←Volume 34
January 8, 2020
In this Issue:
Taking a swipe
Lindy Stacker, Binna Burra In response to Tim Harrington’s letter, taking a swipe at Phillip Frazer’s FU article (18 December, 2019). After some deep breathing and lots of chamomile tea, here’s my take on the inaccuracies you expressed. On matters that have...
Pool improvement plans put forward
The Mullumbimby Pool would get solar heating, a hydrotherapy pool, disability access, and a kids’ ‘splash down’ area under a proposal from a local residents’ group.
Sprung!!
John Davies, Mullumbimby On Sunday night at the Drill Hall, I saw the other side of The Echo editor. No longer will he be the hard-nosed iconoclast ripping into councils or other collective fools. For ever, etched into my mind, will...
Editorial: Psychonaut of the week
‘Psychedelics are illegal not because a loving government is concerned that you may jump out of a third storey window. Psychedelics are illegal because they dissolve opinion structures and culturally laid down models of behaviour and information processing. They open you up to the possibility that everything you know is wrong.’
Racism deleted (PS)
Vashti Easton Wright, Byron Bay I have discovered that the Mullumbytes Facebook group has 11,652 members and is moderated by one white man (admin). There is another moderator listed who, I believe, is the same person! I posted the letter published...
Misner plans for a $11m new abode
SAE founder Tom Misner has lodged a development application (DA) for land at 255 Coolamon Scenic Drive, Coorabell.
Culture in the Byron Shire for the Week Beginning 8 January,...
Culture in the Byron Shire for the Week Beginning 8 January, 2020
Tiny art space changes hands
After ten years curating the Cube art space in the Byron Council’s front office in Mullumbimby, Dev Lengel is passing the baton to artist Hannah Massey.
Vision and action
Hugh Ermacora, Byron Bay Jan Barham’s article Will Byron Shire Achieve an Ecologically Sustainable Future? (24 December, 2019) needs to be compulsory reading for all who wonder how and why Byron Shire might be seen as ‘uniquely different’; particularly against the...
Festival tents headed for Cobargo
Inspired to help after fires raged through Cobargo on the NSW south coast, youth worker Nicqui Yazdi has assembled a crew to assist impacted residents.
Live Music in the Byron Shire for the Week Beginning 8...
Live Music in the Byron Shire for the Week Beginning 8 January, 2020
Lost pleasures
Ariane Minc and Wu Wong, Ocean Shores There are no ‘Simple Pleasures’ for local residents and ratepayers in Brunswick Heads and surrounds – including native flora and fauna. The once-regular sightings of dolphins, turtles, goannas, fish diversity, and even echidnas...
Interview with Tanya Trotter, War and Treaty
The War and Treaty Bluesfest | 9–13 April If you’ve seen The War and Treaty at BluesFest then you don’t need to be told they’re something special. Husband and wife Michael and Tanya Trotter came from different paths, and when they converged,...
Hands-on help needed after devastating fires
After the fires have gone there are innumerable jobs to do to get farmers and graziers back up and running. A little of your time can make all the difference...
Mellow out Ms Kitty
Magenta Appel-Pye, Mullumbimby In last week’s Echonetdaily I read the interview with the hilarious Kitty Flanagan. To my mind Australia’s best comedians are female. With such laughable luminaries as Kitty, Mandy Nolan, Hannah Gadsby, and Judith Lucy, I don’t understand why...
Praise be
Martin Bail, Federal Apparently Nero fiddled while Rome burned. What instrument has our illustrious coal-loving leader ScoMo been playing while Australia has been burning; or has he just been singing a hymn?
Mandy Nolan’s Soapbox: Change for Scott Morrison
Scott and Jenny hosted an exclusive dinner party to watch the Sydney Fireworks – meanwhile 500,000 animals burnt, 17 people died, and 28 are missing. At least 10.1 million hectares of country has burned. More than 1,000 buildings are lost.
Cartoon of the week – January 9, 2020
Letters to the editor We love to receive letters, but not every letter will be published; the publication of letters is at the discretion of the online and print letters editors. The deadline for the Byron Echo newspaper is noon Friday and letters longer...
Red Devils just miss rugby league finals
The Byron Bay Red Devils have narrowly missed out on the rugby league finals for 2019 after finishing in sixth place behind Tweed Heads, who went through on a better for-and-against tally.
Matilda quick enough for Australian gold medal
Mullumbimby’s Matilda Vial has beaten all comers to become Australia’s fastest runner over 200 metres, for her age. Matilda attends the Shearwater Steiner school and has achieved outstanding results at the Australian Track and Field Championships held in Darwin last week.
Shores Firebirds make grand final in debut year
The Shores United women’s football team lost their inaugural grand final 3–0 against Richmond Rovers last Sunday at Crozier Oval Lismore. The team never gave up, but a 2–0 deficit at half-time, and a late strike, proved too big to chase down.
Double grand final for the Rams
A double grand final showing was a fitting swan song for Byron Bay Services Club’s retiring premier coach Damon Bell.
Mullumbimby Moonshiners raise reserve grade rugby union shield
The Mullumbimby Moonshiners took home the Far North Coast Rugby reserve grade premiership after beating Ballina 20–7 at Crozier Park, Lismore in September.
Brothers have what Kingscliff likes
The hospitality industry may not seem like a likely fit for two veterans of several tours of Afghanistan, but ‘brothers by choice’, Daniel John, Brad Butson, and Maryann (Mez) Butson have built a team with years of experience, and...
Water restrictions result in slight reduction
While water restrictions appear to be having little effect in Mullumbimby (see page 1), it is a slightly rosier picture in the region more broadly.
