Nimbin Aquarius Festival in northern NSW to mark 50th anniversary in May
The beloved festival which shaped northern NSW counterculture haven Nimbin is celebrating five decades – check out our flashback gallery and see what to expect.
Lismore
Don't miss out on the headlines from Lismore. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Nimbin in northern NSW will once again play host to the famed Aquarius Festival in May – the 50th anniversary of the colourful counterculture celebration.
Planning is well underway for special themed days, workshops, performances and more.
The Nimbin Chamber of Commerce has taken a leading role in organising and driving the festival.
Lismore councillor Adam Guise said Aquarius helped put the “Rainbow Region” on the map back in the ‘70s.
“It’s a reflection of our diverse community,” he said.
“It really ties into our thinking about sustainability.
“Conversations, talks, arts, and music bring people together from all walks of life to reinvigorate the Aquarius spirit.”
Organisers and Lismore City Council have been looking into how to draw more people into the hub of Lismore.
The festival, operating with additional funding for the anniversary event, plans to “stream and beam” two hours of the festival per day across the country and the globe for those who cannot attend in person.
Aquarius volunteer Jenny Kendell said the footage would be a record kept for future generations.
She said organisers will “use Zoom (video chat) to bring people from all over the world into the conversation”.
“We hope that if anyone has any negative perception of Nimbin that the Festival will change this because in reality we have done so much and we can be proud,” Ms Kendell said.
Jenny Cornish is another Nimbin resident working with friends and volunteers working to deliver the festival’s ongoing legacy of sustainability and social change.
Ms Kendell, a fellow Nimbin resident, attended the 1973 Aquarius festival with Ms Cornish as teenagers.
“It was a life changing experience for most people who went …,” Ms Kendell said.
She said it “certainly didn’t seem like any other festival where you listen to great music, clap and go home”.
“The 1973 Nimbin Aquarius Festival had a slogan that really changed the reality. It was ‘You Are the Festival’, and it meant that mostly young students came with sustainability and peaceful ideas they could contribute,” Ms Kendell said.
“Somehow it propelled the festival to be ongoing and instead of returning to life in the cities many people, many students stayed on and rented disused sheds and houses – sometimes for as low as one dollar per week.
“Nimbin at that time was an eaten out, logged, poor place which had featured on “Ghost Towns of Australia” by ABC.
“The town was largely boarded up and children gone.
“The Nimbin Aquarius organisers decided to ‘recycle a town’ and that is pretty well what happened.”
Nimbin quickly transformed.
“In the region we have created around 70 communities, changed building codes and created multiple occupancy,” Ms Kendell said.
“We wanted and asserted ourselves to have home births and to change funerals and burials.”
Aquarius settlers once dubbed as “hippy ratbags” by then-NSW premier Neville Wran soon convinced him to readjust his opinion of them as “concerned conservationists”.
Contemporary Nimbin still holds true to its Aquarius roots.
“We protested to save Terania Creek, which is now a National Park and on the World Heritage List forever,” Ms Kendell said.
She said residents formed the Rainforest Information Centre and North Coast Forest Alliance, which have “fought for forests throughout the world”.
The village owns its own buildings and power company.
“We have a vibrant arts and music community and our “Blue Moon Cabarets” are as good as it gets,” Ms Kendell said.
The Nimbin Aquarius50 Festival will be held from May 12-21.
Dog killed, pair arrested in paddock after dramatic police chase
A dog was killed and two people arrested after they were accused of hiding from police in a paddock following a pursuit in the state’s north.
Australia Day tragedy as family home gutted by inferno
A long-awaited night off from five kids quickly turned to tragedy for a couple when they woke to the sound of hissing gas in the early hours of Australia Day before their family home burst into flames.