Dig — Saving The Franklin

Australia is a wild continent with some of the most intense weather on the planet. From massive bushfires to severe cyclones and devastating flooding; extreme weather is becoming part of our everyday lives. How do we take what we’ve learned from our past to better prepare and adapt for our future?

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. 

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.

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 living in the upr...

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.

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".

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.

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.  

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. 

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.

The Franklin Dam proposal symbolised a lifeline to struggling communities on Tasmania's West Coast, recovering from the end of a mining era. Yet for environmentalists, it symbolised destruction and greed. In this episode of Saving the Franklin, the battle lines are drawn between pro-dammers and environmentalists and the State Government is caught in the middle, until it's forced to act.

The fight to save the Franklin River started in a totally different part of Tasmania's wilderness: with a proposal to dam the paradise inland beach of Lake Pedder. In this episode of Saving the Franklin, a mystery disappearance and a devastating loss signal to campaigners just how far they'll have to go in the next battle.

Australia's biggest-ever environmental battle was over a wild river in a remote part of Tasmania: the Franklin. Protesters flooded in from all over Australia to stop the Franklin River from being dammed for hydropower. They stood in front of bulldozers and were jailed for it. But for lots of locals, the dam represented a job opportunity at a time of economic crisis. This fight tore apart communiti...

For the first time since taking the stand at the Fitzgerald Inquiry, Katherine James (not her real name) has decided to speak publicly. In this exclusive interview, Katherine describes how she went from a teenage madam to a young mother entering witness protection, and whether, 35 years later, it was all worth it.

There have been some exciting developments since we published Sirens Are Coming, so stay tuned to this feed for further episodes. In the meantime, if you have material or information you believe is relevant to the history of Queensland's police corruption in the sex work industry and beyond, tell us about it by writing to dig@your.abc.net.au

Thirty-five years after the Fitzgerald inquiry, sex workers in Queensland face a different kind of intimidation from police: entrapment. Producer Cheyne Anderson investigates how things have changed since the Rat Pack's reign, and what sex workers today want to change in the state.

The Rat Pack has its day of reckoning: The Fitzgerald Inquiry. Katherine James is key to exposing the corruption that's infiltrated the Queensland police force for the last forty years, but the cost of speaking out is high.

Fresh criminal networks emerge and flood Brisbane's streets, in an era known as the New Joke. A determined young hustler, Katherine James, rises through the ranks to become a trusted manager and confidante to some of the biggest crime syndicates Brisbane has ever seen. But when she decided to forge her own path, obstacles appear from every angle.

A new generation of madams and sex workers begin to find their place in the Sunshine State. An enterprising Simone Vogel stands out in the crowd, until she disappears.

Just when the Rat Pack look set to crumble, Shirley Brifman is found dead. Meanwhile Dorothy Edith Knight, fresh from taking down Glen Hallahan in the sting operation, realises her ordeal with the police is only just beginning.

In the early 1970s, The Rat Pack faced a challenge. Shirley Brifman — who lied at the National Hotel Inquiry to protect these crooked cops — would turn from their biggest ally to their greatest threat. And Dorothy Edith Knight would take a life-threatening leap, in an effort to make a break from the cop she loved.

In 1958, the Rat Pack were born — three dirty cops who would use bribery and extortion for the next forty years in Queensland to wield power over sex workers. Two of their early recruits were Dorothy Edith Knight, who fell in love with one Rat Packer Glen Hallahan, and Shirley Brifman, who did their dirty work in Queensland's first-ever Royal Commission into police misconduct.

Three crooked cops. Four courageous women. A decades-long power struggle that remains full of mysteries to this day.

What happened to our hapless hero Hayden Haitana and his merry band of race fixers? Before we put our story to bed, there's one more mind-bending twist to consider: the Double Sting.

When a Sydney gangster is gunned down, speculation is rife that he may have been the mastermind behind the Fine Cotton ring-in. But then, a surprise confession from a notorious bank robber and career criminal changes everything.