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ABOUT NIMBIN
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The picturesque alternative echo
village of Nimbin is one hour west of Byron Bay, at
the foothills of the world heritage Border Ranges and
Nightcap National Parks. Once a sacred initiation site
for the Bundjalung tribe, it was settled by white Europeans
in the late 19th century. To make a living the settlers
clear-felled much of the forest, fenced it off from
the local Kooris and were not in favour of those that
objected to being uprooted from their traditional lands
and way of life. Within a few decades they introduced
cattle on the recently cleared slopes and so within
another few decades the once pristine forests surrounding
this area had been transformed into an expanse of denuded,
eroding cow pastures. Nimbin has a subtropical climate,
creeks and waterfalls, rolling forested hills, abundant
wildlife and stunning views. |
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By 1973, Nimbin was almost a ghost
town. Soon after Woodstock, a new hippy counter culture
was born. A bunch of long haired student radicals from
the Australian Union of Students arrived seeking a site
for a national student counter culture life style event
called the Aquarius Festival. It was a music festival,
inspired by the music of Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones,
Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Bob Marley, Led
Zeppelin and many more. Thousands of colourful young
people, mostly students, flocked to Nimbin, and many
stayed. With the hippies came, pot, LSD and psychedelics
drugs.
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Originally
a dairy town, with the demise of the dairy industry
in the 1970's land was cheap and groups of enterprising
people bought land co-operatively and formed "communities".
There are hundreds of communities in and around Nimbin,
ranging from two or three friends to 1000acre blocks
with over 300 members. Some of the communities have
their own schools and shops.
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Many people in Nimbin grow their
own food, build their own houses, and use energy from
natural systems such as the sun, the wind and water. The
Rainbow Power Company, a local initiative, produce and
sell components for alternative energy systems such
as, solar, wind and hydro - power generators.
Nimbin has its own alternative currency, NIMLETS, and
many people engage in barter.
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Nimbin
is a healing centre with practitioners of all kinds
of treatments available including acupuncture, massage,
homeopathy & yoga.
Nimbin has a community centre housing many community
groups like the Nimbin News, Comskool (Nimbin community
school), and the local radio station NimFm.
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A collection point for artists,
some say that Nimbin has the highest concentration of
artists per capita in Australia. Local galleries are
open daily, the annual "Spring arts exhibition"
held in September/October, displays a diverse selection
of Nimbin Art. |
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Nimbin has many cafes and restaurants
and a variety of accommodation from backpackers to self
contained hand crafted cottages in the forest.
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Nimbin's main street is a splendid
vision with shopfronts and footpaths painted by local
artists, sidewalk cafes, busking, dancing, and street
theatre, overlooked by Nimbin rocks, Mountains
in the distance and surrounded by National park. |
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Nimbin is a highly tolerant town
with citizens from all over the globe, an eclectic vibrant
multicultural mix gives Nimbin its personality and warmth.
Visit Nimbin for the experience of a lifetime.
Sacred heartland of the Bundjalung nation.
nimbinaustralia.com
Nimbin
Environment Centre
54 Cullen St, Nimbin, NSW 2480
Far
North Coast Nsw, Northern Rivers, Tweed
(02) 6689 1441
NEXT MEETING
Tuesday 26th April 2011, 5pm
Nimbin Town Hall, School of Arts
47 Cullen Street, Nimbin, NSW 2480
How's
this for a raw deal?
A
big company marches onto your land, sinks a well
without your permission and then proceeds to threaten
your livelihood.
And
it does it all with the consent and approval of
the government.
Now
this would be bad enough if it was happening halfway
across the world in some tin pot dictatorship.
But
this is happening in our backyard. And it's our
laws and our politicians who are letting it happen.
Undermined
GasLand
Jann
Subiaco's Photographs
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