Scullin Monolith

Scullin Monolith, 160km east of Mawson, harbors Antarctica’s highest concentration of breeding Antarctic petrels (160,000 pairs). Some 50,000 pairs of Adélie penguins nest on the monolith’s lower slopes. Mawson, who discovered it in February 1931, named the crescent-shaped monolith for Australian prime minister James H Scullin. At about the same time, a group of Norwegian whalers named the feature for whaling captain Klarius Mikkelsen. As the result of a later compromise, the highest point on Scullin Monolith is 420m Mikkelsen Peak.