The Role of Environmental

Movements
From the study design
Key Knowledge:
The foundation and role of environmental movements in changing
relationships with outdoor environments, in relation to at least one of
the following:
The Wilderness Society
Australian Conservation Foundation
Victorian National Parks Association
Greenpeace
Gould League.

Key Skills:
describe and analyse the changing relationships with Australian
outdoor environments influenced by historical events and associated
key social and cultural issues
evaluate the role of a specific environmental movement in changing
relationships with outdoor environments
What is an environmental
Movement
Non-government organisations
groups who conduct campaigns on
environmental issues
community based and made up of
volunteers
aim to change government policy and
protect environments.
Introduction: Why do we need to study this?
This area focuses on a time of real change in attitudes amongst society
and the relationships we have with nature. Generally focus on the time
period of 1970s & 80s
RELATIONSHIPS ARE BEGINNING TO CHANGE!

Brief history :
Little early concern for the environment, although there was a
recognition of pollution particularly in water sources as an issue. First
environmental laws passed.
Naturalists become interested in Australian flora and fauna throughout
the 19th century.
The first National Parks form in the latter part of the 19 th century. Royal
National Park in Sydney, declared in 1879, is the second such place in
the world.
The rise of recreation in the early 20th century including skiing,
bushwalking, and scouting gives Australians a greater connection with
natural places and leads to the formation of many protection and
preservation groups.
Student task
Students are to read the case study
handout on Lake Pedder:

1. What was the Lake Pedder campaign?

What where the conflicting views and
identify the different interest parties
involved?
2. Was the campaign successful? Why/why
not?
3. Watch Lake pedder campaign video
 Lake Pedder Campaign
First Major environmental campaign
National Park 1955 only a walking area
Tas. Gov wanted to build a hydro-electricity Centre
(more power, cheaper, promote jobs)
1962 South West Action committee formed to protect
Most Tasmanians originally for the scheme
Some protest- public meeting, photographs displayed,
letter writing
1971 Lake Pedder Action Committee formed
Tasmanian public now dont want the scheme
1973 Lake Pedder flooded and dammed.
Campaign to save it was unsuccessful because action
groups were too late to start.
 Franklin River Campaign
Environmentalist motivated by
the failure of Lake Pedder
Campaign
1978 proposal to dam the Franklin
and Gordon River
The Tasmanian Wilderness Society
was formed to protest this!
Prominent people such as Bob
Brown lead the campaign and
other famous people also
involved- Dick Smith.
Franklin River Campaign
Huge public anger and protest as another Nationally
significant environment looks to be impacted by humans.
A State Referendum (vote) in 1981 was used in an
attempt to resolve the constitutional deadlock.
The Tasmanian Wilderness Society ran a strong NO DAMS
campaign, but the government refused to include this
option on the ballot paper.
Instead they were left with 2 different options which both
involved damming sections of the rivers.
The Tasmanian Wilderness Society responded by urging
voters to cast an informal vote by writing NO DAMS on their
ballot paper.
The result of the referendum was therefor not clear.
33% of informal voters had written NO DAMS
The Photo
 Franklin River Campaign
1882 scheme to dam the Franklin
River went ahead anyway despite
direct action protests and 1200+
arrest.
This gained huge (National) and
free positive media attention due
to the way protestors conducted
themselves and the shear
numbers.
Federal opposition Labor leader
Bob Hawke promised to stop the
dam if he was elected in 1983 as
our next Prim Minister.
 Franklin River
Campaign
Labor won but the Tasmanian State
Government Refused the decision and
continued to build the dam.
Federal Government therefor took the State
Government to the High Court
Tasmanian Premier quoted as saying nothing
but a brown ditch, leech ridden, unattractive to
the majority of people.
Federal Government won and the dame
construction ceased.
The positive outcome was as a result of the
excellent campaigning by the Tasmanian
Wilderness Society- After this they changed
there name to The Wilderness Society
This was the first successful large scale
environmental protest in the nation.
Franklin Clip View- other things to
investigate
Part 1 and 2 of Clickview on Franklin
Read Article: Franklin River Campaign (word
doc)
Theres a nice summary of the Franklin
campaign also
Lets look at both parties views and
potential relationships with this
environment.
Lets look at the outcome- was it fair.was
it timely....
After the Franklin- Changing human
relationships
What happened next?
-the rise of the environmental vote
-the lobbying of green groups and the mainstreaming
of some of the green activism of the 60s and 70s.
-This has put radical practices of green campaigns into
a much smaller role.
-This campaign was used as a precedent for future
environmental conflicts.

Note the rise of green parties, from the first green political
party in the world the United Tasmania Group through
the Tasmania Greens to the Australian Greens to other
parties around the world. (Note the success of green parties
in Germany in particular.)
 Wilderness Society: Franklin River
Campaign- Changing relationships
The Franklin and Lake Pedder campaign are significant moments
in Australian history developing environmentalism at a
national level.
These major campaigns began to influence the way people
perceived nature and the relationships/interactions
people have with nature.
The fight between using the land for its resources vs
conservation/sustainability (Huge media attention!)
From these campaigns The Wilderness Society was formed and
now has become the largest national community based
conservation organisation.
Today they are involved in several other campaigns:
climate change, Gunns Pulp Mill, Kimberley, Marine and Coastal,
River protection, Coal Seam Gas...
.
The Wilderness Society
https://www.wilderness.org.au /

Established in 1976,
Not-for-profit, non-government organisation.
Funding: is provided by members who pay membership and
regular donations to support our work. Other funds come
from public fundraising, bequests and donations, and
online and retail sales of campaign merchandise

TWS is a national, community-based, environmental

advocacy organisation whose purpose is protecting,
promoting and restoring wilderness and natural processes
across Australia for the survival and ongoing evolution of
life on Earth
Achievements:
Since its formation in 1976, The Wilderness
Society has achieved the secure protection
of over seven million hectares of wilderness
and other high conservation value areas in
Australia, including:
Kakadu
The Daintree
Kangaroo Island
South West Tasmania
Australia's sub-Antarctic Islands
Victoria's mallee woodlands.
Interesting Facts
The Wilderness Society (TWS) is Australia's
largest national, community-based,
conservation organisation
TWS works through the avenues of public
education and empowerment, advocacy and
negotiation, political lobbying, and desk and
field research.
The Wilderness Society supports indigenous
land and sea rights, and is committed to
proper and detailed consultation with
affected indigenous people
What you need to know about the
Environmental Movement
Describe this environmental movement,
including an overview of its foundation, aims
and achievements
Describe how this environmental movement is
connected with your chosen environment
Evaluate the role this environmental
movement has played in changing human
relationships with environments and in
particular a local environment.

OK NOW LETS ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS!

Describe this environmental movement,
including an overview of its foundation, aims
and achievements
This has been covered in previous slides but here is a shortened
description:
Describe- expands on your knowledge, marks usually depends on
amount of marks.

The Wilderness Society (TWS) is Australia's largest national,

community-based, conservation organisation
TWS is a national, community-based, environmental advocacy
organisation whose purpose is protecting, promoting and restoring
wilderness and natural processes across Australia for the survival and
ongoing evolution of life on Earth
Since its formation in 1976, The Wilderness Society has achieved the
secure protection of over seven million hectares of wilderness .
TWS works through the avenues of public education and
empowerment, advocacy and negotiation, political lobbying, and desk
and field research.
Describe how this environmental movement
is connected with your chosen environment
Describe- expands on your knowledge, marks usually depends on
amount of marks.
Lets plan this answer by making a list of their involvement then will
describe it on the next slide.

List of ideas:
- Campaigned against logging in the Otway area and Wombat forests
- Campaigned against the development of 2 export woodchip mills-
increased road traffic of trucks and the ecological foot print of shipping
woodchips to Japan and then shipping the finished product (paper) back
to Geelong.
Has there been a noticeable direct impact on Geelong/Bellarine?
Probably not obvious, so you could discuss this instead. But make note
of the indirect impacts such as; increased environmental awareness and
a local cultural shift in people perceptions.as discussed on the previous
slides.
Describe how this environmental movement
is connected with your chosen environment
Describe:
Evaluate the role this environmental
movement has played in changing
relationships with this environment.
Key words: Evaluate, changing relationships, this environment
Evaluate: a response that provides reasons why something has
occurred and gives a position (effective/ not effective) based on pros
and cons.
Changing relationships: how has it changed perceptions, interactions
and impacts
This environment: Make clear references to the chosen environment

Step 1: Outline a position: A positive or negative impact?

Step 2: How TWS has encouraged positives impacts on the
environment
Step 3: How TWS changed peoples interactions with this environemnt
Step 4: How TWS is/will change perceptions of the area now and in
the future
Evaluate the role this environmental
movement has played in changing
relationships with this environment.
The TWS alongside the NPA and State Governments have and will continue to
make positive changes to users relationships with the Barmah National Park.
Relationships with Barmah N.P. will change for the positive as TWS has influenced
users to have less impact on the environment. There already has been less
compaction of the soil, erosion of banks, habitat destruction and an overall
increase in vegetation cover by influencing the State Governments to cease cattle
grazing and logging in the area.
Interactions in the Barmah area will change as roads will be closed that used to be
available for 4wd and dirt bikes and a larger focus will be put on conservation and
softer recreational activities. As mentioned earlier logging and cattle grazing has
been stoped and the Yorta Yorta people have been welcomed back to join in the
decision making processes and conservation interactions of the area.
This movement will encourage people to change their perception from the past
that Barmah was seen as a resource and adversary. People will begin to move to
a more conservative perception of the land, seeing it as an area of iconic history,
national beauty and overall appreciating the life and aesthetics of the area.
 Previous Exam Question
Evaluate two ways in which environmental
movements such as the Franklin or Pedder
have shaped human relationships with the
Australian environment. (4 marks)

You could answer this the way same as before

but lets look at it from a more National level
as it asks with the Australian Environment.
Not this environment Barmah.
 Possible answer suggestions:
Perceptions:
People are now much more aware of environmental issues because of TWS national
involvement. There has been a change in the perception of the environment,
becoming a major political issue governments are taking notice of the communities
changing perceptions and environmental issues can affect the way people act and
vote.

Interactions:
Conservation groups are now larger, organised groups with a broad range of issues
rather than just single issue groups with local focus.
People are now prepared to get organised and stand up for environments they know
and even those they dont know.

Impacts:
Conservation groups have led to many positive outcomes for the environment
protection of areas and native species, regeneration of areas, tree planting, weed
removal.

You could use your knowledge and specific examples of TWS and the Franklin/pedder
campaign.
Students should discuss two major points in relation to human relationships with the
natural environment and how it has changed due to the growth of the conservation
movement. 2 marks for each point if well discussed.