The festival that planted dreams and started social change

THE 45th anniversary of the Nimbin Aquarius Festival kicks off on Sunday with a program of music, speeches and an exhibition.

NEW-FOUND FREEDOM: Lismore High students and cast members of Images of Man, who performed during the Aquarius Festival at the Nimbin Town Hall. Picture: Peter Derrett

CELEBRATIONS return to the Rainbow Region this weekend, for the Aquarius Festival.

The 45th anniversary of the Nimbin Aquarius Festival kicks off on Sunday with a program of music, speeches and an exhibition of the Aquarius legacy at The Channon Market.

Brought to the region in 1973, the event saw thousands of young people descend on Nimbin.

Adapted from the counter-culture festival Woodstock, the Aquarius Festival was a celebration of art, sustainability, harmony and freedom.

MAKING OF A REGION: The original Aquarius Festival was set up by the Australian Union of Students. Peter Derrett, who went along as a university representative photographer to document the festival, said: "None of us realised at the time how this event was to become so iconic. The photo is of a lecture on Geodesic domes for alternative housing.”. Picture: Peter Derrett

One of the Aquarius Festival organisers Graeme Dunstan, who was also a director in 1973, said it was a visionary effort, with no-one knowing what would come of the event.

"The festival planted dreams, (it) planted the seeds of a community," Mr Dunstan said.

Reflecting on the event and the planning that went into it, Mr Dunstan said it was Nimbin's willingness to experiment that continued the success of the festival.

"It's not even so much that is created a strong sense of community, but rather it created an active community who took on challenges," he said.

Peter Derrett was a photographer at the 1973 Aquarius Festival, and said one of his most enduring memories was the Aquarius anthem, performed by Paul Joseph and taken from a song by the Incredible String Band.

"'May the long time sun shine upon you' (lyrics from the song) ... that's what has stayed with me and with many others, and always will," Mr Derrett said. "It became the movement of reorganising (aspects of society)."

Sunday's festivities will start at the Rainbow Chai Tent at 10am with sacred chants by Jo Kelly, followed by a sitar and tabla recital by RAASA, solo guitar by Juan Salvador, a hip-hop performance by SistaGurl and dance by the Bollywood Sisters.

At noon, there's talk time with Graeme Dunstan, Woodstock ambassadors Nathan Koenig and Shelli Lipton, and Nimbin Community and Information Centre's Natalie Meyer.

The entertainment continues throughout the day with the Nightcap Jazz Duo, Nimbin's original hippie band, The Pagan Love Cult and Byron band The Babe Rainbow.

There will be dances for universal peace, a ceremony honouring Aquarian elders and a welcome to country.

The finale will be by Ghanaian drummer Gabriel Otu, who will lead The Channon Market drum circle in a Big Drum Up for Aquarius.

The 2018 festival will be hosted by the Rainbow Collective, supported by Nimbin Aquarius Foundation, Byron Neighbourhood Resource Centre, The Channon Market and Sustainability Research Institute.

Visit Nimbin Aquarius Foundation Inc's Facebook page for the program.