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Lake Pedder Action Committee

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The Lake Pedder Action Committee (also known as the Lake Pedder Action Group) was a Tasmanian environmental group.

In the early 1970s the state government of Tasmania led by Eric Reece and its energy agency the Hydro-Electric Commission planned to dam the upper Gordon River and subsequently flood and enlarge Lake Pedder in South West Tasmania.

The committee was active in publications arguing for the preservation of Lake Pedder

The origins of the United Tasmania Group were from a LPAG meeting.

There were a number of notable Tasmanians who objected to the flooding, including one member Brenda Hean who died mysteriously in 1972 whilst being flown to Canberra in a light plane to stage a protest event.

In 1972, the organisation collaborated with mainland state branches to argue against the damming.

In 1972, activists belonging to the organisation conducted vigils at the lake site and other locations in relation to the flooding of the original Lake Pedder

A successor movement, the Tasmanian Wilderness Society was instrumental in the successful challenge to the Franklin Dam proposal in the early 1980s.

Since the early 1990s, the Lake Pedder Restoration Committee (LPRC) has continued to press for the restoration of Lake Pedder to its original form. Many of the senior members of the LPRC had also been active in the Lake Pedder Action Committee.

In the mid 1990s and since, various books and documentaries have revisited the flooding of Lake Pedder, and people involved in the arguments for and against the flooding.

References

Lake Pedder Action Committee Wikipedia