I was very pleased to be able to attend a reunion lunch of members of a conservation group I was actively involved with from 1975 till the early 1980’s. The group was “The South West Tasmania Action Committee”, which formed in Sydney to campaign for the preservation of the South West of Tasmania. Our lunch was to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the High Court decision that prevented the Hydro-electric scheme that would flood the Franklin River.
Here is Keith Tarlo toasting the Franklin River –
And here are some of the members of the group –
From left – John Benson, Fiona Campbell, Keith Tarlo, Renate Wood, Roger Lembit, Dave Noble, Geoff Lambert, Judy Lambert, Ian Brown, Nicole Bannister, Richard Wood and Roger Lyle.
There was a lot of memorabilia on display. I photographed these two original cartoons of Patrick Cook’s that I had not seen before –
The South West Tasmania Action Committee later became the Sydney Branch of the Tasmanian Wilderness Society.
With a group of friends I rafted down the Franklin River in 1981, but before that I had been a member of the Tasmanian Wilderness Society party that rafted the middle part of the river. It was nostalgic to look back at some of my scanned colour slides from that trip –
This rafting trip was led by Bob Brown (see photo below), and was taking down some journalists and filmmakers to increase awareness of the issues.
In the photo below are John Burgess (Parks and Wildlife Service), Robin Anderson, Bob Connolly (film-makers) and in front Les O’Rourke (photographer from “The Age”)
Below – At camp, Robin Anderson, Bob Connolly and Bob Brown.
This photo is of myself inspecting a rapid –
Camp above The Irenabyss –
The Irenabyss –
Bob Brown –
It was also good to listen to a recent podcast series that was on the ABC. It is called Saving The Franklin, and is well worth listening to.
It was good to reminisce with members of the group about some of the things we had done to help with the campaign. One of the regular activities in the early years was to organise film nights hosting members of Launceston Bushwalking Club with their annual Tasmanian slide and movie presentation. It was at one of these that some young filmmakers from the Film and TV School approached the group and suggested they make a documentary film as their project, and could the group help with finance. We thought this was an excellent idea, and we hoped it would be shown on TV and bring the issue to the attention of a much larger group of people.
To finance the film, we approached a lot of Sydney bushwalking and conservation groups and obtained a series of loans. The film was made, and sold to Channel Seven and broadcast on prime time TV.
Here is the film, now on YouTube –