Media release – Australian Antarctic Festival, 8 May 2022
Notice of the forthcoming Australian Antarctic Festival
Have you ever wondered what happens when our Antarctic supply ships, expeditioners and research vessels venture over the southern horizon and into the world within and beyond the Southern Ocean?
The Australian Antarctic Festival will be held from 24 – 28 August 2022 allowing visitors to ask this question and many more during the five-day event covering everything from Antarctic-based infrastructure and activity displays to science, research, the arts, history and nostalgic ephemera.
Produced by the Mawson’s Huts Foundation, the 2022 Australian Antarctic Festival features many free events in venues around Hobart – Tasmania’s beautiful capital city and gateway to the Antarctic for the Asia-Pacific region.
The CEO of the Mawson’s Huts Foundation, Mr Greg Carter, said that following the festival’s cancellation in 2020 due to COVID, the reinvigorated Australian Antarctic Festival will be the biggest to date, already attracting a high level of interest from around Australia and globally.
“International participation in the 2022 Australian Antarctic Festival is set to reach record levels with several Antarctic Treaty Nations planning to attend and present an extensive range of exhibits,” Mr Carter said.
Highlights of the festival include the educational Antarctic Expo at Princes Wharf which will showcase a collection of artefacts and equipment from Australia’s history of exploration in Antarctica. There will also be an Australian Federal Stamp and Postcard Exhibition featuring a unique collection of Antarctic stamps, postal history, postcards, and related materials.
The latest Antarctic and marine research will be proudly displayed by the Australian Antarctic Division, the CSIRO and the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS). Tasmania’s capabilities in supporting Antarctic and Southern Ocean endeavours will be featured in a Tasmanian Polar Network display.
The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery will display stunning new Antarctic photographs in its Expeditioners Exhibition along with its ongoing Islands to Ice exhibitions. Salamanca Arts Centre will host an Antarctic-inspired art exhibition, a virtual reality Antarctic experience and an Antarctic-inspired opera entitled The Call of Aurora: A Chamber Opera about love, death and madness, written by Tasmanian composer and librettist, Joe Bugden.
School children from around Australia will again be invited to participate in the popular penguin rookery display by using their imagination and artistic skills to decorate a ‘waddle’ of brightly coloured penguins to be displayed in Macquarie Wharf 2 (TasPort’s Cruise Terminal). In 2018, we managed to corral over 8000 penguins. What can we achieve this year?
A Family Fun Day complete with a husky sled-dog team is planned for Sunday 28 August. The inclusion of some Australian Defence Force Antarctic-related assets is still being negotiated.
Mr Carter said that the festival will have broad appeal ranging from academia, exhibitions and displays, entertainment and a ‘road show’ using the Mobile Antarctic Classroom for schools in Tasmania’s regional areas.
“The popular Australian Antarctic Festival Gala Dinner will again be held featuring speeches from iconic Australians, exciting giveaways, and a charity auction,” he said. “All proceeds from the Gala Dinner will go towards the Mawson’s Huts Foundation which seeks to educate the next generation of Antarctic explorers and preserve Australia’s Antarctic heritage,” he said.
For more information on the 2022 Australian Antarctic Festival, visit https://www.mawsons-huts.org.au/antarctic-festival/
WHAT: Australian Antarctic Festival
WHEN: 24 to 28 August 2022
WHERE: Mostly around the waterfront, Sullivan’s Cove, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Featured image above: an even younger visitor to the AAF inspects the ranks of newly painted penguins before they are marshalled in their ‘rookery’. Courtesy of the Australian Antarctic Festival.
