wireless telegraphy was first established at macquarie island in 1912 as part of the australasian antarctic expedition. the callsign allocated by the pmg department was mqi, which was a duplicate with that for the ss saxon of the union-castle line (such duplication was common prior to implementation of the 1912 london agreement). following implementation of the agreement, the callsign was changed to viq. practical equipment of the day was not capable of a direct link between the main base at cape denison on the antarctic mainland and their hobart main base. mawson decided to establish an intermediate station at macquarie island primarily to relay messages between cape denison and hobart (vih), but also to originate its own messages. walter henry hannam oversighted the construction and commissioning of the macquarie island station, then left the facility in charge of charles albert sandell, in accordance with expedition plans. much to his chagrin, the macquarie station proved effective from the start and continued so, while the cape denison station in its first year was problematic at best. the meteorological data from macquarie was considered so important that upon the relief of the two expedition wireless operators in 1914, the department of meteorology provided two further operators to continue the data gathering a further year.