IT WAS on March 31, 1913, that the following appeared in the Queensland Times regarding Dr S.E. Jones, a son of Mr E. Jones of Omar St, Ipswich, who had returned to Ipswich after an absence of 12 months and travelling with Dr Mawson's Australian expedition to the Antarctic.

Dr Jones had gained his degree at the end of 1910 and had been practising at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, before he joined the Mawson expedition which sailed from Hobart on December 12, 1911, in the Aurora.

The ship Toroa was also part of the expedition and then after transferring items from her, the complete party from both ships set sail from Macquarie Island for the Antarctic on Christmas Day 1911, arriving at Adele Land in January 1912.

Dr Mawson and others landed there, but Dr Jones, Mr Wild and others proceeded along the coast westwards and were prevented from landing because of pack ice. It was on February 17, 1912, a large glacier was sighted and preparations began for landing.

The party's gear and stores were landed on the glacier which was 36.5m above the level of the sea and 25.7km from the coast, and on February 23 the Aurora left them there. For the first week, the men lived in tents, then the construction of huts afforded them more permanent shelter. Prior to the huts being built, a blizzard blew down the tents and the men were enveloped by an avalanche, so they dug down into the snow and were almost entombed there for five days. They named the area Avalanche Bluff.

Dr Jones was involved in mapping part of the coast line and came across an emperor penguin rookery estimated to contain 12,000 birds.

He stated the provisions included tinned meat, flour and seals.

The Aurora arrived in Antarctica on February 23 (three weeks overdue) and arrived back at Hobart about three weeks later. Taken on the whole journey, Dr Jones said he had a splendid time.

NAMING OF CANBERRA

Hundreds of names were received for the naming of the new capital of Australia in 1913. Here are just a few of the entries of which people were pleased that were not chosen

Eureka, Utopia, City of New Holland, Waratah, Camelot, Wattle City, Cooeeton, Australoomoo, Billa Goopa, Eumemmering, Eucalyptus, Backspur and Fisherium.

NEW RULES AT IPSWICH HOSPITAL

In September 1940, it was reported "The first shall be first and the last shall be last”.

This was the principle which the Ipswich Hospital Board intended to apply to the order of treatment in the outpatient's department.

Reference was made at the board's meeting to the fact "the more pushful members of the fair sex gained preference by going forward first no matter what time they had arrived. This pushiness was to be obviated by the issue of numbered discs passed out on the arrival of the patients and they would then get treatment in order of their arrival.”

LOCAL FILMS SHOWN

Award-winning films by members of the Queensland Amateur Cinema Society were shown in the Memorial Hall Ipswich on October 27, 1952.

Among the films were The Tale of a City the romantic story of Ipswich in sound and colour, Saga of the Sea and Mountain Scenes a story of Lamington Plateau.

Proceeds went to the War Veterans Home and price of admission was two shillings.

CYCLONIC STORM

A cyclonic storm on January 15, 1902, caused much damage in Ipswich.

The storm occurred after a day temperature of 42C had been received. It unroofed stables and sheds in Waghorn and Darling Streets, smashed shop windows in Brisbane St, carried away about half the iron from the verandah of Claremont, Milford St and damaged and smashed trees in Central Gardens (cnr Limestone and Nicholas St).