Century-old artefacts from Sir Douglas Mawson’s expedition, including a wool balaclava, have been found by heritage experts as they chip away at snow and ice from Mawson’s Hut in Antarctica.

At Cape Denison, 2,500km south of Hobart, the six-strong Mawson’s Huts Foundation team is hard at work conserving the home of the 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic expedition (AAE).

The expedition field leader, Marty Passingham, said the team hoped to restore the hut to the state it was in when Mawson left in 1914.

“We’ve made a promising start and we’re hoping we will have a large amount of the ice and snow removed and artefacts exposed by the end of the expedition in three weeks’ time,” he said on Sunday.

Mawson is best remembered for his long lone trek across the polar ice cap after two companions died.

He arrived back at Cape Denison weeks behind schedule to discover his ship had sailed for Australia that very morning, condemning him to another year in Antarctica.

Mawson’s Hut Foundation chief conservator Dr Ian Godfrey works to remove ice from shelves inside Mawson’s cubicle. Photograph: David Killick/AAP

The foundation’s chief conservator, Ian Godfrey, said the team had uncovered many personal items and supplies used by the AAE, including cans, boxes, boots a broom and balaclava.

“For me that was a highlight because it was the classic Mawson-style wool balaclava and it was in great condition,” he said.

Work at the site has been halted three times by blizzards which confine the team to its small base camp near the hut.

“We prepare by making sure everything is tied down in preparation and we have enough food, fuel and gas supplies close at hand to ride it out for a couple of days,” Passingham said.