Bob Brown

Since 1996, Bob has continued to take a courageous, and often politically lonely, stand on issues across the national and international spectrum.

Click on the arrow/dates below to scroll through Bob 's journey

  1. 1944

    Early years

    Bob Brown was born in 1944 and grew up in rural NSW before graduating in medicine from Sydney University in 1968.

  2. 1982

    Face of the Franklin River Campaign

    Bob Brown rose to prominence Bob helped establish the Wilderness Society, leading the successful campaign to stop the damming of Tasmania’s Franklin River from 1982-83.

    The blockade of Tasmania's' Franklin River saw 1500 people arrested and 600 jailed, including Bob who spent 19 days in Risdon Prison. The day after his release in 1983, he was elected as the first Green into Tasmania's Parliament.

  3. 1989

    Tasmanian Parliament

    During ten years in the Tasmanian Parliament, Bob led the five-member Green parliamentary team which held the balance of power with the Labor Government from 1989. This lead to achievements including saving 25 schools from closure, creating more than 1,000 jobs through the local initiatives job scheme and doubling the size of Tasmania's Wilderness World Heritage Area to 1.4 million hectares.

  4. 1996

    The Senate

    In 1996, Bob was elected to the Senate, leading the national debate on issues including climate change, electoral reform, preventative healthcare, conservation and human rights. Bob was elected Leader of the Australian Greens in 2005, a position he held till he resigned from the Senate in 2012.

  5. 2012

    After politics

    When Bob left the Senate in 2012, he founded Bob Brown Foundation to continue a lifetime of campaigning to protect the natural world. Bob is an acclaimed photographer and author of books including Lake Pedder, Wild Rivers, The Greens, Memo for a Saner World, Earth, In Balfour St and Optimism

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