Mawson and his expeditionary members embarked on the Aurora on 2 December 1911 and landed in Antarctica on 3 January 1912, expecting to stay for about a year. 

On 10 November 1912, Bage led the southern sledging party, which accomplished a perilous round trip of 600 miles (almost 1,000 kilometers), man-hauling their sledge over rough blizzard swept ice surfaces. The group consisting of Bage, Hurley and New Zealander Eric Webb, suffered snow blindness, emaciation, and debilitation, but gathered important magnetic, geographic and meteorological records relating to the extent of the South Magnetic Pole region.

He afterwards contributed the chapter entitled ‘The Quest of the Southern Magnetic Pole’ to Sir Douglas Mawson’s book ‘The Home of the Blizzards’. The very important scientific results of this journey took some time to work out and prepare for publication. He was awarded the Polar Medal by King George V in February 1915. 

It was Bage’s “quiet determination, resolution, and foresight (that) carried them through … always cheerful, ready with a hand to anybody who needed it … he was a born leader of men”.

By 8 February 1913, Mawson’s team was four weeks overdue from their excursion and when the Aurora arrived, the expeditioners decided to leave behind Bage and several of his comrades to await the return of Mawson’s party. A day later a haggard, emaciated, and exhausted Mawson returned alone, his two comrades having perished. 

The Aurora returned the following day to collect the remaining explorers but could not do so due to poor weather and once again departed. It did not return until almost a year later, on 13 December 1913. Bage and his comrades finally disembarked in Adelaide, Mawson’s hometown, on 26 February 1914. They had been away two years and three months.

According to Gordon Hayes in his 1928 survey of Antarctic research “Sir Douglas Mawson’s Expedition, judged by the magnitude of both its scale and of its achievements, was the greatest and most consummate expedition that ever sailed for Antarctica. The expedition was a magnificently conceived and executed scheme of exploration.” 

Much of this was due to Bage’s southern sledging party, which, according to Mawson, “accomplished even more than anticipated”. Bage’s work on the expedition won him admiration from all his colleagues, including Sir Douglas Mawson himself and photographer Frank Hurley. Bage, Webb and Hurley still retain the record for distance covered in a day’s sledge hauling (some 800kg) and it is highly unlikely that it will ever be broken. 

The outbreak of the war in Europe muted the expedition’s impact, but its scientific value emerged as the data was progressively consolidated, interpreted and published.