[8] Construction was underway by 1964, and within three years, the Tasmanian State Parliament approved the Gordon River Power Development with little in house opposition in 1967.

The construction of Gordon Dam resulted in some flooding of the connected Lake Pedder as planned.

The dam is connected with the Gordon River Power Station, 183 metres (600 ft) under the surface of the switch yard.

[11] Due to an extreme drought in 2015 and the untimely failure of the related Basslink power feed, electricity production needs had drained the lake to its minimum operating level in March 2016.

[14][15] After repair of Basslink and record rainfalls, Lake Gordon levels had recovered to -28 metres by January 2017.