History / Year 10 / Historical Knowledge and Understanding

• TLF-IDM016024

Watch this confrontation between a conservationist group and a coal-mining executive in 1973. The coal mine in Coalcliff was given the all-clear from the State Planning Authority to dump coal-mining waste on the Illawarra escarpment. This happened before a planned official inquiry into the issue.

• TLF-IDM015407

Imagine that, while working for a company responsible for pollution, you were a member of a commission to control pollution. This clip looks at such conflicts of interest between big business and conservation. The reporter explores the issue of whether an anti-pollution commission can be truly independent if people holding ...

• TLF-IDM017487

Imagine a trade union whose members fought not only for better pay and working conditions, but to save parts of Australia's natural and built environment. This ABC Nationwide clip explores the career of Jack Mundey during the 1970s when he led the New South Wales branch of the Builders Labourers Federation (BLF) in campaigns ...

• TLF-IDM015594

What happens to the ocean, and to the people who depend upon it, when a massive oil tanker spews oil? In 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil spill polluted waterways and killed the fish that locals in Alaska depended upon to make a living. In this 2008 clip, members of the local community explain how, almost two decades later, they ...

• TLF-IDM016009

Public figures have a high public profile and should act responsibly when commenting on important issues. This clip, taken from a 1973 Four Corners program, highlights the Duke of Edinburgh's apparent change in attitude towards environmental issues. While he suggests that Australia should relax its conservation efforts, ...

• TLF-IDM015952

How far would you be prepared to go in defence of a principle you felt strongly about? Enter a tent on the shores of doomed Lake Pedder in 1972 and listen to three determined people explain why they are protesting against the plan to flood Tasmania's Lake Pedder. The clip includes environmental activist Brenda Hean who ...

• TLF-IDM016010

How can the public reclaim their right to access to Sydney's harbourside reserves? This 1980 clip from ABC's 'Nationwide' program shows reporter Richard Palfreyman discussing with conservationist Vincent Serventy the battle between private and public interest around the edges of the Sydney Harbour. They discuss ways private ...

• TLF-IDR3031

This is a black-and-white photograph measuring 16 cm x 21 cm, taken by Reg Alder in January 1995, of logging trucks involved in a blockade of Parliament House in Canberra. The trucks are large articulated units and one has a banner attached referring to the timber industry. The protest was a reaction against the Australian ...

• TLF-IDR9382

This is an edited sound recording of an interview with Chris Arthur, a Tasmanian environmentalist, who describes being arrested and imprisoned in December 1982 after participating in a blockade of a site linked to a proposed project to dam the Franklin River in south-western Tasmania. He also talks about how he has gone ...

• TLF-IDM019088

Why and how did the Australian environment movement gain political momentum in the early 1970s? This resource's media footage from that time reflects elements of the environment movement's growing influence, its values, language, arguments, strategies, accommodations and political challenges.