Mawson Place honours the outstanding contribution of the scientist-explorer Douglas Mawson to Australian Antarctic and maritime history.

As a member of Shackleton's Nimrod expedition Mawson was a member of the three-man party which in 1909 became first to reach the South Magnetic Pole. In 1911 and again in 1930 Mawson led two great Antarctic voyages out of Hobart. During the first expedition, he was the sole survivor of a horrific sledge journey in which his two companions died. His exploration of large areas of East Antarctica from 1929 to 1931 was the basis of Australia's 1935 claim to Antarctic territory.

The Mawson Place project, completed in 2001, won commendation for landscape design by the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects.

Just seaward from Mawson Place was the now-demolished wharf on which crowds gathered in December 1911 to farewell Mawson's Australasian Antarctic Expedition, heading for Antarctica aboard Aurora. This was an important working dock from convict times until well into the 20th century, when it was a bustling centre for Tasmania's apple export trade.