THE BYRON SHIRE ECHO Advertising & news enquiries: Mullumbimby 02 6684 1777 Byron Bay 02 6685 5222 Fax 02 6684 1719 editor@echo.net.au adcopy@echo.net.au http://www.echo.net.au VOLUME 20 #17 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2005 22,300 copies every week $1 at newsagents only
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Vale, Carol Page
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Peace flame to light up carnival
October 30, 1948–September 6, 2005 Carol Page, former Echo journalist and Mullumbimby resident, died in her sleep at her home in Dalgety on Tuesday, aged 56. Her death has come as a heartrending shock to hundreds of people in Byron Shire who knew her as a friend, colleague and remarkably honest, open and loving human being. Carol spent much of her youth in rural NSW. Her father was a senior police officer and Carol experienced a wide variety of communities as he was posted from town to town. Her love of the bush began in this period, and possibly also her tendency towards a nomadic existence. When she was a teenager in Miranda her rebellious ways led her father to board her out with the Lewis family in Moree. Carol brought Sydney, miniskirts and all, to Moree and Moree gave Carol a thorough grounding in horsemanship, which remained a precious element in her life. Carol was a natural rebel. She never took existence for granted. She always pushed it hard, shook it for answers, avoided the easy paths. In 1971 she was in India, sitting at the feet of her master, Maharaji, and the following year returned to Sydney and devoted herself to helping spread his message of inner peace. In 1974 she married David Ransome and
Carol pictured at the Byron Bay Writers Festival last month. Photo Ian Kingston
started to raise a family. They moved up to Byron Shire in the early eighties and after their separation Carol lived for many years in the Yellow House at Main Arm with her growing brood. In 1986 Carol joined the fledgling Echo as typist, bookkeeper, receptionist, sales person and general factotum, but editor Nicholas Shand soon discovered and encouraged her talent for journalism. This talent was rooted in her genuine love for and interest in the wide spectrum of people living in this area. Spend half an hour with Carol and she would know your life history, and you hers, but you would also know that her knowledge valued your individuality and was never used negatively. Her initial friends in the district came from the counter-culture community of her own generation, but she quickly became known and loved by everyone, particularly in Mullumbimby. Her affinity for the bush, most marked in her accomplished equestrian skills, and her restless curiosity led her to a wide circle of friends, from the politically most conservative to the artistically most radical. It was this genius for friendship which gave her writing such appeal, and when she moved to the Snowy Mountains a few years ago, The Echo was the poorer. Nicholas Shand was the love of her life, and though their relationship was tempestuous they shared a reckless, larrikin attitude, and an infectious propensity for partying, which defined the extra-curricular activities of the newspaper for many years. Friends quickly learned that when you were around Carol nothing was simple. Indeed drama was her keynote, although nobody could have been further from a drama queen than outspoken, down-toearth Carol. It was just that drama was embedded in her very existence. When she hitchhiked across the Nullarbor she was picked up by a driver who promptly died, leaving her stranded in the middle of the desert. She nearly died herself when she haemorrhaged during childbirth, again when a semi-trailer ripped into her stationary car in Brunswick Heads, again when she fell into the Nymboida River rapids, and again when a marquee collapsed on her during a storm.
Annabel McLisky passes the World Peace Flame torch to Cassandra Parkinson from the Byron Community Centre where the flame will be permanantly housed. Dru yogis Alina Hughes and Sara Siegelman look on. Photo Jeff ‘In A Piece’ Dawson
An all night prayer vigil to welcome the World Peace Flame (WPF) will be part of the Byron Peace Carnival on September 17. The vigil, to be held at the Butler Street ‘Peace Park’ in Byron Bay ends an evening program of ceremonies and music. The Saturday evening begins with a walk from the lighthouse with visiting peacemakers from the Life Foundation in the UK carrying the WPF torch. Crowds will gather at the park at sunset and watch the ceremonies on giant screens as the flame makes its way from the lighthouse. The WPF will go through three ceremonial gates, the first a welcome by local Arakwal elders; totem lanterns will accompany the candlelit procession. The next gate involves a salute to nature and the elements when the Echo Islanders from the Northern Territory will call in the whales in a sacred beach ceremony not yet seen before by non-indigenous people. The last part of the welcoming involves sacred prayers for peace and light when the Life Foundation symbolically presents the flame to all peoples at the peace pole. Between the ceremonies, the crowd will be entertained by a musical journey on the continued on page 2 main stage that encapsulates the history of
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peacemaking in the area over the last 35 years.The flame will arrive and be presented to Mayor Jan Barham who will accept it on behalf of the Shire. Australian actor Jack Thompson will speak, and the final scene of The Gathering, a film that he is narrating, will be shot at the event. This will be followed by an interfaith ceremony in which local spiritual leaders will light candles from a peace flame cauldron. The evening ends with chanting and a silent prayer vigil, which will extend through the night. Residents are invited to join the vigil to ‘anchor the energy of peace in the Shire’. The World Peace Flame torch will also lead a large colourful street parade on Sunday September 18, with singers, drummers, a giant whale float and hundreds of rainbow peace flags that will make their way through the streets of Byron Bay to the Butler Street Peace Park. At the site there will be music, peace talks, market stalls, a healing village, children’s activities, and festive activities to express the culture of peace. Parking can be found at the market site. For more information on the carnival visit www.byronpeacecarnival.com.
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