Raphael Lee Cass, Byron Bay
The similarities of Bondi to Byron are congruous. I moved from Boondi Boondi (original Darug name) to Byron over five years ago. There was always some model or film producer quoted in the press, saying they were a Bondi local: ‘I’ve lived in Bondi for three months,’ ‘I know all the best cafes,’ and so on. You hear that about Byron here too. You could probably substitute that in other tourist towns: Cairns, Darwin, Stradbroke Island, Lord Howe Island.
As owner and editor of The Bondi View newspaper I published two books about Bondi. The first, Discovering Bondi, had in its foreword the following: ‘Bondi is a unique and wonderful village. This book is dedicated to all the people who are passionate about it not becoming another Surfers Paradise, overcome by big bucks, big buildings, and big business.’
Well it’s on its way to all that. I left Bondi thinking Byron was safe from major developments. But now it feels just the same. You can see it by the cranes baying at the moon.
Mandy Nolan’s final paragraphs (Soapbox, July 24) of looking at what beauty we do have here and the Indigenous culture’s ‘belonging to country’ does make the argument of what bricks should be used on what building rather superfluous.
Yes, Mandy, the sand shifts and the tide rolls in.
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. 
