STORY BY A lifeTime | | in The w ildeRNess In June 2013 1700sq.km were added to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Bob Brown looks back over the 30 years since the historic High Court decision that saved the . |

Rock Island Bend, Franklin River by . An iconic image ever since its use in the campaign to save the Franklin in the early 1980s.

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Upper Florentine Valley, by Rob Blakers. As committed to conservation as Dombrovskis, Rob has taken on the challenge of recording old-growth forests. This area is part of the addi- tion made to the World Heritage Area in 2013.

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WATCH a video about Peter Dombrovskis. | Download the free viewa app and use your smartphone to Ten thousand years ago, before agriculture, scan this page. the whole planet was wild and there were 10 million or so human beings making a life in the wilderness. Now, less than one-tenth of the land surface is still untouched, and by the end of this century, there will be up to 10 billion of us crowded onto planet Earth.

Who really thinks, given the greed and short-sightedness evident in human history, that this crowded populace will not invade, Bob Brown became the face of the Franklin River

occupy and exploit the remainder? campaign in 1982 and was elected to the Tasma- | Some say there is no pure wilderness left. Everywhere – no nian House of Assembly in 1983. A senator for 18 years, he led debate on climate change and matter how remote – is contaminated with chemicals, heated Mersey Valley, by Rob Blakers. by climate change or invaded by weeds and feral animals. The human rights issues. In 2012 Bob was awarded the Part of the Mersey Valley in Cradle beauty of the night sky is blotted out by the glow of the cities and AG Society’s Lifetime of Conservation award. Mountain–Lake St Clair National Park was criss-crossed by the twinkling lights of jetliners and other objects, added to the World Heritage Area in 1991. such as the space station, which appears brighter than Venus. As if to hasten the end of wilderness, state governments in On that rafting trip, Paul and I spent 11 days floating down the New South Wales, Victoria, Western and Queensland Franklin without seeing another human being. The side canyons, have recently agreed to open national parks to cattle grazing, waterfalls, rainforests, eagles, platypuses and glow-worms had recreational shooting (see page 36) and off-road motor vehicles, me entranced. Paul pointed out the flood levels of the proposed which will cause all manner of impacts. What is more, “sustain- dams high on the Franklin’s ravine walls and, just after we passed able” mining, logging and private-enterprise tourism businesses the Franklin’s confluence with the mighty , we Conservation in focus are on the drawing boards for some of Australia’s most far-flung were suddenly confronted by the jackhammers, helicopters and In , the link between photography and the environment is legendary. and exquisitely beautiful places. explosives of dam builders looking for the best place to secure the first of the four proposed dams. No longer entranced, I was HEN I FIRST FLOATED down Tasmania’s wild Franklin­ horrified. We came back to civilisation determined to publicise River with Launceston forester Paul Smith in 1976, the plight of the wild rivers. asmanian photographers first of Tasmania are legends,” says Damien Quilliam, paved the way for photographers such as Peter this was all on the way. Although the immediate Seven years of campaigning to save the Franklin River from pointed their lenses at the wild in the curator of Into the Wild: Wilderness Photog- ­Dombrovskis, whose 1979 Morning Mist, Rock Wthreat to the Franklin was the contested ­Gordon-below-Franklin a similar fate to that of culminated in the 1982 T 1860s, when Morton Allport lugged raphy in Tasmania, an exhibition charting the Island Bend played a pivotal role in halting Dam, our talk around the campfire was about the loss of the ­blockade at Warner’s Landing, in which 1300 people were fragile glass plates into the state’s centre to development of Tasmanian wilderness photog- ­construction of the Gordon-below-Franklin Dam. remote and pristine nature of the landscape, qualities of truly arrested. Domestic and international focus on the campaign ­produce images of Lake St Clair. In the years raphy, which is currently on show at the Queen since the 1980s, photographers such as Rob wild country already missing in some parts of Tasmania. grew as popular celebrities including Sir Yehudi Menuhin, that followed, the landscape photography tradi- Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, in Launceston. Blakers and Grant Dixon – who travelled around The devastating impact of the road from Maydena to ­Barry Humphries, Eartha Kitt, Claudio and Lesley Alcorso, and tion grew. ­Photographers such as the Spurlings “It was these photographers who championed Australia with his slide collection on a personal ­Strathgordon was already evident. It was built in the middle of ­David Bellamy (his arrest created headlines in London) backed and John Watt Beattie brought their images to efforts to recognise and preserve our wilderness crusade to raise awareness of the fragility of Tasmania’s southwest wilderness more than a decade earlier – the river’s rescue. More positive headlines were created when public awareness through magic lantern shows, by creating evocative images that encouraged so Tasmania’s wild places – have continued the funded by a £5 million (about $120 million today) grant from founder of Australian Geographic Dick Smith arrived in whereby images were projected onto screens many to appreciate these landscapes,” he says. wilderness photography tradition. In 2010, the Commonwealth under prime minister . The his helicopter and helped set up the remote blockade’s radio when exposed glass plates were placed in in the 1920s, celebrated photographer with a group of contemporary wilderness road increased access to Lake Pedder National Park, which was communications (see page 75). lantern ­boxes. and conservationist Fred Smithies did just that photographers, they focused their lenses on the established in 1955 and folded into Southwest NP in 1968 before Yet it was the river itself that saved the day. The advent of in 1904, Beattie used his lantern slides to try when he travelled across Australia with his Vale of Belvoir, in Tasmania’s north-west (see the construction of three dams for generating hydro-electricity ­colour television brought the river’s natural beauty into Australia’s­ to dissuade the government from selling part of hand-coloured slides to showcase Tasmania’s ­Tasmania’s Veiled Beauty, AG 98.) ­Collectively, flooded the lake itself. Once-fabled bushwalking destinations, lounge rooms. The first ever colour campaign poster, featuring the Freycinet Peninsula, on the east coast. Four natural beauty. In the 1960s, renowned photog- they produced a portfolio of images the Tasma- including , Mt Anne and even the Western a photo of the Thunderush rapids, in the Franklin’s Great Ravine, years later, he used images of the Gordon River, rapher took lyrical pictures of nian Land Conservancy has made freely available e Arthurs, lost their character as the huge expanse of the flooding was produced in 1979 by Sydney’s Southwest Committee. In l on the state’s west coast, in a campaign to have the beautiful, doomed Lake Pedder. He spent to environmental groups to help protect what’s lake and its attendant white gravel roads affected the region’s 1980, after a number of solo rafting trips on the Franklin, esp a reserve on its banks enlarged. years ­campaigning with his camera to save left of the state’s untouched wilderness. ie cr ie l

Continued page 70 u “The trailblazing wilderness photographers the lake from its eventual flooding. Truchanas JOANNA EGAN landscape and remoteness. ­Tasmanian photographer Peter Dombrovskis j

68 Australian Geographic November–December 2013 69 tasmania’s protected areas and reserves | |

n 1982, the then Cradle Mountain– Area of ‘No dams’ blockade, Warners Landing, Gordon River, 1982. Crotty Road blockade, near Queenstown, 1983. Tasmania 71,555sq.km Lake St Clair National Park, Franklin The campaign to stop the Gordon-below-Franklin dam culminated in a Bob Brown prepares to address protesters before they block the access road –Lower Gordon Wild Rivers NP and blockade, attracting thousands of protesters over its three-month staging. for dam construction; under his bail terms, he had to keep his distance. I Total protected area: Southwest NP joined the World Heritage 28,210sq.km List as the 7694sq.km Western Tasmania Wilderness National Parks WHA. The 39.4% WHA has since been extended: a 34 per Tasmanian cent increase in 1989; minor inclusions in Wilderness WHA: 2010 and 2012; and old-growth forests in 2013. Tasmania also has 19 national 15,845sq.km parks, only two of which (Deal Island and 22.1% Savage River NP) are inaccessible. There are more than 420 other reserves, includ- ing the Bay of Fires Conservation Area in the north-east and Tarkine Reserve in the north-west. Generally, no resource extraction is permitted in these parks.

The majestic wild peak of was saved from the indignity of being surrounded by a methane-belching moat. captured the now legendary photograph Morning Mist, Rock Island from the indignity of being surrounded by the methane-belching Bend (page 64); it was reproduced an estimated 1 million times moat of a dammed river and drowned forests. for the campaign. I went halfway up Mt Wellington, to a suburb called HE INUNDATION OF Lake Pedder in 1972 created a Fern Tree, to visit Peter at home and look through his latest batch national furore which, in turn, helped save other wild of Franklin River photos. I was riveted by his image of Rock Tplaces as well as the Franklin River: the Daintree, Island Bend (the name I gave this scenic gem, because it would Fraser Island, Kakadu, Victoria’s Little Desert and the subtrop- otherwise had its 1840s convict label, the Pig Trough). Peter ical forests of NSW (see Out of the shadows, AG 102). In Tasmania, didn’t think it was his best photo but I instantly saw its mystical it led to the formation of the world’s first Greens party. qualities. I knew this bend in the river would indisputably be A decade after Lake Pedder disappeared, parts of Tasmania’s flooded by the proposed first dam, which added to the photo- wilderness were declared World Heritage areas for the first time graph’s impact. The image embodies the legendary relationship and soon after that, the Franklin River was saved. However, there photography and conservation have in Tasmania (see page 69). was a backlash from developers. In the decades that followed, By mid-1983, determined Tasmanian premier Robin Gray state governments introduced draconian penalties, including up had spent $70 million ($200 million today) on preliminary to six months in jail, for anyone who refused to get out of the dam works. However, on 1 July that year, the four-to-three way of bulldozers invading wilderness to construct new mines or decision of the High Court judges endorsed the newly elected dams, or were facilitating logging or invasive tourism operations. Commonwealth government’s power (under prime minister These operations are part of a dominant world culture of ) to stop the dam in order to protect the Franklin’s profiteering from nature, based on corporate power over elected World Heritage values. In July this year, we celebrated the 30th and non-elected governments. Most conservationists are side- anniversary of that historic decision. lined but this year’s magnificent win by campaigners, not least n

In his majority judgment, justice Lionel Murphy wrote, “The the Goolarabooloo people, against the Woodside gas factory w o encouragement of people to think internationally, to regard the and port on the Kimberley coast, WA, went against that tide. r b B

culture of their own country as part of world culture, to conceive When we gained the balance of power in the Tasmanian ; Bo a physical, spiritual and intellectual heritage, is important in the ­Parliament in 1989, the Greens ensured the inclusion of GE endeavour to avoid the destruction of humanity.” The justice ­magnificent wild areas such as the valley, the E A regarded the rich Aboriginal heritage in the Franklin Valley Walls of Jerusalem and the eastern half of Macquarie Harbour, esy: TH rt wilderness, as well as the area’s wild beauty, as part of our culture. in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, expanding ou

And, thankfully, the majestic wild peak of Frenchmans Cap it from 7160sq.km to 13,840sq.km. ges c a m (1446m), which is drained entirely by the Franklin, was saved In July 2013 another 1700sq.km were Continued page 74 I

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View from Mt Campbell, by Dennis Harding. This peak near to Cradle Mountain was part of the original World Heritage Area, created in 1982.

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Lake Pedder, by Luke O’Brien. The flooding of the original Lake Pedder in 1972 resulted in the formation of Australia’s conservation movement. Today, Lake Pedder is contained by three dams

added. The newly protected areas comprise some of the tallest candidates dedicated to its protection and, if need be, peacefully A friend in a high place flowering forests on Earth, including those of the Styx Valley, the getting in the way of the destruction of this national heirloom. Upper Florentine Valley and the Great Western Tiers, together Although, perhaps before all else, the first thing to do is to visit Disappointment over Lake Pedder made Dick Smith determined to help. with Mount Field National Park and some smaller reserves. the Tarkine, because to go there is to want to save it. I was arrested in the Franklin blockade in 1982–83 and spent ODAY, THE TASMANIAN wilderness is one of the world’s 19 days in Risdon Prison (600 others also went to Risdon). n 1982, while completing the first solo see the Warners greatest protected temperate areas. But protecting the Arrested twice more in the 1990s for peacefully obstructing bull- Landing protests. round-the-globe helicopter flight, entrepre- Download the free island state’s wild places will not be complete until the dozers that were compromising the Tarkine’s remote and pristine neur and AG founder Dick Smith headed T I viewa app and use Tarkine wilderness, in the north-west, is given World Heritage qualities with roads and logging, I spent a further 11 days in to Tasmania to help campaigners stop the your smartphone listing. The Tarkine comprises 4500sq.km of inspiring natural­ Tasmanian jails with a bunch of other wilderness-loving ­citizens.

Gordon-below-Franklin Dam. In his single- to scan| this page. country, including the nation’s largest temperate rainforest. The concrete walls of those prisons were the antithetic cultural engine Bell Jetranger helicopter (now at the Earlier this year, Heritage Council advised then statement to the wild places we had been defending. Powerhouse Museum, Sydney) he airlifted radio Strahan, 1982. environment minister Tony Burke to list the Tarkine. He rejected Why is there so little public alarm about the death of the wild transmitters to a remote mountain range above Dick Smith, at left, that advice and opened most of the Tarkine to mining. world? This was the question that was obvious to Paul Smith and the Gordon to set up a relay station that would arrived in town by The Tarkine is a wonderful place, from its wild coast to its me as we sat by the Franklin, and that I pondered in those cells, allow communication with the blockaders. helicopter and asked ranges and buttongrass plains, from its pristine west-flowing but which now challenges us all with greater urgency than ever. Bob, right, what “It was some of the most difficult flying ­rivers and lagoons to its rare and endangered species, which Nearly two centuries ago Thoreau wrote, “in wildness is the he could do to assist I have ever done in my life,” Dick says. His include the world’s largest crayfish, the Tasmanian devils, the preservation of the world”. It follows that in wildness is the the campaign.| helicopter wasn’t fitted with a hoist or winch, so quolls and the giant wedge-tailed eagle. Its coastline is the land saving of ourselves. It is time we all got a little wilder about the he took off its doors to allow a campaigner to of the Tarkiner people, whose middens, rock carvings and hut plight of planet Earth, its wild places and all its creatures, manually unload the gear. “There was nowhere Strahan knew what was going on up on the I’d seen,” he says. “Unfortunately there was sites are today being eroded by off-road vehicles. ­ourselves included. AG to land, so I had to hover in very difficult con- river, where the blockade was.” nothing I could do to save Lake Pedder, but by In 2013, the first two Tarkine mines have been authorised by ditions as the person in the back lowered the Dick’s lifelong passion for the Tasmanian 1982, when the Franklin campaign was on, I was state and federal ministers “for the environment”. What will save Editor’s note: The new Federal Government, which came to power in radio equipment down onto the mountain top,” wilderness was born when he flew into Lake quite well known and I knew I had to do some- September, has expressed a desire to have the 1700sq.km 2013 addition to

rd the Tarkine? Only one formula will work and that is Franklin

he says. “Radio communication was incredibly Pedder as a boy scout in 1966, six years before it thing to try and save the beautiful Franklin.” r Lo campaign-style public action: lobbying of politicians, funding the WHA removed and opened up for logging. It’s not clear whether this e t e important because it meant that the people in was flooded. “It was the most magnificent place JOANNA EGAN P of campaign groups (including Save the Tarkine), voting for unprecedented move is legally permissible. Turn to page 19 to learn more.

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