Aurora Australis returns from final voyage to Macquarie Island

The Aurora Australia has sailed into Hobart for the final time following its final mission to resupply Macquarie Island.

An Adelie penguin walk past the bow of the Australian Antarctic Divisions chartered icebreaker the Aurora Australis which is wedged in fast ice in Commonwealth Bay 10nm from Mawson's Hut in Antarctica, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)

The Aurora Australis has returned to Hobart for the final time.

For more than three decades, the ship had undertaken a number of scientific research and resupply voyages to Antarctic and sub-Antarctic stations.

On March 10, the ship departed the city for the last time for a resupply run to Macquarie Island.

Australian Antarctic Division director Kim Ellis said over the past 31 years the “Orange Roughy” had carried more than 14,000 expeditioners on some incredible expeditions.

“All expeditioners who’ve sailed on the Aurora Australis have a soft spot for the icebreaker, whether it’s because the ship has enabled their science or transported them south for an Antarctic adventure,” she said.

The trawl deck crew on board Aurora Australis release a trawl net into the Southern Ocean, Friday, Jan. 6, 2012. The trawl net was being used by a research team from the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Co-operative Research Centre to collect Foraminifera and Pteropods, shelled organism barely visible to the human eye, during a marine science voyage to the Antarctic. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins) NO ARCHIVING

“The Aurora has been involved in rescuing stricken ships and injured expeditioners, as well as facing a few challenges, with engine room fires in the 90s and running aground at Mawson station in 2016.

“She’s much more than a ship, she’s been a lifeline, she’s been a home, she’s been a symbol that really captures that whole Antarctic spirit.”

Due to the delayed arrival of Australia’s new icebreaker, RSV Nuyina, an alternative ship will be used for the next summer season.

Aurora Australis moored Horseshoe Harbour, surrounded by new ice. Credit: Chris Wilson / AAD

Negotiations are being finalised with another company to supply a vessel for a minimum of 90 days.

Farewell events planned for the Aurora Australis have been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

With the future of the vessel yet unknown, Martime Union Australia assistant national secretary Ian Bray said the union believed the vessel should be urgently acquired by the Australian Government, with an initial mission to deliver essential supplies to Norfolk Island.

“The Aurora is able to deliver essential supplies in challenging conditions to some of the most remote locations on earth. It is simply too valuable a vessel to lose from the Australian coastline,” Mr Bray said.