Franklin River
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The Franklin River lies in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park in the heart of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. It is on the West Coast of Tasmania. It was named after an earlier Governor of that state, Sir John Franklin, who later died searching for the Northwest Passage.
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[edit] The Franklin Dam
The Franklin River itself has become synonymous with Australia's largest conservation battle - the battle to save the Franklin from a proposed hydro-electric power scheme, the Franklin Dam. This saw Robin Gray's Liberal Government come up against the Tasmanian Wilderness Society, led by its director Bob Brown and a variety of other groups, in a battle that lasted four years. The Franklin Dam project was eventually stopped after a ruling of the High Court of Australia, preventing the flooding of the Franklin River.
The focus on the dam and the issues of wilderness experience led to the development of people utilising the river at levels never previously experienced. A fictional account by a writer with an academic and historical understanding of the area - was the book by Richard Flanagan -Death of a River Guide. The result of a drowning in real life on the river led to stricter guidelines for users of the river.
[edit] Named Places on the Franklin
Rafters and canoers have named many of the bends and rapids on the river:
| Livingstone Cut | |
| The Forceit | |
| Sidewinder | |
| Thunderrush | |
| The Sanctum | |
| The Cauldron | |
| Mousehole | |
| Deliverance Reach | |
| The Biscuit | |
| Rafters Basin | |
| Confluence of Andrew River | |
| Propsting Gorge | |
| Glen Calder | |
| Gaylard Rapids | |
| Pig Trough | |
| Rock Island Bend | |
| Shower Cliff | |
| Newland Cascades | |
| Confluence of Jane River | |
| Flat Island | |
| Blackmans Bend | |
| Double Fall | |
| Big Fall | |
| Galleon Bluff | |
| Verandah Cliffs | |
| Shingle Island | |
| Pyramid Island | |
| Confluence into Gordon River |
[edit] See also
[edit] Further reading
- Gee, H and Fenton, J. (Eds) (1978) The South West Book - A Tasmanian Wilderness Melbourne, Australian Conservation Foundation. ISBN 0-85802-054-8
- Lines, William J. (2006) Patriots : defending Australia's natural heritage St. Lucia, Qld. : University of Queensland Press, 2006. ISBN 0-70223-554-7
[edit] External link
- http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/wha/wherein/detail.html location within the World Heritage Area
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