Lake Manapouri
Lake
Manapouri is often described as the loveliest of all Fiordland's lakes
with its array of 33 small islands, backdrop of the Cathedral Mountain
range, and native bush-clad edges with a variety of sandy beaches and
coves. Originally called Roto-au (the rainy lake) by early Maori and
then Moturau (many islands), it has a very rainy catchment of 1400 sqkm,
a shoreline of 170 km and a surface area of 142 sqkm.
|
|
|
|
Manapouri Power Station
The
largest hydro electric power plant in New Zealand, it is housed underground
in the Fiordland National Park in a cavern carved from rock almost 200
metres below the West Arm of Lake Manapouri. Unlike other hydro power
stations, Manapouri does not have a high dam. It uses the natural 183
metre height difference between Lake Manapouri and the sea at Deep Cove
in Doubtful Sound to generate electricity.
In 1963 the project to build the underground power station to supply
electricity to the Comalco aluminium smelter at Bluff got started. It
took 1800 men 8 years to build, working 24 hours a day.
|
The Save Manapouri
campaign
The
Public Works Department wanted to dam the outlet of the lake so it could
raise the water-level of the lake by 30 metres to join it with Lake
Te Anau 2.5 km to the north. This would have produced much more power.
It would have also destroyed all the coves and islands and thousands
of hectares of pristine World Heritage rainforest.
A
strong nationwide protest lasting over a decade prevented the raising
of the lake from taking place. That campaign, the Save Manapouri campaign,
is regarded as a major milestone in the history of New Zealand's environmental
protection. The lake levels are now carefully controlled to be close
to natural fluctuations.
|
 |
John
Hanlon was born in Malaya in 1949 to Chinese-European parents. He was raised
in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, before going to boarding school in Australia,
and eventually settling in Auckland with his parents in the early sixties.
John was self-taught at playing the guitar and, by the age of twenty, had
developed an enormous collection of lyrics and tunes. On night in 1971 he
opened his songbook and played some of his tunes to a few enthusiastic supporters
at a party. Bruce Barton, of Mascot Studios, heard him and was impressed enough
to record a large number of items from his songbook.
Bruce then took these songs and managed to get John a recording contract on
the Family Label. He was teamed up with arranger and keyboard player, Mike
Harvey. The first single was released in late 1972 called "Old Fashioned Music"/"Mickey
Mouse House". This was closely followed in 1973 with his first album called
"Floating".
In 1973, along with Mike Harvey, John wrote a song called "Knowing". The song
was entered into the Studio One Television contest, and, sung by Steve Gilpin,
it took third place.
John was always ecology conscious and wrote "Damn The Dam" for the conservation
movement during the Manapouri Hydro Dam controversy. After being broadcast
on radio and television, it was considered popular enough to be released commercially
and reached number 5 on the National charts. Later that year, John was awarded
with a RATA award for Single of the Year, with "Damn The Dam."
John has lived in Australia since the late 70s working in advertising agencies.
In addition to being a creative director for agencies ranging from Mojo to
McHarmon's, John has been a cartoonist and pop singer.
And in the 2000s
he is still a prolific composer, winning as many awards for songwriting as
he has for advertising. For more on John Hanlon and his music you can visit
Blue Pie Productions
1973, Damn
the Dam, Family Label, 45
John's original
1973 recording has been included in several compilation CDs in the past decade.
1996, Kiwi
Gold Disc. 2, 1970-1975, NZ On Air
1996, Kiwi Classics. Volume two, EMI
1997, New Zealand : Our Land, Our Music, Vol 2 EMI
1999, Very Best of the Guys, EMI
2003, Very Best of John Hanlon, EMI
