Qualla: Manapouri https://qualla.com/manapouri en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:26 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/p/x/z/h/manapouri-wk/hero-small.webp Qualla: Manapouri https://qualla.com/manapouri Manapouri: Introduction https://qualla.com/manapouri/ Photo credit Mattinbgn (talk · contribs), CC BY 3.0. Two hundred and seventy people live in Manapouri. That is the entire town. But in 1970, this tiny settlement on the shore of a glacial lake became the focal point of New Zealand's first major environmental campaign, when nearly 265,000 citizens -- almost ten percent of the country's population -- signed a petition to protect the lake from being permanently altered by a hydroelectric scheme. The Save Manapouri campaign changed how New Zealand thought about conservation, and the lake it fought to protect remains one of the most beautiful in the country, its surface reflecting mountains that have barely changed since the glaciers carved them.

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Image: Mattinbgn (talk · contribs) | CC BY 3.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/p/x/z/h/manapouri-wk/pxzh-manapouri-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Manapouri: Tears That Became a Lake https://qualla.com/manapouri/ Photo credit Mattinbgn (talk · contribs), CC BY 3.0. The Maori name Manapouri means "lake of the sorrowing heart," and the story behind it is one of the most poignant in New Zealand's oral tradition. Two sisters, Moturua and Koronae, were daughters of a local chief. One day, Koronae ventured deep into the forest and became stranded...

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Image: Mattinbgn (talk · contribs) | CC BY 3.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/p/x/z/h/manapouri-wk/pxzh-manapouri-tears-that-became-a-lake.mp3 0:06 2 full Manapouri: Power Beneath the Mountains https://qualla.com/manapouri/ Photo credit Mattinbgn (talk · contribs), CC BY 3.0. In the 1960s, the New Zealand government approved a plan to generate electricity from Lake Manapouri by building a power station entirely underground. Workers excavated 200 meters straight down through solid rock to carve out a machine hall 111 meters long, 18 meters wide, and 39...

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]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/p/x/z/h/manapouri-wk/pxzh-manapouri-power-beneath-the-mountains.mp3 0:06 3 full Manapouri: The Campaign That Changed a Nation https://qualla.com/manapouri/ Photo credit Motorau, Public domain. In October 1969, a Southland sheep farmer named Ron McLean launched the Save Manapouri campaign at a public meeting in Invercargill. Within months, 14 local committees had formed across the country. McLean toured New Zealand with a simple message: the lake should not be sacrifice...

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Image: Motorau | Public domain

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/p/x/z/h/manapouri-wk/pxzh-manapouri-the-campaign-that-changed-a-nation.mp3 0:06 4 full Manapouri: Gateway to Doubtful Sound https://qualla.com/manapouri/ Photo credit Rob Young from United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0. Today, Manapouri's primary role is as the departure point for Doubtful Sound, one of Fiordland's most remote and spectacular waterways. The journey itself is part of the experience: visitors board a boat at Pearl Harbour on the lake's southern shore, cross Lake Manapouri to West ...

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Image: Rob Young from United Kingdom | CC BY 2.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/p/x/z/h/manapouri-wk/pxzh-manapouri-gateway-to-doubtful-sound.mp3 0:06 5 full