The Tasmanian Wilderness Society was formed intially as a protest group to fight against the looming construction of the Franklin Dam, in Southwest Tasmania.

The group was orignially established in 1976 from the members of the Southwest Action Committee, who along with its political front, the United Tasmania Group had failed to stop the flooding of Lake Pedder.

Bob Brown became the director of the Wilderness Society in 1978, and with him the group greatly increased the prominence in Tasmanian politics. Brown was elected to the Tasmanian government in 1983, and subsequently the political division of the wilderness society went on to become known as the Tasmanian Greens.

The groups went national when the Tasmania was dropped from the name in 1984.

Much of their fundraising is performed through their Wilderness Society Shops, which are popular for many of their calendars and posters by photographers such as Peter Dombrovskis and Olegas Truchanas.

Links

History of the Wilderness Society [1]