Brenda Hean

Brenda Hean (1910-1972) was a member of the Lake Pedder Action Committee (LPAC) and a resident of Hobart, Tasmania who disappeared at the time of the flooding of Lake Pedder.

Background Brenda Hean, born in the UK, was a concert pianist, church organist and leader of the Arts Club of Hobart and member of the Hobart Walking Club. She was a deeply committed Christian.

Activism Hean was one of the early campaigners against the flooding of Lake Pedder in the Tasmanian Wilderness. "The real driving force behind the LPAC was Brenda Hean...she always raised Lake Pedder, and they said 'It's nothing to do with us.' But she said 'Yes it is, because it's your conscience."

"She sat upon a block of quartzite which had been etched by the weather and was ornamented by a patchwork of moss and lichen. Her chin was thrust defiantly forward. As she gazed across the lake she seemed to become one with it, and both of them seemed to become part of something greater."

Eric Reece and the Hydro-Electric Commission's disinterest in complaints as to their manner of dealing with opposition to their plans gave the impression that they ran Tasmania without any checks. Hean then decided to run for politics as a member of the United Tasmania Group, the world’s first green party. Hean and Price were trying to widen the scope of the opposition in mainland Australia, in a way that the subsequent Franklin Dam protest did some ten years later.

Disappearance The plane departed on 8 September 1972 from Cambridge Airport near Hobart. No traces or debris were found despite a massive 10-day sea and air search. The focus of the search later shifted as sea currents would take any evidence southeast towards New Zealand.

It was suspected that pro-dam campaigners had broken into the plane's hangar the night before it took off and placed sugar in one of its petrol tanks. Safety items from the plane were later found hidden in the hangar.

Legacy Hean is the subject of a book and documentary film about her 1972 disappearance, both produced in 2008 by Scott Millwood. The filmmakers also offered a $100,000 reward for any information that led to a solution to the mystery and also opened a telephone hotline.

The Lake Pedder Restoration Committee often cites Hean’s activism and continues to agitate for the draining of the lake to pre-1972 levels.