Nimbin, New South Wales

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Nimbin New South Wales
Nimbin Village 1979
Population:	352[1]
Postcode:	2480
Location:	779 km (484 mi) NE of Sydney 181 km (112 mi) S of Brisbane 35 km (22 mi) N of Lismore 50 km (31 mi) SW of Murwillumbah 33 km (21 mi) E of Kyogle
LGA:	City of Lismore
State District:	Lismore
Federal Division:	Page

Nimbin is a small village in the Northern Rivers area of the Australian state of New South Wales, approximately 30 km north of Lismore, 33 km southeast of Kyogle, and 70 km west of Byron Bay.

Contents 1 Cannabis culture and MardiGrass 1.1 Police response 2 Nimbin's local economy 3 Accommodation and attractions 4 Gallery 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

The area is part of what is known as the 'Rainbow Region' and is culturally important to the Bundjalung Aboriginal Australians and has become a haven for Australia's counterculture in recent decades.^[2]

At the 2006 census^[1] Nimbin had a population of 352, compared to 321 at the 2001 census^[3]. However Nimbin's 'head count' did not include the many Multiple Occupancy rural properties, the hippy communes for which it is most famous. The region's high rural population (35 percent of Lismore residents according to the census) means Nimbin services a surrounding rural area of around three thousand people.

Nimbin had the highest unemployment rate in the Lismore Local Government Area in 2006, 18.1 percent^[1].

Nimbin was a sleepy dairy town until 1973, when the Aquarius Festival, a large gathering of university students, practitioners of alternative lifestyles, 'hippies' and party people, was held in the town.^[4] After the festival many participants and festival goers remained in Nimbin to form communes and other multiple occupancy communities. Since the Aquarius Festival, the region has attracted many writers, artists, musicians, actors, environmentalists and permaculture enthusiasts. The most prominent recreational substance of choice in Nimbin is cannabis. Writer Austin Pick described his initial impressions of the town this way: "It is as if a smoky avenue of Amsterdam has been placed in the middle of the mountains behind frontier-style building facades. ... Nimbin is a strange place indeed."^[5]

[edit] Cannabis culture and MardiGrass

In New South Wales, the cultivation, selling and possession of cannabis is illegal. In Nimbin all three activities are part of every day hippie culture. Nimbin has a high tolerance for cannabis plant (marijuana), with the open buying, selling and consumption of locally grown cannabis on the streets and laneways.

To rally for an end to the prohibition of cannabis in Australia, Nimbin holds its annual MardiGrass festival. On the first weekend with any part of it in May, thousands descend on Nimbin for cannabis oriented fun and frivolity. Activities include: a Prohibition Protest Rally and Parade with the Ganja Faeries, the Nimbin Cannabis Cup, the Hemp Olympix, which includes the Bong "Throw'n'Yell", Joint Rolling, and the Grower's Iron Person event, where runners must first carry a 20kg sack of fertiliser, then a bucket of water, and finally "the crop", as a tribute to the difficulties faced by growers in the hills, and to show that cannabis users can be fit and healthy. At night, entertainment ranges from the Harvest Ball and Picker's Ball, rave doof parties, to poetry and jazz in local cafes.^[6]

There are a number of shops in Nimbin geared to the cannabis culture.

• The Nimbin Hemp Embassy is a "soft entry point for drug information", and a shop selling anything to do with Hemp, except cannabis itself.
• Clothing & natural skin products using industrial hemp products.
• The Nimbin HEMP Bar used to allow the patrons to smoke cannabis while enjoying fresh coffee and cake. In April 2008 police announced their intention to close the HEMP Bar and Museum. Landlords were sent letters to this effect. Rather than cause legal problems for their landlord, the HEMP Bar crew voluntarily closed the doors and moved out. The HEMP Bar is open for 2009 as a coffee and hemp information centre, but smoking is no longer encouraged.
• The Nimbin Museum is a collection of local artefacts, local art,and alternative culture open for tour. Admission is gained by donation of a gold coin. The Museum has managed to stay open despite threat of closure. It may still be closed if too many drug offences continue to be detected on the premises.

[edit] Police response

The Richmond Police local area commander, Superintendent Bruce Lyons vowed to ‘shut down the drug trade’ after the 2008 MardiGrass Festival^[7].

In April a squad of around 50 officers conducted searches and sent letters to the Nimbin Museum and the Hemp Bar leaseholders indicating an intention to seek closure orders under the Restricted Premises Act of 1943 for the MardiGrass weekend. The buildings were searched including the adjoining Hemp Embassy. Eight people were arrested and police seized four kilograms of cannabis and cannabis ‘cookies’^{[8] [9]}.

The Restricted Premises Act allows for the closure of premises for three days. Orders may be obtained weekly. The Museum soon reopened with a new leaseholder. The Hemp Bar remained closed for eight months, and reopened in January.

2007 and 2008 saw increasing violence in Nimbin’s main street, much of it drug-related according to Police^{[10] [11] [12]}. Local residents thought street dealers were waging ‘turf wars’. Some locals welcomed the Police operation; others said it was 'overkill' while others said the Police didn’t go far enough^{[8] [9]}.

There was no significant decrease in crime during the eight months of the Hemp Bar closure, so long as other venues that tolerated the sale of marijuana in the past remained open or reopened. The Police action effectively drove the problem back out into the street. The Museum adjoins Nimbin’s notorious Rainbow Lane where much of the violence escalated and continues unabated. A tourist was seriously assaulted along with his fiancee and one of her children in the 'Laneway' in December. ^[13]

[edit] Nimbin's local economy

• Tourism: Usually higher during late summer/spring, Nimbin is a major tourist attraction with organised tours frequenting the town.
• Backpackers: As Nimbin is regarded as an international mecca for its eccentricity, colourful people and the cannabis culture; it attracts backpackers from over the world who spend money in the town at its various accommodation houses, retail outlets and New Age healing centres. Workshops held in the surrounding areas on ecology and self sufficiency contribute to the towns revenue.
• Property: In 2004 the region was experiencing a property boom, as many left the cities for an alternative lifestyle or tree-change, and large farms were being subdivided into smaller blocks for sale.
• Alternative Energy/Culture/Lifestyle: Many green industries operate in Nimbin include the Rainbow Power Company, Djanbung Permaculture Gardens, Nimbin Environment Centre, Ecosilk Bags and the Nimbin Candle Factory.
• Health & Lifestyle: New Age healing is available in almost every form, and the local arts are thriving with many galleries and arts events.^[14]

[edit] Accommodation and attractions

Nimbin is serviced by a police station, hospital and medical centre, restaurants, cafes and a pub. A wide variety of accommodation is available for visitors, from camping grounds and youth hostels, to bush cabins and hotels.

Other nearby attractions:^[2]

• Nimbin Rocks, a series of jagged outcrops, solidified plugs left after the erosion of volcanic dykes and vents & Blue Knob that are both landmarks for the village.
• Mt Warning (known as Wollumbin to the Bundjalung people) is close by, the summit of which is the first point of mainland Australia to see the sunrise. The summit of Mt. Warning can be climbed via an 8km track through forested slopes. Mount Warning is the solid plug at the centre of a caldera containing the Tweed River, where, millions of years ago, a volcano once stood. Nimbin lies on the edge of that ancient volcano.
• Nightcap National Park is one of the few remaining places to see the remnants of the Big Scrub rainforest.
• There are many local creeks and rivers for swimming

[edit] Gallery

Nimbin NSW Australia	1979 Nimbin art	Nimbin Rocks, near Nimbin NSW Australia	Nimbin 1979
1979 Nimbin street doorway	Welcome sign to the village	Nimbin shop 1979	Nimbin 2008

[edit] See also

• Nightcap National Park
• Protected areas of New South Wales (Australia)
• ConFest, a long-running annual gathering

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Nimbin Web: Community Directory
• Nimbin Australia: Links & Info
• Nimbin MardiGrass Official Site
• ABC News Australia: Nimbin News Thread
• Small pictorial on Nimbin and the nearby Nightcap National park
• Nimbin Accommodation & Transport Guide
• Nimbin Heads: Hour-long documentary "snapshot" of Nimbin Culture at YouTube
• FudoMouth: "we doze in a sunspot coma" - An American traveler's wiggy account of a roadtrip through the Nimbin Valley

Coordinates: 28°36′S 153°14′E / 28.6°S 153.233°E / -28.6; 153.233