20.3 C
Byron Shire
October 20, 2026

Living with ability stories online for Museum Day

Latest News

Cinema: NAZA

A must-see, award-winning documentary investigating AI warfare in Gaza. Fresh from winning the Special Jury Prize at the 2026 Venice International Film Festival, NAZA, the latest documentary from Academy Award-winning filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor (No Other Land), examines artificial intelligence and surveillance in Israel’s military operations in Gaza.

Other News

Nuclear hypocrisy

Nothing illustrates Western hypocrisy quite like the double standards applied to nuclear weapons. Trump insists the US-Israeli aggression against...

Foreshore Italian

Foreshore Italian brings the warmth, generosity and simplicity of Italian cooking to Elements of Byron, celebrating the pleasure of good food, fresh ingredients and shared dining experiences.

One river, many voices

It's the final week of Richmond RiverFest, with events from Ballina to Lismore, and the upper catchment to the coast.

Police seize 22 e-bikes in Sydney

As part of a crackdown on e-bikes across the state, 22 illegal e-bikes have been seized following a NSW Police Force and Transport for NSW joint operation across southern Sydney and the Illawarra.

Bruns residents and Reflections struggle to find common ground

Brunswick Heads residents called on their local MP Tamara Smith for a meeting to discuss the fences that Reflections Holiday Parks have erected around the park area where the community planted native cypress pines commemorating the Battle of Lone Pine in WWI, which has been utilised by the community for over 60 years for recreation.

Activists arrested on gas platform

Greenpeace activists boarded Woodside's Scarborough gas platform off Western Australia on the weekend. After staying overnight, police removed the last two yesterday (Sunday 18 October).

Oral history interviewers and participants Jo Kijas, Suzy Hudson and Cooper, Karen Collins and Milena Morrowin share the ‘Untold Stories: living with ability’ discuss the project.

As is happening with many International ‘Days’ at present, the Tweed Regional Museum is asking you to join them in celebrating International Museum Day, online today.

The museum will be releasing a special digital exhibition to celebrate International Museum Day.

This year’s theme is ‘Museums for equality, diversity and inclusion’.

The exhibition, Untold Stories: living with ability, captures a diverse range of stories from ordinary people whose rich life experiences include living with disability.

Shared stories through audio, video and text

Participants in this project generously allowed the Museum to record and share their stories through audio, video and text. The project was originally displayed in 2017 at Tweed Regional Museum Murwillumbah and it has been renewed as an online exhibition.

Museum Director Judy Kean said the museum is delighted to be able to launch the online version of this exhibition. ‘It’s our first digital exhibition and we hope it will bring these stories to a much wider audience,’ she said.

‘It is no small thing to allow large parts of your life story to be recorded and used as the basis for a public exhibition.

Opening the window is very generous

‘To do so in the community in which you live, in order to enable others to better understand experiences and issues which they would otherwise not have a “window” to, is particularly generous.

Ms Kean said one of the most striking aspects of the project has been that, while each person’s experience of disability is significant and sometimes life-changing, it’s just one part of a much bigger richer story often characterised by survival, adventure, academic and sporting achievement, love, advocacy, spirituality, generosity, tenacity, and much more.

‘Tracy Barrell, Una Cowdroy, Jan Cronly, Suzy Hudson, Bev Larsson, Ally Page, Nicole Randolph, Bill and Yvonne Trenear have allowed us to share their story and we’re very grateful for their ongoing commitment to the project and their generosity.’

The online exhibition is part of Council’s Together Tweed initiative and is designed to keep the community connected to discovering local history during the COVID-19 shutdown.

The online exhibition will be available on the Museum’s website museum.tweed.nsw.gov.au from 8am Monday 18 May 2020.



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.

If you are a local business owner help us and in turn we help you. All The Echo asks for is advertising, not a free ride. It is every advert in The Echo and on www.echo.net.au, which creates the space for all the stories and coverage of community events, happenings and concerns.

If you are a reader you can become a sponsor of The Echo. Your support keeps the us independent.

Even a small one-off or regular donation from you will help keep the echo’s independent voice alive and strong.

Support Us

Become one of the supporters who helps keep independent, local journalism alive in the Byron Shire by contributing anything from as little as the cost of a coffee each month.

You're Wonderful, Thank you for supporting independent journalism in the Byron Shire

You’re supporting The Echo, thank you

Your contribution is keeping independent, local journalism alive in the Northern Rivers.

Because of supporters like you, we can keep every story free for everyone — no paywall, no exceptions. Your money goes directly to funding our newsroom of 40-odd local workers covering the stories that matter to this community.

Tell us what you think, give us your opinion

The Echo loves your letters and comments and is proud to provide a community forum on the issues that matter most to our readers and the people of the NSW north coast. So don’t be a passive reader, email us your epistles at editor@echo.net.au.

The letters deadline for The Echo is noon Friday. Letters longer than 200 words may be cut. The publication of letters is at the discretion of the letters editor. Please remember to include your full name, address and telephone number.

Online comments are no longer available.

Interview with Genevieve Clay-Smith, director of Boss Cat showing at the Byron Bay Film Festival

When Sonja (Olivia Hargroder) loses her mother without warning, the only steady presence left in her life is her grandmother, Doris. But Doris’s idea of stability means dismantling everything Sonja has built. For Sonja, who lives with Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) and has spent her life fighting to be underestimated by no one, Doris’ plan feels less like protection and more like erasure. Directed by Genevieve Clay-Smith, Boss Cat is a vibrant, big-hearted Australian dramedy about independence, family and self-determination, anchored by a fearless lead performance.

Something for everyone at the Picture House

From Australian superstar musos, to brand new documentaries, to comedians at the top of their game, there really is something for everyone at the Brunswick Picture House.

Thirty-six unmissable films

The 2026 Russell Hobbs British Film Festival features an unmissable line up 36 films, including five retrospectives which will screen from 28 October to 29 November at Palace Byron Bay and Ballina Cinemas.

A timeless story of self-discovery

A husband with a promotion, two adorable children and a lovely new house. Nora thought she had it all. But did she? What was the discontent that was whispering to her in the shadows?