Heard Island and McDonald Islands is an external territory of Australia comprising a volcanic group of mostly barren Antarctic islands. The islands are among the most remote places on Earth and are currently uninhabited.
Discovered in the mid-19th century, the islands have been an Australian territory since 1947 and contain the country’s two only active volcanoes. The summit of one, Mawson Peak, is higher than any mountain on the Australian mainland. The islands lie on the Kerguelen Plateau in the Indian Ocean.
