I STEERED THE raft with my paddle buried deeply by the stern and we sped down the final drop of Newland’s Cascades on the Franklin River amid the din and spraying water caused by the helicopter’s down draught as it perched on a rock nearby. It was 1988, five years after Australia’s most famous environmental campaign, which prevented the flooding of the Franklin River in Tasmania’s south-west.

The helicopter carried Bob Brown, then forty-three, the first elected Tasmanian Green MP. He was wearing a collared shirt and jacket; it was clear he was not staying long. Greeting our party warmly, he asked about our river experiences, telling us he had escaped briefly from his state parliament office to do a story for the ABC.