Flooding of Lake Pedder

"It was a magnificent natural area, unique and known throughout the world as a globally significant and iconic area ... The heart of the south-west wilderness was lost when Lake Pedder was flooded." —Christine Milne, former leader of the Australian Greens In 1967, the Tasmanian government revoked the glacial Lake Pedder's national park status in order to allow Tasmania’s Hydro-Electric Commission to create three dams, one on the Serpentine River and two on the Huon River, which flow from the lake's glacial outwash. The lake was flooded in 1972, resulting in the loss of its distinctive pink quartzite beaches and dunes, as well as the eventual extinction of several endemic species. The loss of Lake Pedder created a public outcry against habitat destruction and the loss of "wilderness" in Tasmania, a furor which culminated in subsequent (successful) activism to stop the Franklin River dam.