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 Available early Tuesday at: http://www.echo.net.au VOLUME 22 #39 TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 2008 22,700 copies every week Printed on 100% recycled paper
BYRON HARMONY DAY Celebrating diversity and community spirit
O F T E N
F O L D E D ,
N E V E R
Program on page 20
C R U S H E D
An evening of escape from orthodox thought
Celebrate diversity on Harmony Day
The Northern Rivers Writers’ Centre recently announced it was thrilled to be hosting an evening with the matriach of modern feminism, Germaine Greer, at the Byron Bay Community and Cultural Centre on Tuesday March 18. The Australian writer and journalist is UK based but will be in the region presenting Shakespeare’s Wife: an evening with Germaine Greer. Ms Greer gained her PhD from Cambridge University with a thesis on Shakespeare’s early comedies,
Rhythm and Foods, Tommy Moto and Manie Shika, will be laying down some African hip hop beats and cooking up a few wicked African treats at next Saturday’s Harmony Day Festival. Photo Jeff ‘White Men Can’t Bump’ Dawson
Byron Harmony Day, a clebration of multiculturalism, will be held this Saturday at Railway Park and at the Byron Bay Community Cultural Centre from 12 noon to 10pm. ‘Byron Harmony Day will feature many of our local ethnic communities sharing their own cultural riches – dances, food, music,
poetry, martial arts and visual arts will be presented by local people of culturally diverse backgrounds such as Aboriginal, African, Indonesian, Spanish, Thai, Japanese, Greek, Irish, Scottish, Latin American, Chinese, Ukranian, Armenian, Indian, German, Islander, Afro-Brazilian, Mexican, French and Israeli,’ say organisers.
‘It’s an occasion for feasting and celebration, of people coming together.The Byron Harmony Day Festival aims to be a day of great rejoicing and fun. ‘How many of us are aware that in Mullumbimby there are over 28 nationalities represented within the community including 15 people of Chinese backgrounds, 11 Croatian,
47 Dutch, 69 Italian, 14 Maori, 10 Filipino etc. In Byron Bay nearly 20% of the population speak a language other that English at home, the highest percentages being German, Italian and Japanese, and a sixth of Byron Bay residents are from non-English speaking ancestry.’ continued on page 8
Plans for West Byron expansion under scrutiny Michael McDonald Byron Shire Councillors this week have to consider two large development proposals for the west of Byron Bay – the ‘applicant-intiated’ development control plan (DCP) for the five hectare ‘Bayshore Village’ off Bayshore Drive,
and whether or not to include in the current preparation of the shirewide Local Environmental Plan (LEP) lands known as ‘Area 2’ off Ewingsdale Road. The Bayshore Village proposal is for light industrial and residential precincts, a mixed use commercial
and retail area, and a habitat restoration zone. Plans for the Area 2 lands, which include Belongil Fields, have included a retirement village and a residential development of some 200 residences. The preamble to the staff report does not make it easy for Council-
lors to identify the best decision to make on potentially large developments at West Byron. It fails to even identify all landowners and presents a mish-mash of possibilities, although the planning director does note there is insufficient continued on page 2
and has taught Shakespearean studies at universities in Australia, Britain and the US. Shakespeare’s Wife was released as a book in 2007 and was quickly celebrated as Ms Greer’s most controversial book since The Female Eunuch. Leading lights in the worlds of history and literature pounced on the highly contentious and brilliantly argued hypotheses set forth and debate still rages. Germaine Greer has been in the business of jolting people out of established theories and complacent thought for decades. For an evening of entertainment, education and escape from orthodox thought, join Germaine Greer at the Byron Community Centre from 7pm. Tickets are available at the Centre or by calling 6685 6807. All tickets $25, NRWC members and students $20.