Chapter 618 The Scientific Expedition Team Returns

Based on the principle that the faster the localization of the colony, the better, after Arthur returned to Sydney, the government announced the localization of the New Guinea colony a few days later.

The specific changes are as follows:

First, the original New Guinea colony was rebuilt into a direct state of New Guinea, and the capital of New Guinea was still in Port Moresby.

Secondly, the colonial government was reformed into a state government, the colonial parliament was reformed into a state parliament, and Governor John became the first governor of New Guinea.

The next step was a large number of immigrants to New Guinea. In order for New Guinea to play its due economic value, the population size must be increased to at least 2 million.

The current New Guinea is still a long way from this population requirement, and the government needs to support immigration to quickly increase the population size of New Guinea.

The official localization of New Guinea is good news, and another good news is the successful return of Charles Putel and his party.

The last time this name was mentioned was three years ago. He was the head of the Australasian Antarctic expedition team appointed by Arthur himself and the leader of the exploration of the South Pole.

Since the plan to explore the Antarctic began in early 1922, Charles and his team went to the edge of Antarctica and started a year and a half of adaptive training.

There was no other way. After all, except Charles, none of the five people in the expedition team had been to Antarctica. Without adaptive training, they could not adapt to the cold climate of Antarctica.

Of course, there was also a logistics team of hundreds of people training with them. The five-person expedition team was the team to explore the South Pole, and the remaining hundreds of people were members of the Australasian Antarctic expedition team.

It is impossible to explore the Antarctic without casualties. Arthur was prepared for casualties long before they set off. There were also some medical personnel among these logistics personnel, and various medical supplies were also properly supplied.

After only one and a half years of adaptive training, more than ten people in the expedition team of hundreds of people were injured.

Fortunately, the adaptive training took place at the edge of Antarctica, where the main force was located, so no unnecessary deaths occurred.

After a year and a half of adaptive training, the main force began to move towards the pole of Antarctica.

As they went deeper and deeper into the center of Antarctica, some scientific expedition personnel began to suffer frequent casualties.

Although they had made sufficient preparations, the severe cold in Antarctica and the unfamiliar terrain could kill people at any time.

After half a year of hard work, the entire expedition team was not far from the South Pole, which was also the closest range that a large-scale team could reach.

If they went further, logistics would be a big problem, which also meant that from this moment on, the number of people exploring the South Pole would be reduced to five.

Fortunately, two years have passed since then, and the five members of the scientific expedition team have fully adapted to life in Antarctica and have become much more experienced.

With dozens of dogs, a considerable amount of logistical supplies, some equipment and warm clothing, the five-member scientific expedition team officially set out on the journey to the South Pole.

After leaving the main group, the logistics of the five-man team almost had to be transported by these dogs.

The tractors and horses used by the main group are not suitable for small-scale transportation. The tractors are not reliable in extremely cold environments, and the huge noise and vibration may even cause avalanches.

Needless to say, the horses are also cold-resistant ponies, but they are still too large and not as flexible as the cold-resistant dogs carefully selected by Charles.

Once these ponies are stuck in the snow, it will delay the progress of the journey to the South Pole, so Charles decisively gave up.

The good news is that the journey to the South Pole is relatively smooth. Charles is not a pioneer in exploring the South Pole. There have been many explorers who have successfully reached the South Pole before him.

This also means that he has too many cases to refer to, which can also become his experience in exploring Antarctica to avoid the same accidents in his own scientific expedition team.

The most famous are actually the two famous explorers Robert Scott and Roald Amundsen.

Amundsen's success is certainly worth learning, but Scott's failure is the most valuable experience to prevent the scientific expedition team from having the same accident.

It is worth mentioning that the purpose of the scientific expedition team to explore the Antarctic Pole this time is not just to reach the Antarctic Pole. They also brought several Australasian flags, including some documents proving that the Australasian expedition team had reached the Antarctic Pole and Antarctica.

As long as they successfully reach the Antarctic Pole, the Australasian flag will be planted at the pole, which can be regarded as an alternative declaration of sovereignty.

This may not have any effect in normal times, but as long as Australasian actually begins to claim Antarctica, these documents and flags can also prove that Australasian once occupied Antarctica.

Of course, everything depends on strength. As long as the Australasian navy can continue to become stronger and sit firmly on the throne of the overlord of the Southern Hemisphere, it is still easy to occupy most of Antarctica.

Although the resources in Antarctica may not be exploited for a long time, it can be regarded as leaving a way out for Australasian in the future.

Who can guarantee that Antarctica's resources will not be exploited in a few decades or hundreds of years? If there is enough technology to exploit Antarctica's resources in the future, but there is no land in Antarctica, wouldn't that be the biggest pity?

It is better to have it than not to have it. This is also Arthur's purpose. It is necessary to plan Antarctica in advance.

Otherwise, after the end of World War II and the beginning of a large-scale peace in the world, it will be unrealistic to occupy most of Antarctica alone.

The current world situation is the best time for Australasia to make trouble. With the support of the British, it is not afraid of other powers including the United States and France.

Charles meticulously implemented Arthur's request, planted the flag of Australasia at the South Pole, and buried some documents and items under the flag to prove the arrival of the Australasia expedition team.

After that, the expedition team spent more than half a month to complete the exploration of the terrain near the South Pole, and recorded it. It also mined some rocks and soil around the South Pole and prepared to bring them back to the country for scientific research.

After that, the expedition team officially embarked on the return journey. Successfully arriving at the South Pole does not mean the completion of the mission. Returning to the base camp safely and returning to Australasia is considered.

Scott's failure was not that he did not reach the South Pole, but that he died on the way back after reaching the South Pole.

The biggest danger in Antarctica is not the cold climate and unfamiliar terrain, but the unpredictable cold weather.

If you are lucky, you may not encounter a big storm for a long time, and the scientific research can proceed smoothly.

But if you are unlucky like Scott, you are only a dozen kilometers away from the main supply point, but you are blocked by the blizzard that swept in, and finally all the supplies are exhausted, and you can only be buried one after another in Antarctica.

Human explorers like Scott are great, but such great people are not worth mentioning in the face of the harsh weather in Antarctica.

Even the famous Captain Scott is still just an ordinary person who can't be more normal in the face of the powerful Antarctic blizzard, an ordinary person who will die if he lacks supplies.

Like other Antarctic expeditions, Charles and his team had already written a suicide note to their family at the base camp when they were sprinting to the South Pole.

But it is obvious that Charles and his team will not need this suicide note. Their journey back to the base camp was smooth. Although they were blocked by the blizzard for several days, Charles' advance planning and emergency preparation, coupled with the slaughter of several dogs for food reserves, allowed the expedition team to successfully rush through the blizzard, arrive at the next supply point, and finally return to the base camp smoothly.

This actually comes from Scott's experience. The real reason why Scott was blocked 18 kilometers before the supply point and eventually ran out of supplies was that he was unwilling to carry too many dogs.

When the ponies were trapped in the snow and forced to give up, Scott's expedition team was already short of emergency food reserves.

Although this doesn't sound good, it is indeed true. Only by carrying a sufficient number of dogs can the expedition team ensure that there are emergency food reserves when they are trapped in a certain area.

In August 1925, the Antarctic expedition, which lasted more than three years, finally returned, bringing back a large amount of Antarctic soil and rocks.

Arthur also fulfilled his promise and personally attended the celebration ceremony of the Antarctic expedition. At the celebration ceremony, he rewarded all members of the expedition. Each person could get a check of more than 1,500 Australian dollars, and those who made special contributions could get a higher share of the check.

Although 1,500 Australian dollars is the income of an ordinary person for more than 20 years, it is not much for the members of the Antarctic expedition, and it is even a little less.

You know, the members of the Antarctic expedition risked their lives to go to Antarctica, and if they were unlucky, they would die.

Arthur would never forget or bury the contributions of those who risked their lives to contribute to the country.

In addition to these financial rewards, everyone will also receive due merits, which will eventually become other rewards including land and titles.

Scott failed to explore the South Pole and was awarded the honor of a British knight. Charles and his team successfully returned from the South Pole and successfully completed Arthur's mission. It is not excessive for the leader to receive a title as a reward.

On the day of the celebration banquet, Arthur awarded Charles the title of Sir. The other four members of the five-member team also received their own medals and an additional check of 1,500 Australian dollars for their outstanding contributions.

This is the only update today. I will take a break.

This month I wrote more than 200,000 words, which is the most written month for this book. Thank you for your support. We will continue to work hard next month.