The staff of the AAE were contracted to each receive £300 at the close of the expedition, estimated at the outset to be April 1913. In addition to their salary, members were also provided with all clothing and equipment. Or, as Mawson wrote to Laseron, since everything in the way of equipment would be provided by the expedition, ‘only thing is toothbrush’.

The equivalent of the £300 salary in today’s rates would be about AU$30,000, for about 17 months’ work.