Today, Monday, 1st July, thousands of Australians will be celebrating the 30 year anniversary of the Franklin River being saved.
In 1982, tens of thousands of people across Australia mobilised to protest the construction of a dam on Tasmania’s last wild river, the Franklin. This became the largest non-violent protest in Australia’s history.
Monday marks the anniversary of the High Court decision to protect the Southwest Tasmanian World Heritage area three decades ago. This monumental historical event began a cascade of events that reset the course of environmental history of our nation leading to Federal protection of Australia’s iconic World Heritage areas also including the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu, Uluru, Kimberley, Fraser Island and several important forests in North Queensland and Southern Australia.
Leader of the campaign, Bob Brown said,“More than 100,000 visitors each year go to Tasmania’s West Coast, attracted primarily by the beauty and tranquillity of the Franklin and Gordon Wild Rivers National Park and World Heritage Area. It was not always so tranquil. In 1982-3 the cruise boat port of Strahan and the wild rivers region were in uproar, the sites of the biggest non-violent protest in Australian environmental history.”
To commemorate the event,author Alice Hungerford has released her new book UpRiver: untold stories of the Franklin River activists. Alice spent almost five years gathering stories, images and songs from over 100 sources to provide a comprehensive account of just one part of this mass-action. This is an important record of a major modern conflict. This is an epic tale, a true-life adventure story, and really good read!
“UpRiver is such a good book. Such historic gold! It gleams because, wall-to-wall, UpRiver tells the stories of the Franklin River blockaders straight from their own mouths.”(Bob Brown former Australian Greens Senator)
In the next month, Alice will complete her national book tour with events in Melbourne (8th July) and Hobart (19th July).
Further information can be found on website: www.upriverfranklinblockade.wordpress
Photos above: Blockade photo images by Jerry De Gryse, Front cover image by George Krieger, Author Alice Hungerford portrait by Michael Gissing
