Agreement with Gaumont

Mawson signed an agreement for the distribution of the film of his expedition with Gaumont Company in 1911, just prior to his departure to Antarctica. In March 1914 after his return he made another agreement with Gaumont: in this the film's distribution in Australia and New Zealand would be handled by Australasian Films Limited. The agreement sets out the monetary arrangements for both companies and what percentage would go to Mawson.

Gaumont later reneged on the arrangement as the profitability of the film in the United Kingdom waned. Mawson sued them for breach of contract and made an agreement with Lloyd's Film Agency which screened the film between April and May 1915.

When Frank Hurley, the photographer and cinematographer to the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, returned to Australia in 1913 (with Mawson still detained in Antarctica) the film was edited and screened in Sydney. The audiences were sufficiently large to raise enough money to send the ship back to Cape Denison the following summer to collect Mawson. By 1915 screenings in the United Kingdom were affected by the story of the deaths in Antarctica of the Englishman Robert Falcon Scott and his four companions, and by the war in Europe.

Gaumont was a French film production and distribution company which later established overseas offices and theatre chains. It still operates today.

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