With him returned six other men - Bage, Madigan, Bickerton, McLean, Hodgeman, and Jeffryes - who had been left behind to search for him, owing to his non-arrival from a sledging journey when the Aurora called a year ago at Adelie Land, in Commonwealth Bay.
Mawson returned to his base a few hours after the Aurora had left, after one of the most terrible and lonely journeys ever accomplished by man.
He went out with two other men, Lieutenant Ninnis, and Dr Mertz, and 300 miles away from the base Ninnis and his sledge, on which the provisions on which the party depended were being carried, disappeared down an unfathomable crevasse.
The two men who were left journeyed on homewards, enduring terrible privations and subsisting on the emaciated dogs - dogs which had nothing to eat themselves.
Two hundred miles from the base Mertz died from malnutrition.
Alone in a world of ice and snow, Mawson journeyed on.
For three weeks he went on, the only human being in that frozen waste, and he covered the 200 miles that separated him from his friends.
More like a dead man than a living one, he stumbled into the hut, only to find that the vessel that had come to rescue him had just left.
But the six who had been left behind tended and nursed him back to health and strength, and now at last he has returned to Australia.
The story has been told before, and it will be told again.
All the world is waiting for Mawson's own full description of that awful journey.
Scientifically, the expedition has been a great success.
''I have no hesitation,'' said Dr Mawson, ''in saying that the scientific results will not lose anything by comparison with any other expedition that has gone to the Antarctic. When the British Association meetings take place in August I shall give a preliminary outline of what has been achieved.
"It will be an enormous work marshalling this voluminous data properly. Our collection of biological material is the best that has been attained from the Antarctic. Operations extended as far down into the sea as two miles. Very remarkable fish and animals of all kinds were discovered.''
• A trial of a Tilling-Stevens petrol-electric omnibus chassis, arranged for the purpose of giving the local tramway authorities an idea of the working of this type of machine, was held in Dunedin yesterday.
It should be noted that a petrol-electric omnibus was the class which was recommended by the tramways manager as the machine which would be most serviceable as an auxiliary to and feeder of the Dunedin tramway system.
A load totalling over two tons, or equal to 34 passengers, was placed on the bus, which was then driven to Opoho, over the steepest streets, all of which were negotiated with entire satisfaction to the party on board.
The braking system, facility of starting and stopping, and acceleration, so as to test the vibration of the vehicle, were thoroughly examined, and a speed trial on a level piece of road proved that the omnibus was going over 20 miles an hour.
It is of 60 horsepower.
At the conclusion of the trial general satisfaction was expressed at the manner in which the vehicle had responded to all tests it had been put to, the ease in starting and noiselessness of the engine when running being particularly noticeable. - ODT, 12.3.1914.
• COPIES OF PICTURE AVAILABLE FROM ODT FRONT OFFICE, LOWER STUART ST, OR WWW.OTAGOIMAGES.CO.NZ
