A part of the Australian territory since 1947, these islands contain the both the two active volcanoes that are present in Australia. One of the volcanoes is also the highest peak that can be found in Australia named Mawson Peak. The islands are uninhabited and has been comes under the UNESCO world heritage sites. The island lies at the southern ocean on the way to Antarctic from Madagascar. The first part of the island known as the Heard Island and is full of rugged mountains covered by glaciers for almost the whole year. The Mawson peak dominates these mountains which stands tall at about 2,745 meters. The other part of the island known as the McDonalds Island is located at about 44 kilometers west of the Herald Island.

Most of the part of the island is mostly used for research purpose because of its rich marine reserves. The island comes under the Australian administration and is governed by the department of the environment and the water resources Australia and the Australian arctic division. Several types of birds and seal species are found at the island and as far as the economic activities are concerned, nothing is done in the islands.