On December 14, 1982, the Franklin blockade began. Fifty-three people were arrested on the banks of the Franklin and Gordon rivers, attempting to stop construction of a huge dam that threatened mile after mile of rainforests, limestone caves, gorges and Aboriginal heritage in Tasmania’s wilderness.
That night, the headquarters of the Tasmanian Wilderness Society (TWS) in Strahan was a hive of activity. Blockade organisers, volunteers and journalists milled around. Suddenly, an American accent boomed out above the hubbub. Norm Sanders, holding a phone in one hand, announced ‘south-west Tasmania is now World Heritage’. A mighty cheer broke out.
Seventeen thousand kilometres away, in Paris, the chair of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee had just brought down the gavel on the committee’s decision to inscribe the Franklin River on the World Heritage List. It did so despite the protestations of the Tasmanian delegation, sent along by premier Robin Gray to thwart the listing at the last moment. The committee shrugged off these objections and, in an unusual move, also warned that the impacts of dam-building warranted consideration of an ‘in danger’ listing for the new World Heritage property.
The listing vindicated the stand taken by protesters in Southwest Tasmania. Forty years and several extensions later, the Tasmanian Wilderness WHA now occupies 1.58 million hectares, almost a quarter of the state. It is one of the world’s most diverse World Heritage properties, satisfying seven of the ten criteria for World Heritage value. (Only one other property matches this—Mt Taishan in China.)
World Heritage recognition indicates that the international community understands the value to the world of Tasmania’s landscapes—its jagged mountains, sculpted by glaciers; the pristine beaches, cliffs, islands and lagoons of the Southwest’s coast; and the ancient lineage of unique Tasmanian life forms such as Huon pines,
