Lake Pedder art auction: Greens leader Christine Milne’s bid to restore lake

Rare and valuable paintings inspired by the beauty of the original Lake Pedder will be sold at auction in Hobart as part of Lake Pedder: The Journey to Restoration, a series of events led by former Greens leader Christine Milne.

Lake Pedder prior to flooding. Picture: LES SOUTHWELL.

ARTWORKS by acclaimed Tasmanian artists will be auctioned on Sunday to raise money for the Lake Pedder Restoration campaign.

The auction includes rare and valuable paintings and photographs inspired by the beauty of the original Lake Pedder by artists such as Patricia Giles and the late Max Angus, and famed photographer Olegas Truchanas.

Tasmanian artist Patricia Giles captured the beauty of Lake Pedder in paintings such as this, Lake Pedder under moonlight. Picture: MATT THOMPSON

The fundraiser is part of Lake Pedder: The Journey to Restoration, a series of events and an exhibition launched last night by the former leader of the Australian Greens, Christine Milne, who is co-convener of the Lake Pedder Restoration Committee.

“The campaign to save Lake Pedder was in the era of black and white television,” Milne says. “Many Tasmanians, like me, had very little familiarity with the South-West and its landscapes and colours. People who could go to Lake Pedder and land on the beach and paint there brought to the world the magnificence of the lake through their photography and particularly through the watercolours of the time.”

Tasmania’s famed Sunday Painter artists Patricia Giles and Max Angus travelled to Lake Pedder, which was flooded in the summer of 1971-72, to capture its beauty before it was inundated.

Lake Pedder: The Journey to Restoration is on at Sidespace Gallery, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart, until Sunday. The Lake Pedder auction is at 2pm on Sunday. Bids can be made before auction day. Auction items can be viewed at Lakepedder.org