The influence of L.R. Blake, pioneering sub-Antarctic geographer and geologist, on the topographic mapping of Macquarie Island

New biographical information is given about L.R. Blake, surveyor and geologist at Macquarie Island during the 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition. Blake's survey of the island yielded maps that in significant respects are more accurate than the current topographic map of 1971, which, with one exception, adopted his height measurements for the 23 named peaks. The more recent height estimates for these peaks are assessed, and it is concluded that, while some of Blake's measurements were significantly in error, his values still stand as the best current estimates for one-third of the peaks. Blake's death five weeks before the end of the First World War consigned his achievements on Macquarie Island to obscurity.8 page(s