1979
Bob Brown’s raft
Letting the river run
This yellow rubber raft with metal eyelets in the lateral seam around the edge of the inflatable hull bladder was used by conservationists Bob Brown and Paul Smith in the 1979 campaign to save the Franklin River. A matching seat is attached from one side to the other at one end of the raft. The bladder appears stable despite numerous patches, and the floor is also patched. The raft’s handles are missing.
Postwar reconstruction boomed in the 1940s and 1950s. It was a time of big dreams, and in the small state of Tasmania the unions and businesses dreamed of a huge manufacturing base supported by an endless supply of hydro-electricity created by damming the wild rivers of the south-west. Inevitably, environmentalists, the government and unions came into conflict. The first major battle was to save Lake Pedder, a large lake in the island’s centre. The protests started in 1967 but the fight was lost and the lake flooded in 1973. Nonetheless, the campaign built a strong conservation coalition that was mobilised to stop the dam on the Franklin River. That proposal was to inundate 37 kilometres of the middle reaches of the Gordon River and 33 kilometres of the Franklin River valley to construct a dam to power a 180-megawatt power station. The protest began in 1979 and its leader was a Tasmanian doctor, Bob Brown.
The majority of Tasmanians supported the dams. Both political parties were (and still are) in favour of heavy industry in the state. Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser offered Tasmania $500 000 to call off the project, but the federal Liberals were rejected by the state branch.
Various arguments were presented about the discovery of unique Aboriginal tools and art and about the project causing the extinction of several animal species. However, the key to the success of the campaign to save the Franklin River was that Brown and others were able to film and document the powerful majesty of the wild rivers.
A blockade protest started on 14 December 1982, the day the Western Tasmanian Wilderness National Parks World Heritage Area was listed. Protesters chained themselves to gates at the Hydro Electric Commission in Strahan and formed blockades in rubber duckies at the building site. The campaign ran through the summer of 1982–83. In all, 6000 protesters blockaded the Franklin River dam project. Of them, 1200 were arrested and 500 were put behind bars, including Brown and English botanist David Bellamy (who had a significant media profile), future Supreme Court judge Pierre Slicer, state Labor MP Andrew Lohrey, and future Greens leader Christine Milne.
The Franklin was the largest public movement since the end of the Vietnam War. The High Court’s ruling to ‘Let the Franklin run free’ was a win and a turning point for the conservation movement in Australia and around the world. Bob Brown took a seat in the Tasmanian parliament – a foundation moment for the Greens party in Australian politics. From there he eventually moved to the federal Senate and an illustrious career in politics. The Greens have become an important political party.
The Franklin River was an issue that touched people in a very emotional way. Brown’s journey down the river on this raft helped inspire his passion to save the wilderness, and ignited his political career with the Greens.