Dig — Saving The Franklin

Mar 21 2024 110

Dig — Saving The Franklin Podcast artwork

Revisit the biggest environmental movement Australia has ever seen: the 1982 Franklin River Blockade. This story is nuts. Missing people, death threats, savage political moves, young people flooding into Tasmania to put their bodies in front of bulldozers. Host Jo Lauder investigates how this movement beat the odds and came to inspire a new generation of environmental activists that have shaped Australian politics through to today.

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PRESENTS | Mushroom Case Daily

Mar 21 2024 2 mins

Follow the case involving accused triple murderer, Erin Patterson, and an allegedly poisonous mushroom lunch. Once the proceedings begin, the Mushroom Case Daily podcast will bring you all the key updates from court. If and when the case proceeds to a full trial, we'll cover it daily. Press 'Follow' on Mushroom Case Daily now to be the first to hear updates from the case.

BONUS 5 | The outsider: Norm Sanders

May 30 2023 43 mins

Norm Sanders was considered an outsider when he entered the Tasmanian parliament during the Franklin era. He was American, a conservationist, and a member of the Australian Democrats. In this interview, Norm shares his story, and what made him eventually crack and quit the job – paving the way for Bob Brown to take his place in parliament.

BONUS 4 | The schoolboy activist: Kevin Keirnan

May 30 2023 29 mins

The Lake Pedder campaign changed the course of a young Kevin Kiernan's life. His passion for the Tasmanian landscape saw him go from schoolboy activist to studying geomorphology and rediscovering Kutakina cave. In this extended interview, Kevin shares the lessons he learned as an activist and environmentalist through the Pedder and Franklin campaigns.

BONUS 3 | The deeply devoted: Lisa Yeates

May 30 2023 30 mins

Lisa Yeates was on the water in one of the most iconic scenes from the Franklin River blockade: that moment the boat towing a bulldozer broke through a line of protesters floating on rafts. But she was also there for the months-long occupation of the river, as one of the most determined and devoted young activists. In this extended interview, Lisa Yeates takes us through her time l

BONUS 2 | The Palawa perspective: Michael Mansell

The Franklin campaign isn't just an environmental conservation story, it's also a story about Aboriginal heritage. Tasmanian Palawa man, activist and lawyer Michael Mansell talks to Piia Wirsu about this chapter in history, his experience growing up in a white Tasmanian society, and why he saw many of the Franklin activists as racist.

BONUS 1 | ‘Just keep going’: The persistent protestor, Christine Milne

May 30 2023 29 mins

Christine Milne is a name synonymous with the Greens in Australia, and for her, like so many others, her environmental career began after she was arrested at the Franklin blockade. In this extended interview, Christine takes us through the highs and lows of her career, and why she believes environmental activists should "just keep going".

06 | West Coast shockwaves; a new era for politics and protest

May 07 2023 34 mins

The Franklin river's fate all comes down to a legal challenge between state and federal powers. In the final episode of Saving the Franklin: the moment this so-called wilderness war all came to an end.

05 | Threats, accusations and a Federal election

May 07 2023 32 mins

In this episode of Saving the Franklin, scenes on the West Coast get uglier and uglier, and the campaigners turn to the mainland for support as a Federal election looms.

04 | 'All we had was our bodies': The blockade begins

May 07 2023 33 mins

In this episode of Saving the Franklin, thousands of protesters fly into the sleepy town of Strahan to prepare for the biggest moment in the campaign: the blockade. An army of national media descend, and the first bulldozer is taken upriver, for a shocking confrontation on the water.

03 | Secret cave: a game-changing rediscovery no one expected

Apr 30 2023 35 mins

The campaigners had painted the Franklin River as an untouched natural wonder, a place free from human interference: a wilderness. But the rediscovery of a cave along the Franklin throws everything into question. The finding is so significant it reshapes modern understanding of human history – and it paves the way for a new strategy to save the River.