Collaborative wilderness preservation and the Franklin River campaign

This chapter examines a case study in wilderness preservation and nonviolent direct action with international ramifications. It describes a campaign – which included a large-scale nonviolent blockade – to preserve a wild river and 769,355 hectares of 'wilderness' in the remote south-west of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. The campaign introduced two new elements to environmental nonviolent direct action. The first was collaboration between environmentalists and Aboriginal people. Despite significant friction, including over the name and concept of 'wilderness', there were positive aspects to the collaboration, including increased visibility of Tasmanian Aboriginals in mainstream society, while Aboriginal heritage issues were a pivotal factor in the legal determination for the preservation of the river. The second element involved deliberate, purposive engagement in the campaign by numerous creative people, most notably artists, photographers, film-makers and musicians. The arts created liminal atmospheres conducive to conversion, and provided relatively cheap but effective publicity tools which utilised the outstanding natural beauty to attract media attention, engage the public, and inspire activism. For the activists, the arts helped build group cohesion and solidarity, as well as enabling empowerment, emotional expression and the prevention of violence and burnout.