Title: Tasmanian Wilderness Society blocks dam construction (Franklin River Campaign) 1981-83 | Global Nonviolent Action Database
Headings: Tasmanian Wilderness Society blocks dam construction (Franklin River Campaign) 1981-83
Tasmanian Wilderness Society blocks dam construction (Franklin River Campaign) 1981-83
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Content: Bob Brown announced that they
would blockade the construction of the dam site beginning on 14 December 1982. On 14
December 1982, 2,500 people converged at the dam site to participate in the
blockade. Protesters made
a human chain through the forest to prevent construction workers from entering
the site. Protesters also blockaded by water on canoes, to
prevent police from bringing machinery into the site by a barge. These
blockaders
maintained morale and enthusiasm through the use of song. Protesters developed
songs over the course of the campaign that were regularly sung during rallies,
marches, in jail, and at the blockade site. Folk singer Shane Howard wrote the
official anthem of the campaign, titled “Let the Franklin Flow”. During the
course of the blockade, police arrested 1,440 people. David Bellamy and Claudio
Alcorso (a Hobart Millionaire) participated in the blockade and were
arrested. On 1
March 1983, the Wilderness Society held a day of action during which 231 people
were arrested in their boats on the Gordon River and the Wilderness Society’s
flag was flown above the Hydro Electric Commission building in Hobart,
Australia.