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Story: Rivers

Damming the Clutha River

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Damming the Clutha River

By the late 1970s there was growing public resistance to damming rivers for hydroelectric power. Following litigation, the Court of Appeal refused to grant a water right for the Clyde dam in central Otago. This led the National government of Robert Muldoon to pass legislation in 1982 so the dam could proceed. Cartoonist Bob Brockie pictured this as an attack on democracy.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: A-311-4-022

by Bob Brockie

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

David Young, Rivers – Conserving rivers, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/cartoon/14706/damming-the-clutha-river (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by David Young, published 1 March 2009.