Anka Makovec (3 August 1938 – 16 February 2017) was a Slovene-

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

artist and environmental activist.

Biography

Makovec was born on 3 August 1938 in Ročinj, Slovenia. She emigrated to Australia when she was 24. Makovec attended art classes and workshops in Tasmania and is best known for her watercolors.

Environmental activism

During her time in Tasmania, Makovec lived with the

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

. In the 1980s, she became an environment activist and joined the

United Tasmania Group The United Tasmania Group (UTG) is generally acknowledged as the world's first Green party to contest elections. The party was formed on 23 March 1972, during a meeting of the Lake Pedder Action Committee (LPAC) at the Hobart Town Hall in order ...

in their opposition to

hydroelectric power plant Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

s in the jungle. She was a member of the

Tasmanian Wilderness Society The Tasmanian Wilderness Society was a Tasmanian environmental group that started in 1976 in response to a proposal by the state's Hydro Electric Commission to construct a dam on the Gordon River, downstream from the Franklin River, that led to t ...

at a time when that group was opposing the proposed

Franklin Dam The Franklin Dam or Gordon-below-Franklin Dam project was a proposed dam on the Gordon River in Tasmania, Australia, that was never constructed. The movement that eventually led to the project's cancellation became one of the most significant e ...

on the Gordon River in Tasmania, Australia. She was assaulted on the Strahan wharf in 1983 by pro-dam activists around the time the dam construction was halted. Makovec died on 16 February 2017 in Devonport, Tasmania, at the age of 78. Makovec's environmental activism is the subject of the documentary "Anka Tasmanka".

Biography

Environmental activism

References

Further reading