He was the Chairman of the Tasmanian Wilderness Society during the battle to stop the building of the Franklin Dam.

However, the campaign to stop the Franklin Dam, and thus save the Gordon and Franklin rivers, was to be ultimately successful.

In December 1982 he directed and edited a short film The Franklin River blockade concerning the Franklin Dam.

The High Court of Australia blocks construction of the Franklin Dam in Tasmania.

In the early 80s environmental campaigners even helped bring down the federal government with its successful campaign against the building of the Franklin Dam.

In particular, the Franklin Dam was proposed just downstream of the junction with the Franklin River, and would have flooded much of both rivers.

She also participated in the ultimately successful campaign opposing the Franklin Dam and was arrested and jailed in 1983.

National and international attention surrounded the campaign against the Franklin Dam in the early 1980s.

The Franklin Dam was part of a proposed hydro-electric power scheme that had been in the plans of The Hydro for some time.

Fraser had promoted "states' rights" and his government refused to use Commonwealth powers to stop the construction of the Franklin Dam in Tasmania in 1982.