Whakaotihia te rerenga e whai ake nei: I whānau a Mawson i Ingarangi, a, i haere mai ki Ahitereiria i a ia e tamariki ana. I whakaoti ia i nga tohu mo te miihini maina me te matawhenua i te Whare Wananga o Sydney. I te tau 1905 i whakawhiwhia ia hei kaiwhakaako mo te petrology me te mineralogia i te Whare Waananga o Adelaide. Ko te wheako tuatahi a Mawson i Antarctica i rite ki te mema o Shackleton o
"Nimrod" Expedition (1907<unk>1909), i te taha o tana kaiwhakaako a Edgeworth David. Ko rātau tētahi wāhanga o te rōpū raki o te haerenga, ko rātau te tuatahi ki te eke ki te Pou Ā-Mātai ki te Tonga, ki te eke ki Maunga Erebus.