In 1929 the British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE) was formed with Mawson as commander . The British government lent the Discovery, Robert Falcon Scott's ship from his first expedition. The primary purpose of BANZARE was the claiming of possession in the Antarctic quadrant south of Australia. Secondly was the examination of the land and the adjacent waters for potential commercial gain and only lastly scientific studies. Landings on the continent were made difficult by pack-ice preventing access.

Mawson refutes the newspapers claims that the BANZARE had achieved nothing on either of its voyages, and said that the Scientific Reports once published would show the immensity of the work accomplished compared with the money spent. He further said 'the expedition had carried out a very extended scientific programme, and had obtained a great deal of scientific results through a little over one third of the whole Antarctic region.'

The publication of the Scientific Reports was a protracted business and the final report was not published until 1975.

On page 8 of the same issue of The Advertiser the Editor writes of the expedition and its exploration and also of Australia's 'proprietary rights over at least the contiguous sector'. He refers to previous mineral finds in Antarctica and closes with 'if the development of these resources is to proceed without international friction, there will be a call for the voices of diplomatists and statesmen, as well as savants, to be heard in regard to the frozen South.'