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June 4, 2026

Culture Roundup – 1st December 2016

Latest News

Kayakers rescued after being stranded on offshore rock near Byron Bay

Volunteers from Marine Rescue Brunswick battled darkness and deteriorating conditions overnight to save three men stranded on Cocked Hat Rock, part of the Three Sisters south of Byron Bay.

Other News

Advocates and civil society organisations call to drop the charges against Herzog protestors

In an open letter to the NSW Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Police, and Commissioner of Police, advocates and civil society organisations have called for the charges to be dropped against people protesting against the visit of the President of Israel on 9 February 2026.

A love letter to nature

A very special film will screen as part of the Bangalow Film Festival, preceded by a fascinating Q&A (avec moi) looking at old-school filmmaking.

Kyogle Council encourages making contact before starting development

"Planning a development? Contact Council before you start" – that's the message from Kyogle Council around building and construction.

Make your voice heard and save SGB’s Helen St Bridge

The South Golden Beach Community Association (SGBCA) and locals are calling on Byron Shire Council (BSC) to include the repair of the Helen Street Bridge in their operational plan for the next financial year.

Byron Bay-based hydrofoil company awarded ‘Best of the Best’

Flite, a brand of Brunswick Corporation (NYSE: BC) and the global pioneer of electric hydrofoil technology, have been awarded the Red Dot: "Best of the Best" – the highest distinction in the internationally renowned Red Dot Design Awards.

Latest chuckle of stand ups stake to the stage

After stepping away from the role for 12 months, Mandy Nolan returned to Byron Adult Education to teach what Mandy believes is the best, and possibly most successful stand up comedy course in the country. 

Club Swizzle. Image by Prudence Upton
Club Swizzle. Image by Prudence Upton

Put a Swizzle in your step!

Swizzle your senses with a mixed-up cabaret that will leave you giddy with delight. The charismatic, impeccable all-star cast of Club Swizzle serve up outrageous cabaret, gravity-defying acrobatics and infectious musical revelry with ample flair – and they do it on, around and over a cocktail bar. The cheekiest souls in show business gather on, in and around the Club Swizzle bar where legends are made and hilarity abounds. It’s a melee of outrageous cabaret, air-defying acrobatics and infectious revelry, all backed by a band with a repertoire as big as its bar tab. Come along for one hell of a night – there’s no place quite like it.

Hanging onto the reigns of the chaos is Murray Hill, the hardest-working middle-aged man in show business! Direct from New York, he’s the man who ‘puts the ‘king’ back in f#*king funny’. Shaking things up behind (and on top of) the bar are the deftly dextrous Swizzle Boys, who show off their testosterone-fuelled acrobatic skills.

Providing the soundtrack for the night is a band with a repertoire as big as its bar tab. Mikey and the Nightcaps will slosh their way through the tunes until the last punter staggers out into the morning sun. So long as the booze keeps flowing, so will the tunes. They’re all joined by a shining lineup of cabaret sweethearts hand-picked from around the world.

Brunswick Picture House on Saturday at 7pm and Sunday at 4pm. Tickets at brunswickpicturehouse.com.

Closing the Labyrinth

The Clarkes Beach labyrinth created in collaboration between storyteller Jenni Cargill-Strong and artist Jacquelina Wills comes to a close with a tealight labyrinth walk on Thursday from 7pm. This will be in honour of family and there will be an opportunity to walk for healing relationships, prayers of gratitude and to remember those who have passed.

Steve Davies from Earth Sound Meditations will be playing didge, crystal bowls and harp. If you haven’t made it yet to the labyrinth, it will be maintained until this Saturday 3 December, when there will be a Closing Ceremony from 4pm.

Check out the web page, FB page and Calendar of Events found at http://www.storiesonfoot.com/labyrinth. Support is needed to fund a sumptuous Closing Ceremony, so please support this via Chuffed ’Temporary Labyrinth Byron Bay’ at chuffed.org/project/temporary-labyrinth-byron-bay.

The Bentley Effect

COREM and The Bentley Effect are teaming up to bring Mullumbimby a celebration to remember. A movie screening of the acclaimed documentary The Bentley Effect will be shown at the Mullum Civic Hall on Saturday.

Commencing at 6pm with a fundraising dinner being catered by the organic COREM Café, the documentary will then screen, followed by dessert. A stellar lineup of renowned musicians who performed at Bentley will join in to celebrate making the northern rivers Gas Field Free. Tickets are $25 waged, $15 unwaged/concession, and kids younger than 12 are free. Dinner will be available from $10 a plate and a $50 Gold Supporter ticket is available that includes dinner and raffle tickets.

The Housie Tent Committee
The Housie Tent Committee

Housie for Bruns

The Housie Tent is as much a part of Brunswick Heads as eating fish and chips by the river or grabbing a vintage bargain during Old and Gold. Thanks to community support and the efforts of a somewhat odd couple, the tent has been given the green light to open again this summer. The two groups responsible for saving the much-loved Housie tent are the Ocean Shores Preschool and the Guilty Pleasures Cabaret and Burlesque Festival – an unlikely, but successful pairing. Together, the two organisations have successfully mobilised the community to save the Brunswick Housie Tent.

Volunteers responded enthusiastically to their calls for help to staff the housie over the summer holidays. Community members will take on the roles of callers, bat sellers, bankers and lucky-prize ticket sellers. The Housie Tent opens on Tuesday 13 December and runs till 15 January, 7–10pm.

A Housie Tent Facebook page (www.facebook.com/BrunswickHousie) has been set up where the timetable for each week will be posted. Expect some cabaret in the Housie as well!

Call the Housie Hotline to volunteer: 0409 059 118 (for Preschool) or 0401 567 540 (for Guilty Pleasures).

Finding Your Place

What is home to you? In these tumultuous times millions of people are displaced with no security. While here, many are forced to move home year after year and a humble house is beyond the means of many.

Are you fortunate enough to have a strong sense of home and belonging? Does your place of birth and upbringing hold a special place in your heart? Maybe you were born here, followed your heart to leave and decided to return? Maybe you were just passing through but stayed? Perhaps you find your place in your relationships, your passion, work or artistic expression. What gives you a sense of place?

Join Playback Theatre in the sharing stories of searching for or finding your place. Watch as the Playback actors bring them to life on stage in drama, movement and music.

Saturday at the Drill Hall in Mullumbimby from 7.30pm. Entry by donation

It’s a Dreamland

Dreamland is a dreamscape of local life. Transporting us through different waves of settlement, from the traditional to hippy-dippy to tree-changers, Dreamland explores how communities adapt to change and renew themselves. Part shamanic ritual, part long night of the soul, Dreamland questions what it is to live in a community today – and answers with laughter.

Told through physical theatre, song, dance and humour, it is a celebration of the dance of life in all its mystery and is full of the all the adventurous, innovative and entertaining hallmarks of NORPA’s original works. Jerry’s Smokehouse from Federal village will be serving delicious slow-smoked locally sourced meats, burgers, tasting plates and finger foods, and NORPA’s bar will be serving deliciously cool drinks. 

Join us under the stars of Eureka for live music and local eats from 6.30pm. Don’t miss out on what promises to be a magical theatrical adventure! Running every night until 10 December at 8pm with Sunday shows at 4.30pm. Dreamland at Eureka Hall.

All-weather event with more seats now so tickets available for all shows!

Tix at norpa.org.au.

Falling for Brunswick Heads

For the second year running, The Brunswick Heads Visitor Centre has partnered with The Falls Music & Arts Festival to provide a large team of volunteers working around the town so that locals and visitors alike can enjoy the delights of Brunswick Heads during the busy New Year period (30 Dec till 2 Jan).

The volunteers who help out around Brunswick Heads during the Falls Festival will do a daily three-hour shift sometime between 8am and 4pm and will receive a free three-day festival pass.

Applications to volunteer close on Friday 9 December at 5pm. For more information about the project or volunteering please call Ollie Heathwood on 0428 284 030.

Application forms are available at The Visitor Centre in Park Street Brunswick Heads.

Crackers for Xmas!

What better way to celebrate the end of the year than with a bit of comedy! Join us for our Comedy Xmas Party at the Court House when new and emerging comedians strut their stuff.

Witness jokes being made right before your eyes. Egos pumped, some deflated, all for your enjoyment! Pushing the zeitgeist expect a plethora of jokes on Trump, the man who is bad for the world but good for comedy! It’s Christmas so it’s your turn to win a prize… best audience joke goes home with something special from the MC, the (not so) grand dame of local comedy Mandy Nolan. Thursday 8pm. Free! Come for a beer, have some delicious food and stay for the laughs!

SAE open day coming up
SAE open day coming up

SAE: Live Your Dream!

Calling all aspiring filmmakers, animators, designers, web developers, audio engineers and other creators!

SAE Creative Media Institute in Byron Bay is opening the doors to their state-of-the-art campus and hosting an Info Night on Thursday from 6 till 9pm.

This is the perfect chance for high school students, career changers and anyone contemplating a creative career to take a guided tour of the campus, sit in on an information session, check out students’ work, meet the lecturers and chat to SAE staff about study and career options.

If you’re considering studying creative media next year, now is the time to pursue your passion in the creative industries. As the world’s leading global specialist in creative media education, SAE has 53 campuses in 27 countries. With a 40-year history of delivering work-ready creators, your future is set with an SAE qualification.

Go to sae.edu.au/news-and-events/events/ to register to attend the SAE Info Night on Thursday from 6pm till 9pm.

Paris to Byron

La’ Studio 3/52 is the creative vision of fashion designer Simone Ellis.

La’ Studio 3/52 has created an opportunity for students to take their vision to the next level through the showcasing of their designs on the catwalk. Simone’s vast knowledge of haute couture and its presentation will be the foundations for her students to develop their understanding of the world of fashion – how to work with models, photo shoots, and what happens behind the scenes of a catwalk.

This unique fashion event will showcase some of Simone’s own collection of statement pieces, vintage wears from Vikki’s Closet and students’ own chosen pieces, produced in La’ Studio over the last 12 months.

La’ Studio’s inaugural fashion event is being held on 10 December and is open to the public, with doors opening at 6 for a 6.30pm start. It will be held in the studio itself, which is located in Byron’s Arts & Industry Estate. Tickets are $15 for adults; children $10; family $40; children younger than seven are free. Tickets are limited so get in quickly.

For bookings and tickets call 0405 451 184.

Virgins on standby

Mandy Nolan’s latest crop of standup comedy virgins are only two weeks away from popping their comedy cherries.

The finishing touches are being added to their routines, gags polished, and nerve re-installed.

For the biggest night on the community comedy calendar, put Wednesday 14 December aside! 8pm.

Hosted by Mandy Nolan. $10/15. Tix on the door or online by going to mandynolan.com.au.

A Night in Heath Ledger

Women Like Us blew them apart in Perth last week. ‘It was my dream,’ says Mandy Nolan, ‘to spend a night in Heath Ledger.’ And she did. Although it was the Heath Ledger Theatre in Perth. Things got exciting when Mandy and Ellen noted that their fabulous theatre show was about to be interrupted by a live outdoor band just outside the theatre. None other than Regurgitator. Nolan heckled, ‘I like your quiet stuff better than your loud stuff,’ and the Gurge boys kindly turned their old man punk anthems down a tad. That’s the power of cranky middle-aged women!

Don’t miss this sellout show – Friday 9 December at the Byron Theatre.

Tickets at byroncentre.com.au.

Hip-hop poet

Writers at the Rails returns to the stage of the Railway Friendly Bar this Sunday with its summer show featuring two top performance poets: popular local hip-hop poet Daniel ‘Triple Nip’ Pearson and award-winning Melbourne poet Scott Wings.

The afternoon show also includes invited readings and the cash incentive Poetry Slam. Show starts at 2pm – free entry.



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Latest chuckle of stand ups stake to the stage

After stepping away from the role for 12 months, Mandy Nolan returned to Byron Adult Education to teach what Mandy believes is the best, and possibly most successful stand up comedy course in the country. 

Mullum Giants celebrate Old Boys Day

Sunday, 31 May saw everyone having some fun as the sun finally shone at the Mullumbimby Giants games which included the Old Boys Day. Photos by Sarah Archibald.

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