Lake Pedder

1997, 30 Minutes

In Tasmania’s wilderness an alpine lake and its spectacular quartz beach are drowned. And the world’s first Green party is born. What is it about Lake Pedder that has captured the hearts and minds of people and held them for so long?

In the early 1970s, Tasmania’s Lake Pedder was flooded to make way for a massive hydro-electric scheme. The campaign to save the lake was a turning point in wilderness preservation. It became the first sustained, deeply felt and national environmental battle in Australia’s history.

The program includes superb archival footage of the lake and introduces us to a range of powerful characters whose lives are inextricably linked with Lake Pedder, many of whom were active on either side of the original campaign.

A Film Australia National Interest Program. Produced in association with Timeframe and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. © 2011 National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.