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Byron Shire
March 28, 2024

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Latest News

Man charged over domestic violence and pursuit offences – Tweed Heads

A man has been charged following a pursuit near Tweed Heads on Monday.

Other News

Workshop in Creative Writing For Beginners

Have you always felt like you have a novel in you, but don’t know where to start? Or have...

Murwillumbah’s Rebecca Whan recognised for tireless work post 2022 floods

Murwillumbah was severely impacted by the 2022 floods and it was a huge community effort to support, rescue and inspire everyone to move forward. 

Adaptive Surf Pro winds up in Byron

A week of mixed weather had seen almost 100 adaptive surfers take on the beaches of Byron Bay in the Byron first international adaptive surfing event to be held in Australia – the 2024 Australian Pro.

Fresh air federal funds for Northern Rivers schools in need

Eighteen schools in the Northern Rivers division of Richmond have received $25,000 each as part of the federal government’s School Upgrade Fund, Labor Member for Richmond Justine Elliot said last week.

Editorial – Let’s do the development dance!

Some good questions were raised by residents at last week’s Council meeting – and were ‘taken on notice’ by Mayor, Michael Lyon.

Hiatus Beers

Launched to market in July 2022, Hiatus Beers is all about brewing crisp, refreshing, full-flavoured, non-alcoholic beer.  The founders...

We’re forever being told by art doyens that Australians (like any other people) love seeing their own stories on the screen. So how come when a cracking good local movie like this comes along, one that uniquely belongs to ‘us’, it sinks without trace? Compare its dismal box-office fate with the runaway success of the dreadfully unfunny A Few Best Men, which was no more than a crass copycat rom-com cast from an imported template, with an overseas star thrown in to give it legs. Weep for the Oz film industry.

This opens in Sydney, 1960, as Kat Kelly (Robyn Malcolm) flees her abusive husband. Taking her two sons, she heads west to settle in a coastal town in the Margaret River region. The action then jumps to 1972, by which time the boys, Andy (Myles Pollard) and Jimmy (Xavier Samuel), have grown up to be surf-rats. The shot in which the kid Jimmy is engulfed by a wave only to re-emerge, still on his board, as the flamboyant teenager takes us from the past to the present, from B&W into colour – and it’s spine-tingling.

The siblings’ relationship is at the film’s core, with Andy ambitious and responsible, and the younger, headstrong Jimmy always likely to run off the rails. When the hippy JB (Sam Worthington) turns up in his merry prangster bus, with the Hawaiian beauty Lani (Lesley-Ann Brandt) under his wing, stuff starts to happen. Directors Ben Nott and Morgan O’Neill sensibly don’t shy away from the drug culture that so permeated their subjects’ lifestyle, as prejudice and crime force idealism to come to terms with pragmatism.

There is a tendency – it’s rampant these days – to over-use pop songs to create mood, and sometimes the words get in the way as dialogue gets clunky and needlessly declamatory, but the performances are ingrained with a true understanding of the characters, the period is recreated with affection rather than condescension and Geoffrey Hall’s camera is always exhilarating in a surf movie that rises above its genre.

John Campbell

 


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Where should affordable housing go in Tweed Shire?

Should affordable and social housing in the Tweed Shire be tucked away in a few discreet corners? Perhaps it should be on the block next to where you live?

Making Lismore Showground accessible to everyone

The Lismore Showground isn’t just a critical local community asset that plays host to a number of major events each year, but has also been used as an evacuation centre during past natural disasters in the region. 

Iconic Lennox beach shed upgraded –  not demolished

Lennox Park and the shelter shed has now been upgraded and reopened.

Govt cost-shifting ‘erodes financially sustainable local government’

Byron Shire Council looks set to add its voice to the growing chorus calling on the state government to stop shifting responsibilities and costs onto local government.