1 Dollar - Elizabeth II 4th Portrait - Inspirational Australians - Sir Douglas Mawson

Mawson's inclusion in this series is well-earned. His 1911–14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition remains one of the most harrowing survival stories in polar history — after his two companions died on the Far Eastern sledging journey, Mawson walked roughly 160 kilometres back to base alone, his body in the early stages of hypervitaminosis A from eating sled dog liver. He reached the hut hours after the relief ship had departed and wintered over a second year.

He led a further Antarctic expedition in 1929–31, which formally secured large territorial claims for Australia.