17.9 C
Byron Shire
July 2, 2026

Dusting off the Esky

Latest News

Women to the front: the female voices shaping the 2026 Byron Writers Festival

The 2026 Byron Writers Festival program puts women front and centre. Journalists, novelists, and an award-winning columnist bring an extraordinary breadth of stories to Bundjalung Country this August.

Other News

Get ready to JAM

JAM is a neighbourhood event showcasing incredible local DJs and raising money for local charities. Each JAM is held in a different town and at a different venue across the Northern Rivers.

Take sanctuary at this year’s Byron Writers Festival

Thirty years and a stellar lineup is coming your way with this year’s Byron Writers Festival,14–16 August.

Locals losing their homes for luxury $2.5m retirement flats

For Kerry Pauley and the six other remaining permanent residents at the Glen Villa Resort on Butler Street, Byron Bay, news of the luxury retirement village that has been proposed for the site at 80-86 Butler Street has been devastating.

Discursion on ‘reserve’

Reserve is a word with many meanings. What is the Reserve Bank of Australia? Does it have a ‘reserve’? Reserve...

Wollumbin Art Award finalists announced

The finalists for the biennial Wollumbin Art Award, held by Tweed Regional Gallery, have been announced. They are Tweed based artist Kane Corowa, Gold Coast based artist Beth Andrews, and Byron based artists Kirsten Chambers and Monica Buscarino.   

Byron’s Winter Whales raise $43,000

The Byron Bay Winter Whales (BBWW) took to the ocean for the 39th time this year on the first Sunday of May and raised $43,000 for local organisations and charities.

Fresh from their G20 non appearance Dustyesky Male Choir made up of Vulgar Boat Men lacked humour.

‘We’ve emerged from our Siberian Winter Retreat at last with three new songs’, says Eskian Andrew Swain. ‘A song of brave Russian Naval heroism from early last century; another hauntingly beautiful ballad; and a classic folk tune of lust and longing which explores the dark corridors of the Russian love condition, something to which all our members deeply aspire.’

Much has happened since the group’s debut at the Mullumbimby Music Festival last year, where they played daily to great success. They have also since performed at Byron Bay Falls Festival.

To warm up for the coming winter occasion, and raise funds for their travel and vodka requirements, the boys will be previewing their live set, including new songs, along with fellow Bello festival comrades Andrew Morris and Two Lions this Sunday June 21 at Mullum’s Courthouse Hotel from 4pm.

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Osher’s next act: transforming recovery into a toolkit

Byron Writers Festival talks with best-selling author Osher Günsberg whose new book, So What? Now What? is a mental health toolkit and a compelling follow-up to his critically-acclaimed 2018 memoir, Back, After The Break.

BaySounds opens the door for songwriters

Some songs arrive quickly. Others sit half-finished in notebooks, voice memos or guitar cases for years before somebody finally hears them.

Bay FM’s Mia Armitage heads to Germany

Northern Rivers journalist Mia Armitage has been selected for a prestigious international internship with Germany’s public broadcaster, Deutsche Welle.

Biosecurity strategy up for comment

Feedback is now open on the draft NSW Biosecurity Strategy that the government says will provide the focus for improvements to the state’s biosecurity framework over the next 10 years.