Save Manapouri Campaign

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The Save Manapouri Campaign was a successful environmental campaign fought in the 1960s and early 1970s to save Lake Manapouri from flooding for to the construction of a hydroelectric dam.

The original plans for Manapouri Power Station development in the 1960s involved raising Lake Manapouri by up to 30 metres, and merging Lakes Manapouri and Te Anau. The Save Manapouri Campaign became an early New Zealand manifestation of the international awareness of the environment that came with the prosperity of the 1960s.

"At its simplest, the issue was about whether Lake Manapouri should be raised by as much as 30 metres. But there was much more at stake than that. There were strong economic and engineering arguments opposing lake raising, and there were also legal and democratic issues underlying the whole debate. What captured the public's imagination across the country was the prospect that a lake as beautiful as Manapouri could be interfered with, despoiled and debased", wrote Neville Peat.

In 1970, 264,907 New Zealanders, almost 10% of the population, signed the Save Manapouri petition. In the 1972 general election Manapouri was a significant issue, and the Labour Government of Norman Kirk was elected on a platform that included a strong endorsement of the Save Manapouri ideals.

In 1973 Kirk honoured his party’s election pledge. He created an independent body, the Guardians of Lake Manapouri, Monowai, and Te Anau to oversee management of the lake levels, which they do to this day. The original six Guardians were all prominent leaders of the Save Manapouri Campaign. That same year, John Hanlon recorded and released a single, "Damn the Dam", in support of the campaign.

In 1991 the Save Manapouri Campaign was revived with many of the same leaders, and renamed Power For Our Future. The campaign opposed selling off the power station, to ensure that Comalco did not revive its plans to raise Lake Manapouri's waters. The campaign was successful: the government announced that Manapouri would not be sold to Comalco.