Mullumbimby's Madness - the Legacy of the Hippies
Australia's 'Biggest Little Town' of Mullumbimby in northern New South Wales was dying. The dairy farmers and banana growers were walking away from the land. Then came a wave - a 'naked hairy wave' as a newspaper editor later described it - of new settlers who converged on the district.
It was the dawn of the Australian hippies in the early 1970s and they experimented with strange building methods, a lack of clothing, moon dances and free love - and the drug marijuana, which changed the town in some unexpected ways.
In this film commissioned by the Brunswick Valley Historical Society Inc, Sharon Shostak, child of the counterculture and creator of The Echo Doco and the award-winning Tish Ho, weaves together intimate snapshots with entertainingly articulate 'new settlers' now turned eccentric elders and some of the farmers and townsfolk who encountered them.
Also featuring renowned Australian journalist, Kerry O'Brien, who was one of the first to report to the nation on the Aquarian revolution. Mullumbimby's Madness boasts a wealth of newly uncovered archival footage and photographic treasures to give you a taste of what the weird invasion was really like. Turn it on, drop into it, and trip out.
AVAILABLE ON DVD - CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE NOW
Mullumbimby's Magic - the culture of the 70s-80s
part one: Health and Wellbeing
Following on from the highly popular Mullumbimby’s Madness – the Legacy of the Hippies is this new documentary series by Sharon Shostak: Mullumbimby’s Magic – the Culture of the 70s-80s.
This fantastic 3-part series covers the emergence of the alternate culture in Mullumbimby and surrounds. The first in the series features the advent of the search for health and wellbeing, and tells how Santos Health Foods started in the back of a ute delivering dry goods to the hill dwellers, the first Hippie eatery known as the Sunflower Restaurant, the first yoga classes, the first home-birth doctor and how that evolved, and the first alternative medical practitioners – Acupuncturists, Homeopaths and herbalists; so many amazing stories.
In this film commissioned by Brunswick Valley Historical Society Inc, Sharon Shostak, child of the counter culture and award-winning filmmaker once again preserves our region's alternate culture stories in her wonderfully entertaining and informative way. Health and Wellbeing is part one of Mullumbimby’s Magic – the Culture of the 70s-80s, and unearths more rare photographs, film and video footage never seen before by the general public.
AVAILABLE ON DVD ans USB - CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE NOW
part two Activism and Politics
The Mullumbimby area and Byron Shire in the 70s-80s was a seeding ground for the birth of a multitude of alternative practices and ideals that have taken root throughout society today, via the phenomenal convergence of a new settlement by the so-called hippies.
This second documentary in the culture series, and third film commissioned by the Brunswick Valley Historical Society, documents the birth and development of environmental and social awareness, that pushed those early new settlers to achieve world-first successes in important environment protections that are now taken for granted.
Part two - Activism and Politics features those seminal battles: the spraying of poisons, the Federal dam proposal, the lobbying for the right to share land, the Terania blockade, the birth of alternative publications, the marijuana raids that became a civil rights issue, and how the alternative ethos slowly took over Council, are all amazing stories told by those who were there, and delivered in Sharon Shostak’s usual informative and entertaining style, rich with rare archival photos and film.
AVAILABLE ON DVD and USB - CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE NOW
part three The Arts
The final in the Culture series turns a lens to the evolution of the first music venues - the Arts Factory, the Music Farm, Fowlers Lane and the famous Moondances, the first outdoor concert in Byron, the popularity and pitfalls of the small country halls, and the first World Music promoter. The Bush Telegraph newspaper that predates The Echo, and the incredible story of how the community hand-built their "hippie hall". The Chincogan Fiesta which took over Mullumbimby in September, how the first Arts Gallery evolved with the first artists, the first filmmakers and photographers, and the first music club/craft centre. The first candle-maker turned glassblower selling at the first markets, the proliferation of theatre groups, featuring the Non-Specific Players and the Federal Theatre Co, with talented technicians, actors and gender blenders and more - all amazing stories told by those who were there, with rare archival images and illuminated in Sharon Shostak’s famously entertaining style.
Australia's 'Biggest Little Town' of Mullumbimby in northern New South Wales was dying. The dairy farmers and banana growers were walking away from the land. Then came a wave - a 'naked hairy wave' as a newspaper editor later described it - of new settlers who converged on the district.
It was the dawn of the Australian hippies in the early 1970s and they experimented with strange building methods, a lack of clothing, moon dances and free love - and the drug marijuana, which changed the town in some unexpected ways.
In this film commissioned by the Brunswick Valley Historical Society Inc, Sharon Shostak, child of the counterculture and creator of The Echo Doco and the award-winning Tish Ho, weaves together intimate snapshots with entertainingly articulate 'new settlers' now turned eccentric elders and some of the farmers and townsfolk who encountered them.
Also featuring renowned Australian journalist, Kerry O'Brien, who was one of the first to report to the nation on the Aquarian revolution. Mullumbimby's Madness boasts a wealth of newly uncovered archival footage and photographic treasures to give you a taste of what the weird invasion was really like. Turn it on, drop into it, and trip out.
AVAILABLE ON DVD - CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE NOW
Mullumbimby's Magic - the culture of the 70s-80s
part one: Health and Wellbeing
Following on from the highly popular Mullumbimby’s Madness – the Legacy of the Hippies is this new documentary series by Sharon Shostak: Mullumbimby’s Magic – the Culture of the 70s-80s.
This fantastic 3-part series covers the emergence of the alternate culture in Mullumbimby and surrounds. The first in the series features the advent of the search for health and wellbeing, and tells how Santos Health Foods started in the back of a ute delivering dry goods to the hill dwellers, the first Hippie eatery known as the Sunflower Restaurant, the first yoga classes, the first home-birth doctor and how that evolved, and the first alternative medical practitioners – Acupuncturists, Homeopaths and herbalists; so many amazing stories.
In this film commissioned by Brunswick Valley Historical Society Inc, Sharon Shostak, child of the counter culture and award-winning filmmaker once again preserves our region's alternate culture stories in her wonderfully entertaining and informative way. Health and Wellbeing is part one of Mullumbimby’s Magic – the Culture of the 70s-80s, and unearths more rare photographs, film and video footage never seen before by the general public.
AVAILABLE ON DVD ans USB - CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE NOW
part two Activism and Politics
The Mullumbimby area and Byron Shire in the 70s-80s was a seeding ground for the birth of a multitude of alternative practices and ideals that have taken root throughout society today, via the phenomenal convergence of a new settlement by the so-called hippies.
This second documentary in the culture series, and third film commissioned by the Brunswick Valley Historical Society, documents the birth and development of environmental and social awareness, that pushed those early new settlers to achieve world-first successes in important environment protections that are now taken for granted.
Part two - Activism and Politics features those seminal battles: the spraying of poisons, the Federal dam proposal, the lobbying for the right to share land, the Terania blockade, the birth of alternative publications, the marijuana raids that became a civil rights issue, and how the alternative ethos slowly took over Council, are all amazing stories told by those who were there, and delivered in Sharon Shostak’s usual informative and entertaining style, rich with rare archival photos and film.
AVAILABLE ON DVD and USB - CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE NOW
part three The Arts
The final in the Culture series turns a lens to the evolution of the first music venues - the Arts Factory, the Music Farm, Fowlers Lane and the famous Moondances, the first outdoor concert in Byron, the popularity and pitfalls of the small country halls, and the first World Music promoter. The Bush Telegraph newspaper that predates The Echo, and the incredible story of how the community hand-built their "hippie hall". The Chincogan Fiesta which took over Mullumbimby in September, how the first Arts Gallery evolved with the first artists, the first filmmakers and photographers, and the first music club/craft centre. The first candle-maker turned glassblower selling at the first markets, the proliferation of theatre groups, featuring the Non-Specific Players and the Federal Theatre Co, with talented technicians, actors and gender blenders and more - all amazing stories told by those who were there, with rare archival images and illuminated in Sharon Shostak’s famously entertaining style.