The Rise of Australasia

In line with the principle that the faster the localization of the colony, the better, after Arthur returned to Sydney, it wasn’t long before the government announced the localization of the New Guinea Colony.

The specific changes are as follows:

First, the original New Guinea Colony was restructured into the New Guinea State directly under its jurisdiction, with the capital still located at Moritzby Port.

Second, the Colonial Government was reformed into the State Government, and the Colonial Parliament was transformed into the State Parliament, with John becoming the first governor of New Guinea State.

Next was the large-scale immigration to New Guinea State. In order for New Guinea State to realize its economic value, the population needed to be increased to at least 2 million.

The current population of New Guinea State is still a considerable distance from this target, and government support in the area of immigration is needed to rapidly increase the population size of New Guinea State.

The official localization of New Guinea was good news, and another piece of good news was the successful return of Charles Puter and his team.

This name was last mentioned three years ago; he was personally appointed by Arthur as the leader of the Australasia Antarctic Expedition Team and the front-runner in exploring the Antarctic Pole.

Since the Antarctic exploration plan began in early 1922, Charles and his team went to the edge of Antarctica to commence a year and a half of adaptation training.

This was a necessity, as, apart from Charles, none of the five-person exploration team had ever been to Antarctica, and without adaptation training, they simply could not cope with the frigid climate.

Of course, accompanying them in their training was an extensive logistics team numbering over a hundred people. This five-person exploration squad was the team bound for the Antarctic Pole, while the rest were members of the Australasia Antarctic Expedition.

It was impossible for the work of exploring Antarctica to be completely casualty-free, and Arthur had prepared for the possibility of casualties even before their departure. Among the logistics staff, a portion was medical personnel, and all manner of medical supplies was being provided adequately.

Just a year and a half of adaptation training resulted in over ten injuries among the team of over a hundred explorers.

Luckily, the adaptation training took place on the edge of Antarctica, close to the main party, which prevented any unnecessary deaths.

After a year and a half of adaptation training, the main party began their march towards the pole of Antarctica.

As they penetrated deeper into the heart of Antarctica, casualties among the explorers began to rise more frequently.

Despite being well-prepared, the extreme cold of Antarctica, combined with the unfamiliar terrain, could lead to fatalities at any time.

After six months of arduous travel, the entire expedition team was not far from the Antarctic Pole, which was also the closest the large team could get to it.

Moving forward, logistics became a significant issue, indicating that from this point on, the number of people heading for the Antarctic Pole had to be reduced to five.

Fortunately, two years had passed since then, and the five members of the small exploration team had fully adapted to life in Antarctica and had gained much more experience.

With dozens of dogs, a considerable amount of logistics supplies, some equipment, and warming items, the five-person exploration team officially embarked on their journey to the Antarctic Pole.

Once they left the main party, logistics support for the small team had to rely almost entirely on these dogs for transport.

The tractors and horses used by the main force were not well-suited for small-scale transport; tractors were unreliable in extreme cold conditions, and their loud noise and vibrations could even trigger avalanches.

Horses, needless to say, although also cold-resistant ponies, were too large compared to the cold-hardy dogs carefully selected by Charles. They were not as agile.

If these ponies were to fall into the snow, it would delay the progress to the Antarctic Pole, so Charles decisively abandoned them.

The good news is, the journey towards the Antarctic Pole went relatively smoothly. Charles was not a pioneer in exploring the Antarctic Pole; many explorers had successfully reached it before him. ŕÃℕô₿ÊS

This meant that he had numerous cases to refer to, which could also serve as his experience in exploring Antarctica, to avoid the same accidents for his own expedition team.

The most famous are indeed the illustrious explorers Robert Scott and Roald Amundsen.

While Amundsen’s successful cases were worth learning from, Scott’s less successful experiences were a valuable lesson in preventing similar incidents in the expedition team.

It is worth mentioning that the goal of the expedition team’s exploration of the Antarctic Pole was not just to reach the pole. They also carried several Australasia Flags and some documentation proving that the Australasia expedition team had reached the Antarctic Pole and explored Antarctica.

As long as they successfully reached the Antarctic Pole, the Australasia Flag would be planted there, signifying an unconventional declaration of sovereignty.

Under normal circumstances, this might not serve any practical purpose, but the moment Australasia began substantively asserting claims over Antarctica, these documents and the flag could prove Australasia’s former occupation of the territory.

Of course, everything still depended on strength. As long as Australasia’s navy could continue to grow stronger, securing its position as the dominant power in the Southern Hemisphere, occupying a large part of Antarctica would be quite feasible.

Although it might be a long time before the resources of Antarctica could be exploited, it was still worthwhile to secure a fallback for the future of Australasia.

Who could guarantee that in several decades, maybe a hundred years, the resources of Antarctica couldn’t be tapped? It would be a true pity if, by then, there was technology sufficient to exploit Antarctic resources but no land to call one’s own.

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Having something was certainly better than nothing at all, which was also Arthur’s intent; planning ahead for Antarctica was indeed a necessity.

Otherwise, once World War II ended and a broad peace ensued worldwide, the idea of single-handedly occupying a large part of Antarctica would become unrealistic.

The current world situation was the best time for Australasia to take action. With the support of the British and no fear of other powers, including the United States and France, they could act boldly.

Charles meticulously carried out Arthur’s requests, planting the Australasian National Flag at the Antarctic Pole and burying some documents and items below it to certify the arrival of the Australasian scientific team.

Afterward, the scientific team spent half a month to complete the exploration of the terrain near the Antarctic Pole, recorded their findings, and extracted some rocks and soil from around the pole to bring back for research.

Subsequently, the scientific team officially embarked on their journey home. Reaching the Antarctic Pole did not signify the completion of their mission; a safe return to the Main Camp, and back to Australasia was the true mark of success.

Robert Scott’s failure did not lie in not reaching the Antarctic Pole, but in perishing on the return journey after reaching it.

The greatest danger in Antarctica was not the cold climate or unfamiliar terrain but the unpredictable cold weather.

If lucky, one might not encounter severe storms for a long time, and scientific work could progress smoothly.

But in cases like Scott’s, where just bad luck prevented them from reaching the main supply point a mere distance away due to a sweeping blizzard, their supplies dwindled, and they ended up buried one by one in Antarctica.

Explorers like Scott were great, but even such greatness meant little in the face of the harsh Antarctic weather.

Even the famed Captain Scott was merely an ordinary person, no more normal than anyone else when faced with the powerful Antarctic blizzards, an ordinary person who would die without supplies.

Like other Antarctic expeditions, Charles and his companions had written a letter to their families from the Main Camp in case they did not return.

Clearly, Charles and his party had no need for that letter.

Their journey back to the Main Camp was smooth, and though a blizzard had blocked their path for several days, thanks to Charles’s advance planning and emergency preparations, plus the slaughtering of several dogs for food reserves, the team successfully made it through the blizzard, reached the next supply point, and ultimately returned to the Main Camp unscathed.

This, too, was a lesson from Scott’s experience. Being held up just 18 kilometers from the supply point and eventually running out of provisions was indeed because he was unwilling to carry too many dogs.

This might not sound pleasant, but it was the truth. Only by having a sufficient number of dogs could an expedition ensure emergency food reserves in case they were trapped in an area.

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

Arthur upheld his promise, attending the celebration ceremony for the Antarctic team himself, and during the celebration, rewarded all team members with checks exceeding 500 Australian dollars each, with those who made special contributions receiving additional, higher amounts.

500 Australian dollars might equate to a few decades’ earnings for an ordinary person, but it was hardly an exaggeration to reward these Antarctic explorers—it was even somewhat insufficient.

It’s important to remember that these members of the Antarctic expedition ventured into the Antarctic risking their lives, where bad luck could mean death.

Arthur would never forget or belittle the contributions of those who wagered their lives for their country.

Beyond these monetary rewards, every member would also receive due honors, eventually resulting in additional rewards including land and Titles of Nobility.

Scott failed his expedition to the Antarctic Pole and still received knighthood from Britain. Charles’ group successfully returned from the pole and completed Arthur’s mission, so rewarding the leader with a Title of Nobility was by no means excessive.

On the day of the victory celebration, Arthur conferred the title of Sir upon Charles, and the other four members of the team also received their own medals, along with an additional check for 500 Australian dollars each for their outstanding contributions.

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