Oates Land

Oates Land is a wedge-shaped segment of East Antarctica stretching along and inland from the Oates Coast.

Part of the Australian claim to the Antarctic, it extends between 153°45' E and 160° E, forming a wedge between 60° S and the South Pole. It is bounded in the east by the Ross Dependency and overlaps in the west with George V Land.

Discovery and name

The eastern portion of this coast was discovered in February 1911 by Lieutenant Harry Pennell, Royal Navy, commander of the expedition ship Terra Nova during the Terra Nova Expedition, 1910-13. He named the coast after Captain Lawrence E.G. Oates who, with Captain Robert Falcon Scott and three British companions, perished on the return journey from the South Pole in 1912. The western portion of the coast, the vicinity of the Mawson Peninsula, was first delineated from air photos taken by U.S. Navy Operation Highjump, 1946-47.