But, amazingly, they stand intact 100 years later as a monument to one of the great expeditions of the heroic era of Antarctic exploration. They are now well prepared to withstand another 100 years of relentless winds, which drive particles of ice at more than 300km/h.

The two buildings now known as Mawson's Huts, with a combined area of 81 square metres, were home to 18 members of the expedition. Mawson built them on 50 tonnes of boulders blasted by dynamite to produce a level area. The huts were secured by Oregon pine pillars and frozen in place not by cement but by expedition members urinating into the holes for freezing, thus leaving their DNA as proof of their contribution to Australia's Antarctic heritage.

The framework of the huts - accommodation and living space of 60 square metres and a workshop of 21 square metres - was built in Melbourne and Sydney.

When Mawson left Antarctica in December 1913, he took anything he could sell to repay the cost of the expedition. But his party left bottles and food in the hut, along with clothing, books, magazines and personal effects. Mawson relied on sponsors for goods and cash. The Herald was the only Australian media organisation to give cash (£100).

Still inside the hut is a treasure trove of bottles and cans of well-known brands, some unopened. These include Heinz (India Relish), CSR (Colonial Sugar Refinery) golden syrup, Horlick's malted milk, Colman's mustard and McKinlay and Co malt whisky (sadly empty). The filmmaker Peter Morse recently documented such relics and the rest of the interior in extraordinary detail.

Mawson returned in 1929-31 as leader of the British Australian New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition and, to his surprise, the huts were still standing and almost free of ice. Conservation of these historic buildings was sporadic until 1997, when the Mawson's Huts Foundation was established. It works with the Australian Antarctic Division to conserve the huts.

The foundation has funded 10 expeditions to the site, with another to be sent south this summer. It has saved the huts from destruction by the ferocious elements and removed 70 per cent of the ice that had almost filled them.

The roofs have been overclad using Baltic pine of the same dimensions and from the same source in Finland as the original timber. But work at the site is possible for no more than eight weeks a year, and much remains to be done.