Preliminary report on accident during erection of seismological observatory at Macquarie Island

A field party from the Bureau of Mineral Resources left Melbourne on 19th March, 1949, together with a relief party from the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition. The objects of the party's visit to Macquarie Island were the establishment of a Seismological Observatory, the determination of the secular variation of magnetic declination, and the location of magnetically suitable areas for a proposed Magnetic Observatory. The present preliminary report is concerned exclusively with an accident which occurred during the construction of the Seismological Observatory and which caused injuries to A.B. Billan, R.A.N. The building plans and choice of the site are discussed.