A ship left Melbourne in January 1954 to set up Australia's first Antarctic base.

Facing harsh conditions and the unknown, the Antarctic Division's first director, Phil Law, led a group of 10 pioneers to establish a permanent presence on the icy continent.

In the coming years they grew Mawson Station into a significant base.

Syd Kirkby, who has surveyed more Antarctic territory than any other explorer, had multiple stints there from 1956, including a role as station leader in 1980.

"Any time I was working away from the station, I was never, ever at a place where anyone had ever stood before," he said.

"It was mind-blowing to a 22-year-old kid."

Raising the flag to establish Mawson Station in 1954. ( Supplied: Dick Thompson/AAD )

Meanwhile, George Cresswell, an auroral physicist, spent winter at Mawson in 1960 with 31 men — a mix of scientists and military personnel.

"I hadn't really seen so much ice outside of a refrigerator; it was exciting," he said.

"Among other things I took down a motorcycle and we rode that around. That was a lot of fun.

"Occupational health and safety hadn't been invented; it relied on people using their common sense, and among 22-year-olds that was in short supply."

Huskies were the 'workhorses' of Antarctic expeditions. ( Supplied: Russell Marnock/AAD )

The expeditioners were rationed two cans of beer per week, and were allowed 40 words per month to communicate via teleprinters with loved ones back home.

"It wasn't all that easy to maintain a relationship," Dr Cresswell said.

'A blank piece of paper'

Mr Kirkby said the work was "seriously exciting".

"For people like the geologists and surveyors, we spent so much of our time away and finding new things," he said.

Antarctic veteran Syd Kirkby surveyed the area around Mawson Station in 1956. ( ABC Radio Hobart: Georgie Burgess )

"We brewed a bit of home brew and played football, but we mostly worked.

"Once you got away from the station, it was a blank piece of paper; I still have copies at home of the first maps I ever drew."

He said penguins would come up while he was surveying and touch him with their flippers.

The aurora australis over Mawson Station. ( Supplied: Shane Ness )

Dr Cresswell, meanwhile, studied the aurora australis through telescopes, examining its colours and movements.

"We could see how fast the aurora was moving across the sky and the different colours at different heights in the atmosphere," he said.

"For a 22-year-old, that was enough at that time."

Auroral physicist George Cresswell visited Antarctica in 1960. ( ABC Radio Hobart: Georgie Burgess )

Dr Cresswell, Mr Kirkby and 33 other Antarctic veterans — many in their 80s and 90s — have reunited in Hobart.

They toured the icebreaker Aurora Australis and visited the division's headquarters before attending a dinner on Saturday night.

The occasion marked 65 years since the flag was raised to establish Mawson Station.

For many, it was the first time they had seen each other since their time in Antarctica.

Aircraft were unloaded from the ship after arriving at the site proposed for Mawson Station. ( Supplied: J Bechervaise/AAD )

Australia's icy claim

In the 1940s, explorer Douglas Mawson had been lobbying the government to cement its territorial claim to 42 per cent of Antarctica by establishing a permanent station.

It was an area he explored in 1930 and named Mac Roberston Land, the first known landing in the East Antarctic region.

There was concern that a large military exercise by the US Navy — Operation Highjump — could put Australia's claim at risk.

Sir Douglas Mawson identified Mac Robertson Land as a suitable base site. ( AAP: Australian Antarctic Division )

From 1946, Mawson worked with government departments to form the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions.

Its scientific agenda was set and a suitable ship acquired, and in 1953 the mission was approved to establish Mawson Station.

Using aerial photographs, Mawson and Law chose a suitable site; it was a sheltered horseshoe-shaped harbour at Mac Robertson Land.

The Danish polar charter ship MV Kista Dan transported the expeditioners as well as materials to set up buildings, two Auster aircraft for surveying, snow vehicles, 27 huskies and food for two years.

Basic structures were built and the expeditioners continued to map the area; a flag was raised in February 1954.

Mawson Station remains Australia's longest continuously occupied Antarctic outpost and is a mix of more than 100 new and not-so-new buildings.