Heard Island (53°06’ South, 73°31’ East) and McDonald Islands (53°02’ South, 72°36’ East) , mostly shown together, are a Sub-Antarctic islands group located in the Southern Ocean. The nearest land is the French territory of Îles Kerguelen (WAP FRA-Ø4), an archipelago of islands around 450 kilometres to the North-West.
The islands are an Australian External Territory and enjoy World Heritage protection and marine reserve status, managed by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD).
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Heard Island and McDonald Islands are unoccupied by humans and remain largely undisturbed by human activity. The region’s persistently poor weather, high seas and vast expanses of ocean mean the islands weren’t discovered by Europeans until 1853. The area, is a Marine Reserve which covers approximately 380,000 km². The boundaries and zoning were expanded in 2024 and came into effect on 24 January, 2025.
Heard Island is approximately 40 km long and 20 km wide and covers around 368 km². The landscape is dominated by Big Ben, a dynamic and active volcano that is the tallest mountain in Australian territory, excluding Antarctica.
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While Heard Island (WAP AUS-Ø7) is well known by Hams due to the ANARE Station at Atlas Cove, and the past Ham’s Radio Activities, the McDonald Islands, uninhabited Australian volcanic territory in the Southern Indian Ocean, located at 53°02’ South, 72°36’ East, have never seen any HF Radio operation. It will be hard to think a Ham Expedition could try to activate it, but for now, WAP will allocate McDonald island (and its coastal Shag Rock island) on WAP-WADA Directory as WAP AUS-NEW.