the summit of Mawson Peak (2745 m above sea level).
• This the only island in the Subantarctic zone with active volcano, the crater of which scientists call “an open window into the depths of the Earth,” through which geomorphological and glacial processes can be monitored.
• The ice that covers the entire island hides the colorful stripes of basalt formed from volcanic lava. Therefore, when the air temperature rises a little and the ice becomes more transparent, the island becomes very beautiful and unusual.
• The flora of the island is determined temperature conditions: +4 °C even in summer it cannot be called a favorable climate, so all vegetation is mosses and lichens. There are also some terrestrial algae, but they are not very diverse.
• The fauna is much richer than the flora: albatrosses, frigate birds, sea pigeons nest here, penguins roam, and seals, elephant seals and fur seals set up rookeries on the island.
• The value of the island is that man did not influence it, did not change it, did not try to redo anything. The Heard is the most conserved island ecosystem on Earth.

Warnings for the curious

And this is perhaps the most inhospitable island in the world: strong winds, cold climate, constant precipitation, icing. Is it any wonder that there is no queue of tourists eager to get to Heard.

In addition, getting to the island is not easy: ships rarely sail, and planes do not fly; it takes at least ten days to travel by sea, and there are no conditions for landing. The only visitors are Antarctic expeditions in transit. But even those ships that carry travelers to the shores of Antarctica need special training in order to pass along the edge of the coast without incident.

If all this hasn't put you off thinking about your upcoming trip, and you decide to go to Heard despite all the warnings, listen to three pieces of advice.

• Do everything to avoid hypothermia (hypothermia) ). The main problems of such a trip are low temperatures and inclement weather. There is only one way to not be afraid of the climate - if you are well prepared. Therefore, your clothes should be carefully selected and warm, just choose not thick bulky fur coats, but multi-layered products made from natural fibers and outerwear that can protect you from the wind - from modern combined fabrics.
• Take care of your head . Take the choice of hat very seriously: given that you will be observing the island from the open deck, and the weather in the region is always damp and windy, the hat should be light, warm and not windy.
• Spare your eyes . Polar-type sunglasses are a must. Protect your eyes from solar radiation, not only from direct sunlight, but also from reflected ones. Just remember how ice sparkles in the sun, how it hurts your eyes, and buy good glasses.

Yes, carriers of diseases have not been recorded on Heard Island, but scientists warn against communicating with birds - everyone is trying to feed them, although this is officially prohibited.

Be careful, take care of yourself, because there are many others ahead of you, no less interesting travels.

Video DX Expedition VK0EK to Heard Island

Video Heard Island