Even better than the real thing

VIRTUAL technology is allowing Tasmanians to take a tour of Macquarie Island from the comfort of their own loungerooms.

A virtual tour experience, made up of 1338 photos stitched together to form 360degree panoramas, allows viewers to go inside and outside the existing station buildings, onto windswept beaches, past resident wildlife and to lookouts above the station.

“You can also get a sense of the science that’s conducted on the island by visiting places like the weather balloon release building, the clean air laboratory and the radionuclide monitoring station,” said Travis Thom, Australian Antarctic Division strategic infrastructure project lead.

He said the technology would be a valuable resource during construction of the new station, which began in 2016.

“Only one or two resupply ships visit the station each year, so the engineers and architects will have limited opportunities to visit the island during the design period,” Mr Thom said.

“However, the tour will allow them to virtually travel to the island whenever they need to explore things in greater detail – such as understanding the current station’s configuration of rooms, specialist equipment, or furnishings.”

Macquarie Island modernisation project manager Adrian Young said a site had been selected for the new station, after two seasons investigating wind effects, ground conditions, coastal processes and the potential risk of rising seas and increasing storm surge frequency.

“The current station is on the northern end of Macquarie Island on part of an isthmus that’s about 500 metres wide. This area is subject to storm surges and home to a large population of elephant seals,” Mr Young said.

“We’ve now identified a suitable new site, just south of the current station, and overlapping some of its footprint. It avoids intensive wildlife congregations, nesting areas and heritage artefacts, as well as the swampy ground nearby.”

In 2016 the Federal Government put up $50 million for the construction of a new research station to replace the one built in 1948.