There are stories behind the stories and Sharon Shostak and the Brunswick Valley Historical Society (BVHS) have come together to dig deeper and find out what they are. Following on from the success of the first feature documentary Mullumbimby’s Madness – the Legacy of the Hippies they are crowdfunding to raise money to make a film series that looks at the history of the hippy in area and how it has shaped what we have become today.
‘These are the stories behind things we probably take for granted living in this region,’ said Sharon.
‘The first feature in this culture series, Health and Wellbeing, tells the story of how Santos Organics started from a delivery run in the back hills, and grew to a burgeoning business, now charity, with several shops across the shire. There’s the first hippie eatery – the Sunflower Restaurant and the characters who ran it, the rise of yoga, and the first rural doctor to assist women to birth at home and the book that came from that.
‘Alternative medicine is probably the most prominent feature in our shire today: acupuncture and homeopathy practitioners tell their stories of how they began, with a multi-million dollar essential oils business emerging from a local couple’s growing of herbs.’
Activism and Politics and The Arts will follow in 2018. Mullumbimby has a rich history, and the BVHS is set to entertain and inform us with part one of their three-part series Mullumbimby’s Magic – the Culture of the 70s-80s, this November.
With 18 days to go if you haven’t already donated to the Chuffed campaign then check out the many perks including pre-ordering DVDs or tickets and tax-deductible donations to help get this project onto our screens by clicking here.
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. 
