Thousands of protesters have packed a Hobart park to rally against a plan to build a cable car up Mt Wellington.
Former Greens leader Bob Brown, Man Booker Prize winner Richard Flanagan and Independent MP Andrew Wilkie were among the speakers on Sunday at the Cascade Gardens.
The planned cable car to the 1271-metre pinnacle of kunanyi, the mountain's indigenous name, has split community opinion.
Critics argue the government hasn't properly consulted the community over the plan and the cable car will be an eyesore and flood the peak with tourists.
"We're hear to defend the natural planet and an icon of that natural planet on the back door of this great city," Mr Brown told the crowd.
"The wildness, the remoteness, the things that already makes Tasmania internationally famous - we don't need that developed.
"People are coming here because it is like it is, because it's as it is."
Concerns were heightened when it was revealed preliminary drilling works for the cable car had been approved by the Liberal state government days before the March state election.
Mr Flanagan, who was born and raised in Tasmania, reflected on his childhood spent exploring Mt Wellington.
"I've loved the mountain since I was little," he said.
"To have this wonderland, this thumb of the southwest sitting itself into the pie of our city always seemed to be a miracle.
"I've walked all over it, camped in snow caves as a kids. I climbed the zig-zag most weeks."
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie told the crowd it was a "monumental achievement" that the state government had managed to get so many people cross.
On Thursday, the government ordered the Mount Wellington Cable Car company - the sole proponent of the proposal - to cease activity on kunanyi after concerns were raised equipment was illegally left on a fire trail.
