Draft:Lake Pedder National Park

Lake Pedder National Park was a national park in the state of Tasmania, Australia, gazetted on 23 March 1955[1] under section 7 of the Scenery Preservation Act 1915.[2] (IMAGE)

The original Lake Pedder was known as the jewel of Tasmania's south-west wilderness.[3][4] Lake Pedder National Park was created to protect the scenic values of the lake and its surrounds.[5][6]

At the time of its proclamation, Lake Pedder National Park was said to be approximately 59,000 acres (24,000 ha) in area.[7][8] The park was bounded by five straight lines connecting the summits of Coronation Peak, Mount Helder, Harlequin Hill, Scotts Peak and Cinder Hill.[9] (IMAGE) Modern digital mapping estimates the park's area as 26,895 hectares (66,460 acres).[10]

(PARAGRAPH RE THE HYDRO DEVELOPMENT)

Although it is believed by many that Lake Pedder National Park was revoked to make way for the hydro development,[11][12][13] in fact this never occurred. Since 1955 the original Lake Pedder has continuously been part of a national park and remains so today.[14]

The Lake Pedder National Park was significantly enlarged in 1968. At the same time, the first of two legislated changes weakening the park's protections was imposed by the Tasmanian government. The second and more comprehensive of these changes occurred some years later, by which time the park was known as South West National Park.

These changes to Lake Pedder National Park allowed the hydro scheme to proceed. Eventually, in 1972, the scheme inundated the original Lake Pedder, without its national park status having been rescinded and despite the apparent impacts upon the park's values, including the lake itself. The state government's intention at the time was that Lake Pedder's national park status would remain (in fact, the new park would be much larger) but that the attendant park protections would no longer potentially hinder the hydro-electric development.[15]

Thirteen years after Lake Pedder National Park's creation, on 16 October 1968 (gazettal date), a proclamation under the Scenery Preservation Act made two initial changes to the park.[16] (IMAGE) Firstly, the area of the park was increased by about 8 times, to approximately 473,500 acres (191,600 ha).[17][18] (IMAGE) Secondly, works carried out in the national park by or on behalf of the Hydro-Electric Commission were exempted from the protections applying to national parks and other scenic reserves under section 15 of the Scenery Preservation Act.[19] The Scenery Preservation Board is mentioned in the proclamation as recommending this key provision[20] enabling hydro-electric works within the national park the board was meant to protect.

(Allan Knight SPB membership, W. Lines quote)

(Technical continuation of LPNP name)

Despite their name, most Australian national parks are declared, and are able to be modified or nullified, under the relevant state or territory's legislation, although additional Federal protections sometimes apply and take precedence over state and territory laws, such as in parks that also have World Heritage status.[21][22][23]

(Pedder controversy's role in creation of NPWS)

Until the commencement in 1971 of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1970, Tasmania's Scenery Preservation Board had overseen the creation and management of the state's scenic reserves including national parks[24], under the Scenery Preservation Act, while the Animals & Birds Protection Board did the same[25] for wildlife sanctuaries under the Animals & Birds Protection Act 1928. In 1971 both kinds of reserve were converted to protected areas under the new Act, and their management by the fledgling National Parks and Wildlife Service commenced, under a more effective legislative regime and with more competent administration.[26]

By mid-1972, with the impoundment's waters rising behind the Serpentine Dam to cover the original Lake Pedder, the 1968 provisions weakening the protection of the national park were found to be wanting, when legal action was commenced by conservationists: 

... we received a lot of intelligence over the telephone. The most dramatic piece was the night when the phone rang and a message was given to take ... certain acts of Parliament to a certain lawyer in a certain law firm and ask their opinion about the validity of the Lake Pedder scheme. And we did exactly that. We didn't really know what it all meant, but we took those documents along ... and within a couple of hours, we had a case against the government on their illegal flooding of Lake Pedder. [27]

(Supreme Court challenge by LPAC, resignation of deputy premier)

In August 1972 the Hydro-Electric Commission (Doubts Removal) Act 1972 [28] was passed by the Tasmanian parliament, in response to the litigation mounted by those who wanted Lake Pedder saved. (IMAGE) This Act was retrospective in that it defended past as well as future hydro-electric works and their impacts, against any breach of the new National Parks and Wildlife Act or the earlier Scenery Preservation Act, effectively protecting the state government from any accusation it had broken its own laws. The Act also focussed on the effects of the hydro works, including inundation, on the values of the national park, rather than merely the works themselves as in the 1968 provision.

South West National Park still exists today, now known as Southwest National Park. At around 618,300 hectares (1,528,000 acres), the park is much larger than its original extent and is contiguous with the other 6 national parks of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.

When first proclaimed, Lake Pedder National Park’s main value of course, was the original Lake Pedder itself. The lake was not directly damaged by the waters of the hydro development but, as the waters rose, they concealed the original lake, extinguishing most of the life around its shores, and it was lost to subsequent generations.


[Floating, needs correcting] The new, larger national park was to be known as Southwest National Park[29]



References

  1. ^ NEED REF
  2. ^ https://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/tas/num_act/tspa19156gvn15355/
  3. ^ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316826354_Imagining_Pedder_Past_Loss_as_Future_Hope
  4. ^ https://keeptassiewild.com/blogs/southward-journal/jewel-of-the-south-west
  5. ^ Statutory Rules 1955, No. 17, Tasmania
  6. ^ Plan No. 775 registered under the Survey Co-ordination Act 1944 and filed in the office of the Surveyor-General and Secretary for Lands at Hobart
  7. ^ Statutory Rules 1955, No. 17, Tasmania
  8. ^ Plan No. 775 registered under the Survey Co-ordination Act 1944 and filed in the office of the Surveyor-General and Secretary for Lands at Hobart
  9. ^ Plan No. 775 registered under the Survey Co-ordination Act 1944 and filed in the office of the Surveyor-General and Secretary for Lands at Hobart
  10. ^ Google Maps
  11. ^ https://tnpa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/History-of-reservation-of-TWWHA.pdf
  12. ^ https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/science-environment/2019/04/the-fight-to-restore-lake-pedder/
  13. ^ https://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/L/Lake%20Pedder.htm
  14. ^ https://parks.tas.gov.au/explore-our-parks/southwest-national-park
  15. ^ Statutory Rules 1968, No. 176, Tasmania
  16. ^ Statutory Rules 1968, No. 176, Tasmania
  17. ^ Statutory Rules 1968, No. 176, Tasmania
  18. ^ Land District Plan No. 220 filed and registered in the office of the Surveyor-General and Secretary for Lands at Hobart
  19. ^ Statutory Rules 1968, No. 176, Tasmania
  20. ^ Statutory Rules 1968, No. 176, Tasmania
  21. ^ https://www.aph.gov.au/parliamentary_business/committees/senate/environment_and_communications/completed_inquiries/2004-07/nationalparks/report/c03
  22. ^ https://vnpa.org.au/is-it-time-to-make-national-parks-truly-national/
  23. ^ https://habitatadvocate.com.au/national-parks-not-nationally-protected/
  24. ^ NEED REF
  25. ^ NEED REF
  26. ^ NEED REF-PWS wiki page
  27. ^ Bob Walker, quoted in https://www.abc.net.au/science/kelvin/files/s18.htm
  28. ^ https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdb/au/legis/tas/num_act/hcra197218o1972472/
  29. ^ Land District Plan No. 220 filed and registered in the office of the Surveyor-General and Secretary for Lands at Hobart
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