This achievement helped him to obtain backing for his Southern Cross Expedition and the first to visit the Great Ice Barrier since the expedition of Sir James Ross nearly sixty years previously .
His Southern Cross Expedition became the first to overwinter on the Antarctic mainland .
This achievement helped him to obtain backing for his Southern Cross Expedition , which became the first to overwinter on the Antarctic mainland , and the first to visit the Great Ice Barrier since the expedition of Sir James Ross nearly sixty years previously .