Chris Dobney
The local literati and glitterati packed the Mullumbimby Civic Centre on Saturday night to celebrate The Echo’s 30 years of publication and to honour some of the people who help make this region so special.
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Attendees of the 1920s-themed event got into the mood, many outfitted as jazz-era glamour queens in flappers and feathers, or gangsters in spats and two-toned shoes.
Sipping on inexpensive champagne in the courtyard, the audience were first entertained by jazz trio Cole, Cox and Lovejoy as well as Mullum’s own Dusty Esky Choir.
Once the doors were flung open, the formal part of the evening began, MCd (and organised) by Mandy Nolan. The crowd was entertained by scintillating Sydney comedian Kitty Flannagan.
Founder David Lovejoy remembered earlier Echo awards celebrations – some more vividly than others – and pointed to the need for media to continue to shine a light on the shire’s shortcomings, including the activities of the ‘Belongil millionaires club’ and the ‘chicanery of turncoat former Greens Cr Rose Wanchap’.
The winners are…
Five awards were presented to people whose dedication to the Byron community has gone well above and beyond the call of duty:
Mungo MacCallum, who need no introduction, received The Echo Award for the Most Underpaid and Over Qualified Australian Journalist;
Julie Williams, of the Mullumbimby Neighbourhood Centre, was awarded The Unsung Hero Echo Award for Keeping our community strong, providing many vital services and doing it on a shoestring;
Multi-talented Arakwal woman Delta Kay was presented with The Echo Award for Keeping Country and Culture Strong;
Actor and activist Tony Barry was given The True Believer Echo Award for Passion for community activism and the arts;
Publican Tom Mooney received The Echo Award for Keeping Byron Byron.
In presenting Mungo’s award, journalist and broadcaster described him as one of several journalists of the era who ‘drank Olympic quantities of alcohol and pushed the boundaries of journalism’.
Kerry said Mungo was ‘driven by compassion, informed compassion… particularly of those two big social and political shames of our time: the failure by government over decades to achieve a genuine reconciliation with Indigenous Australia, and the nation’s treatment of refugees.’
After a round of rousing applause, Kerry continued ‘and who else could get away with covering an election campaign from the bar of a country hotel – done with great style.’
‘Mungo is fond of quoting a colleague who at a highpoint of our mate’s career, that he had “more columns than the Parthenon”.
‘But for most of the past three decades his bedrock column has been in the mighty Echo. It’s fair to say, if not the backbone, his column has been a cornerstone of the paper through those times. And he has never shone more than he has through all his personal ups and seemingly endless downs of the past two years.
Referring to Mungo’s struggles with cancer, Kerry commended Mungo’s ‘indomitable spirit’ despite the ‘loss of verbal eloquence, and even Anne Summers’ inadvertent and thankfully exaggerated announcement of his death.’
‘The quality of his work shines as it ever did. It is beyond me to understand how he has been able to keep going, producing the volume of quality of work that he has – and let’s not forget the beloved crossword.’
‘Mungo once said that he had managed to kill off every magazine he’d ever worked for, that his presence was the kiss of death. Well he hasn’t killed off the Echo – he’s only ever enhanced it!
Mungo, who is still recovering from a throat cancer operation took the microphone and said just two words, ‘I’m speechless.’
On accepting her award, Delta Kay said, ‘my parents and family, and the Arakwal people, never had a voice until the Echo gave us one.’
Tony Barry said, ‘have a read of the Echo that will tell you what kind of town it is. Referring to his battles with melanoma that saw the actor move from the spotlight of Sydney to the far north coast, his subsequent treatment and amputation, Tony said he had ‘lost a leg but found a community.’
At the end of a magical evening Mandy reeled off a long ‘thank-you’ list from which one name was noticeably absent – her own. Thanks Mandy – and all the people who put so much into such a landmark event.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
