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Byron Shire
June 21, 2026

Culture in the Byron Shire for the Week Beginning 15 August, 2019

Latest News

The NT intervention laws that shape lives

This Sunday marks 19 years since the then Howard Government announced the Northern Territory Intervention laws – ‘The Intervention’ began with a media release by Mal Brough, Minister for Indigenous Affairs, on June 21, 2007.

Other News

How to stop the erosion of our human rights

Let’s celebrate Refugee Week, 15–21 June, which was initiated in Australia 40 years ago and now observed worldwide.

Cinema : Tuner – everybody has one hidden talent

From Academy Award-winner, director Daniel Roher (Navalny), comes his first narrative feature, Tuner a gripping crime-drama that follows a piano tuner’s unexpected aptitude for cracking safes.

Northern Rivers clubs shine at Clubs & Community Awards

Club Lennox and Twin Towns were among Northern Rivers clubs recognised at the Clubs & Community Awards, held last Thursday in Sydney.

Morrison Avenue a ‘disgrace’

Local Mullumbimby residents are saying Byron Shire Council (BSC) needs to step up and fix Morrison Avenue properly.

Mullum Hospital site

I would like to acknowledge the letter printed in The Echo dated 3 June from Gary Opit and Carmel...

WAVE – I Have Friends Everywhere

The closing date for entries is in October, so this is a callout for all design artists, fashion innovators, culture initiators and wearable inventors.

Kate Stroud, from the Dusty Attic in Lismore is one speaker at the Music Careers Symposium

Music Careers Symposium

Southern Cross University Lismore Campus, D Block  |  9am till 3pm  |  Friday 16 August   |  Free (bookings essential )

This Friday at Southern Cross University, music makers and industry shakers are taking the stage to talk about what it means to have a career in music. With panels running from 9am till 3pm featuring Peter Wood, the executive director for Arts Northern Rivers, Glenn Wright from Mullum Music Festival, Vanessa Tomlinson, the Professor of New Music at Queensland Conservatorium, director of Brisbane International and Melbourne Women’s Jazz Festival, Lynette Irwin, and many more. The music industry is full of diversity, with many innovative and creative people carving their niches. One such person is Kate Stroud. She’s young, fiercely creative, and passionate about music. A maker of music, typography, community, and atmospheres. Bringing people together to celebrate creative endeavours has been the foundation on which Kate Stroud’s career has been established. Designing experiences that move and connect with people leaving a lasting impression fuelling the soul is Kate’s drive and joy in life. Obsessed with spaces, hand lettering, the power of human connection, pretty settings to be present and gather has led to the birth of Lismore’s newest live-music lounge Dusty Attic. In this space Kate has collected all her loves and unleashes them upon the world. She will be talking about her passion for bringing people together with music and the challenges of creating a live music venue at the Music Careers Symposium in Lismore on Friday. It’s free. Register at eventbrite.com.au/e/63545607623.


Last week of Extinction at the Drill Hall

Extinction

Drill Hall Theatre, Mullumbimby  |  Friday, Saturday 7.30pm  |  Sunday 2pm  |  $22/30

Hannie Rayson, multi-award-winning playwright, weaves her words with wit, intelligence, and a great understanding of the human condition. She is the true dialogue diva! Extinction delves deeply into the heart of our moral values, drawing the audience into an emotive story, interwoven with both environmental and social ambiguities.

Playing at The Drill Hall; this is the last weekend. Performances Friday–Sunday at 7.30pm with Sunday matinee at 2pm. Tix $22/30. drillhalltheatre.org.au


One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Ballina Players Theatre, Swift St, Ballina  |  23 August till 1 September 8pm, Sunday matinees at 2pm

In the movie of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, released in 1975, both Louise Fletcher (Nurse Ratched) and Jack Nicholson (Randle P McMurphy) won Academy Awards for their performances. In Ballina Players’ production, John Rado and Kasadevi Curtis re-create the roles, and early rehearsals are showing why these two roles were so good for Fletcher and Nicholson. The film, described as a ‘tragicomedy’, was only the second to win the five major categories at the 1975 Academy Awards, a feat only followed by Silence of the Lambs in 1991, that may never again be achieved. For the movie the actors also witnessed electroconvulsive therapy being performed on a patient to try to achieve the same level of human reaction to these events in the play.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest opens at Ballina Players Theatre, 24 Swift St, Ballina, on 23 August for seven performances, finishing on 1 September. Tickets are $25/adult, $15/child (16 & under), and are available at Just Funkin Music shop at 124 River St, Ballina, 6686 2440 (a $2 booking fee applies) or online at www.ballinaplayers.com.au (no booking fee). All shows are at 8pm except for Sundays, which are at 2pm. 


Leah Harvey and CJ Beckford. Photo by Brinkhoff Moegenburg

NT Live Screening of Small Island

Byron Theatre, Community Centre  |  Saturday  |  1pm

Andrea Levy’s Orange Prize-winning novel Small Island comes to life in an epic new theatre adaptation. Experience the play in cinemas, filmed live on stage as part of National Theatre Live’s 10th birthday.

Small Island embarks on a journey from Jamaica to Britain, through the Second World War to 1948 – the year the HMT Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury, England. The play follows three intricately connected stories. Hortense yearns for a new life away from rural Jamaica, Gilbert dreams of becoming a lawyer, and Queenie longs to escape her Lincolnshire roots.

Hope and humanity meet stubborn reality as the play traces the tangled history of Jamaica and the UK. A company of 40 actors takes to the stage of the National Theatre in London in this timely and moving story.

Saturday at the Byron Theatre at 1pm. Tix at byroncentre.com.au



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Hemp industry given boost with development plan

A Hemp Industry Development Plan has been announced by the NSW government, which promises 'to unlock new opportunities for NSW businesses and add value to the state's low-THC hemp industry, which is forecast to become a $100 million Australian industry by 2032'.

Gambling harm recognised by Tweed Council, supported by Wesley Mission

Faith-based, not-for-profit organisation providing community services in NSW, Wesley Mission, has welcomed Tweed Shire Council’s decision to publicly recognise the impact of gambling harm and advocate for stronger harm-minimisation measures.

Winter Warmer fundraiser for homelessness

The annual Winter Warmer Homelessness Relief campaign, hosted by Dharma Care, will return for 2026 with cabaret at Salt, Kingscliff, on Thursday 2 July, headlined by comedian Mandy Nolan, interactive performance artist The Space Cowboy and the Kinship Doobai Dancers, with a Welcome to Country from Aunty Jackie.

Tweed Shire Council presents flood resilience series – part one

Over the coming weeks, Tweed Shire Council will present a flood resilience series, which looks at how 'Tweed's story is different from the standard flood recovery narrative and what happened next'.