I’ve been here living in the area since 1974. So, a few people knew that I was one of the original Aquarians and asked me if I’d be involved. So, I finally had a bit of time, and I went down to a meeting at the Bush Theatre, and I was kind of told that they already had their sub-committees organised and to come back later. So, I left it for a couple of months and then the call went out that they wanted people. So, I came along again, and it was the most amazing, chaotic, disorganised bunch of people fighting amongst themselves, as you do when you’re a group. But I knew that when it actually happened, we’d pull it together, okay.
I wasn’t sure how I could be involved so I said I’d be happy to work on the desk at the front of the hall. I thought that would be alright, just turn up and be on a roster and put in a bit of time. But no, I ended up being it. It was a bit of a shock because I wasn’t prepared for that but you know, you just jump in when you can.
There were some other people that helped out. Thank goodness. They had the usual thing of if you volunteer for X number of hours then you get a free ticket. So, I had a couple of local people, Ruth Miller who’s got one of those memories. She remembers absolutely everything. So, she was great. And Sophia Watson I think, the singer, she was fantastic. And a couple of young people who I’d never met before who just put a bit of time in. They weren’t from the area though.
It was great. I ended up coming every day, putting in really long hours. It was really disorganised at first. People would turn up and show me their phone where they had a ticket and I’d go, “Oh yeah, okay” and give them an armband and off they’d go. And other people would come up with some money and I’d take their money off and give them an armband and off they’d go. And after the end of day two someone said, “Are you marking them off the list?” What list? No list. No list. Never seen a list in my life. So, that was, “Oh, we’ve got to keep a record of who’s coming and who’s paid.” Anyway, we just took their money off their phone. It was madness.
People who came to the desk seeking information were really pleased that it was happening and thanking us profusely for doing what we’re doing. They didn’t know that we were in chaos, but that’s okay.
Every day there was stuff happening in the hall, in other venues around town. I never actually got to go to many things, but I was good at directing people where to go, telling them what to do. Someone would stroll up from the Hemp Embassy with a list and other bits of information were written on blackboards. Some of the information was factual and up-to-date and some of it was confusing and whatever was written there wasn’t happening.
We were kind of a focal point where people could just drop by and tell you what was going on, and they’d ask you questions, and you’d just give them a handle on what was happening on that day.
Rain, rain and rain. And cold. So I was surprised that so many people did turn up and there just always seemed to be lots and lots of people wandering around
- 06:33-06:45
or going into the hall, taking part in the discussion in the hall, going to the bands that were on and yeah, it was good. - 06:45-06:49
And where were they coming from? - 06:49-07:02
Everywhere. People had come from Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, a lot of people down from Queensland, Gold Coast, local of course. - 07:02-07:14
So for some people they hadn’t been back to Nimbin for 30 odd years or more and for some they knew Nimbin well and knew how it functioned. - 07:14-07:22
And did they already know a lot about Aquarius, been to Aquarius festival related events before? - 07:22-07:33
I think most people had come because of the festival, but surprisingly, you know, Nimbin has a lot of people just drop in to check it out. - 07:33-07:40
Surprisingly, the people who came just to check it out found themselves in the middle of a festival and were absolutely gobsmacked. - 07:40-07:44
They just couldn’t believe what they’d walked into. - 07:44-07:56
Oh yeah. And so what kind of chats did you have with people about the festival? - 07:56-08:02
What were the people engaging with? What kind of things did people want to talk about? - 08:02-08:13
What had happened in Nimbin in the 50 years since the festival? How had it progressed? - 08:13-08:18
Lots of people said, “Oh, Nimbin’s really changed.” Well, for fuck’s sake, of course it’s changed. - 08:18-08:22
Everything’s changed in 50 years, you know, like what do you expect? - 08:22-08:26
I just have to be polite. - 08:26-08:29
Not say, “Oh, for fuck’s sake.” - 08:29-08:32
I bet you said, “For fuck’s sake,” once or twice. - 08:32-08:40
Probably. - 08:40-08:45
You mentioned that people were really looking for a sense of community as well. - 08:45-08:51
How did that realisation come to you? What was that story? - 08:51-08:58
One of the discussion days in the hall, that was a focus on community and where to from here - 08:58-09:04
and how do we start new communities, how do we keep the communities going. - 09:04-09:09
So they were focus days in the hall. - 09:09-09:14
I remember one. I don’t know what its title was. - 09:14-09:23
People are interested. They want to know how things work in Nimbin, in the wider area as well. - 09:23-09:28
Some people are desperate to be involved and some are just curious. - 09:28-09:35
I met people who would have loved to have moved to Nimbin but their circumstances wouldn’t allow that. - 09:35-09:41
They weren’t in a situation where they could, but this is where their heart was. - 09:41-09:47
Oh, wow. I remember you saying that people were craving a sense of community. - 09:47-09:50
Would that be accurate? - 09:50-09:52
Yeah. - 09:52-09:56
How do you feel about that? - 09:56-10:02
How do you feel about the sense of community from your time in Nimbin? - 10:02-10:07
I feel very fortunate to be here, to be living in Nimbin - 10:07-10:14
and to be able to be part of what this area has to offer. - 10:14-10:18
There’s so much you can be involved with. - 10:18-10:23
You can sit and draw, you know, over here. It’s wonderful. - 10:23-10:27
Or you can join all sorts of groups here. - 10:27-10:36
I love Nimbin for its community, for its sense of community. - 10:36-10:42
I suppose you would be a really good, then, ambassador and advocate for Nimbin on the front desk - 10:42-10:47
for something like that because you could represent the community as well. - 10:47-10:52
I suppose so. I didn’t think of it like that, but yeah, we’re just filling in a space. - 10:52-10:58
What kind of other community organisations are you involved in? - 10:58-11:01
Now? I mean, all year? - 11:01-11:05
Yeah, over the 50 years even. - 11:05-11:11
My first 18 years of living here, I lived on Nimbinji community - 11:11-11:18
and I was very involved in everything around Nimbinji. - 11:18-11:24
Then I moved to Lismore for five years, but I was still involved in the community. - 11:24-11:27
I worked here in Nimbin, still living in Lismore. - 11:27-11:33
I worked at the hospital for a long, long time. - 11:33-11:42
I’m currently involved in the Nimbin Artist Gallery, Nimbin Garden Club, - 11:42-11:49
Djalumba community, though that’s about to change because we’re moving, - 11:49-11:54
Nimbin CWA, - 11:54-11:58
and I help out here and there where I can. - 11:58-12:03
If there’s something wrong, I’ll turn up with whatever needs doing. - 12:03-12:10
That’s a lot. - 12:10-12:18
Going back to Aquarius 50, how did you feel at the end when it was all done? - 12:18-12:25
What was the feeling for you about what the festival achieved? - 12:25-12:32
What were some of the things that were quite transformative about it? - 12:32-12:35
I don’t know. - 12:35-12:42
For the 1973 festival, ten days just didn’t seem to be enough. - 12:42-12:55
For the 2023 festival, ten days was a long, long time. - 12:55-13:00
Being 50 years older, I was bummed. - 13:00-13:02
What did it achieve? - 13:02-13:15
A sense of, “Aren’t we wonderful? We’ve done such a great job of creating this alternative lifestyle community.” - 13:15-13:22
I mean, community in the largest sense in the whole area. - 13:22-13:25
I don’t know. - 13:25-13:35
When you say alternative lifestyle community, so that original festival wasn’t a one-off event. - 13:35-13:39
It turned into a community of sorts, and it turned into more than a festival. - 13:39-13:47
It turned into a long-term, they call it a social experiment, - 13:47-13:53
but it was more or less living the festival day to day then, was it? - 13:53-13:57
I suppose so. I mean, I was just here, just doing the thing. - 13:57-14:00
I didn’t know I was part of a social experiment. - 14:00-14:07
[Laughter] - 14:07-14:12
I mean, people talk about being conscious of what conscious community. - 14:12-14:19
Well, I kind of fell into it, being part of Numbinji. - 14:19-14:24
I just took it in a stride. It was just the next thing in my life that was happening. - 14:24-14:32
You’re just young. You just leap in. You just do what’s happening at the time and get on with it. - 14:32-14:47
Yeah. So, with all of this archiving project, I did have another quick question about the foyer at the hall. - 14:47-14:54
David was going upstairs and broadcasting on the loudspeaker what was going on to the town as well, - 14:54-15:01
and so you did have – and then there was events going on in the hall right behind you. - 15:01-15:08
So, there was a lot – and it’s a very noisy space as well with all of the traffic and all of the activity. - 15:08-15:10
It must have been quite a lot. - 15:10-15:18
But how did it work with David and the hall and what was going on around you? - 15:18-15:23
He actually popped behind a curtain in the foyer to do it. - 15:23-15:28
That’s where he kept his loudspeaker and light and everything. - 15:28-15:37
It was good. He’s got that sort of slow, very distinct, clear voice. - 15:37-15:43
So, he was announcing fairly regularly what was going to happen. - 15:43-15:49
So, yeah, that was good. I forgot about David. - 15:49-15:54
Yeah, I noticed that that’s a really unique way of doing stuff at a festival. - 15:54-15:58
It’s the whole town as well. He does it at Mardi Gras as well, doesn’t he? - 15:58-16:05
It’s like the whole town hears what’s going on. - 16:05-16:14
And so the other question was in terms of archives. - 16:14-16:25
So, first of all, when we’re making a little page about what happened at Aquarius 50 - 16:25-16:40
and putting that on the website, what kind of things do you think we can tell the visitor to the website about Aquarius 50? - 16:40-16:45
I suppose we can say we’re still here. - 16:45-16:51
We’ve made a success of this social experiment. - 16:51-16:58
I don’t know. - 16:58-17:02
Oh, did you end up reading all of the reports afterwards from different places? - 17:02-17:04
I should share those with you. - 17:04-17:06
No, I didn’t and I haven’t written mine either. - 17:06-17:08
Well, we’re doing it now. - 17:08-17:16
So, let’s think. What else would you like to put in your report? - 17:16-17:23
Much to my horror, I found myself in charge of the money at the front desk. - 17:23-17:27
I had no idea what to do with all these hundreds and hundreds of dollars that were pouring in - 17:27-17:29
or how to keep a record of it. - 17:29-17:34
It’s not my thing doing finances at all. - 17:34-17:41
So, I’d go home at night, drive Sue mad, and I’d spend a couple of hours writing it all out in longhand - 17:41-17:47
and writing the amounts down and what came in as donations and what was ticket sales - 17:47-17:52
and who needed a refund because their father had died and they had to leave. - 17:52-17:56
So, how do you record all that stuff? - 17:56-18:00
And we had a bit of merchandising, so what was merchandising? - 18:00-18:04
And then I’d end up with this bloody great big bag full of money. - 18:04-18:06
So, who do I give it to? - 18:06-18:10
No one’s mentioned what to do with the money. - 18:10-18:16
Suddenly I’ve got money, hundreds and hundreds of dollars of money. - 18:16-18:22
I grabbed Michael Balderstone, who was very involved in the whole thing, - 18:22-18:26
and I said, “Michael, I’ve got all this money. What do I do with it?” - 18:26-18:28
“Oh, I don’t know,” he says. - 18:28-18:33
I said, “Look, I can’t leave it here. I don’t want to be carrying it around with me. - 18:33-18:34
Can I give it to you?” - 18:34-18:36
“Yeah, yeah, give it to me.” - 18:36-18:39
So, I’ve given him all this money, hundreds and hundreds of dollars. - 18:39-18:41
The next day I find him again. - 18:41-18:43
I said, “Look, I’ve got more money for you.” - 18:43-18:49
He says, “Oh, gee, I’ve still got that lot you gave me yesterday in my pocket. - 18:49-18:51
What am I going to do with it?” - 18:51-18:56
Oh, fuck. - 18:56-19:03
And I’m going grey worrying about it, and here he is wandering around with it in his pocket. - 19:03-19:08
Hopefully, the pocket without a hole in it. - 19:08-19:17
So, I mean, you know, I’ve been involved in enough things to know that when it actually happens, - 19:17-19:21
it all comes together well and it looks fantastic. - 19:21-19:27
Underneath there might be all sorts of fighting and undercurrents, - 19:27-19:31
and so that’s what happened. It came together really well. - 19:31-19:35
I don’t think they covered their costs, but, you know. - 19:35-19:37
Again. - 19:37-19:38
They probably covered it. - 19:38-19:47
And in the end of it all, I found the woman at the Hemp Embassy who does the accounts. - 19:47-19:49
So, I very anxiously went to her. - 19:49-19:54
I had pages and pages of all this stuff, all this accounting for money. - 19:54-19:57
She said, “Oh, you’ll be right. Don’t worry about it. You’ll be right.” - 19:57-19:59
Never heard another thing back. - 19:59-20:05
So, I’m assuming that they somehow did some creative accounting and sorted it all out. - 20:05-20:09
So, the fighting is like drama. - 20:09-20:12
Do you find that in a lot of the community organisations? - 20:12-20:14
I think it’s in any organisation. - 20:14-20:15
Yeah. - 20:15-20:17
In the family. - 20:17-20:19
Yeah. - 20:19-20:23
What else would you put in your report? - 20:23-20:27
That probably shouldn’t go in the report, should it? About the money? - 20:27-20:30
No, not all of it, but some of it’s quite funny. - 20:30-20:35
(LAUGHTER) - 20:35-20:44
I’d say that there was – I never saw any really bad behaviour on the street. - 20:44-20:51
Or, you know, like people had a nice time and were really respectful and curious, - 20:51-20:56
wanting to know about Nimbin and how it all worked. - 20:56-20:59
A lot of young people wanting to know about community, - 20:59-21:05
how can they become part of an intentional community. - 21:05-21:09
Yeah, so I thought it went really well. - 21:09-21:11
Oh, great. - 21:11-21:15
And there was stuff happening over in the park as well, across the road? - 21:15-21:22
Yes, there was singing and dancing and food and all sorts of things. - 21:22-21:28
But there was no real organising structure from your point of view then. - 21:28-21:34
If you were at the information hub, there was no – you were making it up as you went along. - 21:34-21:38
Well, not me personally, but – well, I think, no, I mean, - 21:38-21:40
all the stuff in the hall was pretty organised. - 21:40-21:42
Yeah. - 21:42-21:44
And other stuff was kind of a bit ad hoc. - 21:44-21:45
Yeah. - 21:45-21:47
Which is good. - 21:47-21:50
And were there venues from out of town as well - 21:50-21:53
that you were managing as well, what they were doing? - 21:53-21:58
Like Flourish and Church of Aquarius and Jambong Gardens, - 21:58-22:00
how did they get their info to you? - 22:00-22:02
Oh, Church of Aquarius were great. - 22:02-22:05
They came up every day with their list of what they were doing. - 22:05-22:07
Yeah. - 22:07-22:09
The – what’s – is it Flourish that did it? - 22:09-22:11
Yeah. - 22:11-22:12
Black Sheep Farm. - 22:12-22:13
Black Sheep Farm, yeah. - 22:13-22:14
They were very organised. - 22:14-22:18
They came in with their lists of what they were doing. - 22:18-22:21
And Robin at Jambong, yeah. - 22:21-22:23
Yeah. - 22:23-22:25
So, yeah, it was pretty good. - 22:25-22:31
And so that meant – does that kind of mean that there was always something for someone to do? - 22:31-22:39
If someone came to you, you always had – they always had something to go explore? - 22:39-22:42
Yeah, yeah, plenty of things to do. - 22:42-22:43
Yeah. - 22:43-22:46
No one says to me, “I’m bored, I’d give them a job.” - 22:46-22:52
“I’m going to sweep that floor.” - 22:52-22:54
Did that ever happen? - 22:54-22:58
No, it happened with my kid, but – “I’m bored.” - 22:58-22:59
No, you’re not. - 22:59-23:01
Musical. - 23:01-23:06
Oh, so the town was alive and everybody was a part of it and it had – - 23:06-23:12
and it felt like everyone was participating and glad to be here. - 23:12-23:16
Yeah, that’s certainly how it felt to me. - 23:16-23:20
And I suppose – what else is there? - 23:20-23:25
How about Tess and Frank, any questions for Pauline? - 23:25-23:29
I was in bed the whole time, so I didn’t even remember how much of a legend she was - 23:29-23:34
until we got given our money for the bags and T-shirts. - 23:34-23:36
What sold the best, bags or T-shirts? - 23:36-23:39
Oh, I think the T-shirts. - 23:39-23:40
Yeah. - 23:40-23:44
I mean, that was funny with merchandising because I’d mentioned it at a meeting beforehand. - 23:44-23:47
I said, “Oh, what are we doing for merchandising?” - 23:47-23:49
“Oh, nothing.” - 23:49-23:54
And I just happened to have a badge-making machine myself, so I brought that along - 23:54-23:59
and as we were at the desk, I just made badges and we sold them. - 23:59-24:00
Badges? - 24:00-24:02
What’s on the badges? - 24:02-24:07
Oh, the Little Aquarius sticker. - 24:07-24:12
But I reckon we could have had heaps more merchandising and it would have sold really well. - 24:12-24:15
People wanted a little momentum. - 24:15-24:21
The stickers sold well, the bags, the shirts. - 24:21-24:27
But I’m not that organised to get in and do it all myself, but we did it on the run - 24:27-24:29
and it worked out okay. - 24:29-24:32
Fantastic. - 24:32-24:35
I wasn’t there. - 24:35-24:41
How about the age mix of people, whether young and old? - 24:41-24:46
How do you think the young people relate to Aquarius? - 24:46-24:54
The young ones are the ones yearning, yearning for community, I think. - 24:54-24:56
They wanted to be part of community. - 24:56-25:00
They wanted to know how it all worked. - 25:00-25:03
I’m trying to explain that every community is different. - 25:03-25:08
They all work entirely differently and you can’t just walk onto a community and say, - 25:08-25:10
“Here I am, I want to be part of it.” - 25:10-25:16
There’s a lot more structure these days than years ago when that’s exactly what people did. - 25:16-25:20
You go, “Here I am, I’d like to be part of your group.” - 25:20-25:22
“Oh, yes, come in.” - 25:22-25:25
It doesn’t work like that anymore, thank goodness. - 25:25-25:26
Thank goodness? - 25:26-25:32
Yeah, you have to be a bit discerning and people, you know, there’s a lot of rack bags out there. - 25:32-25:34
You’ve got to be careful. - 25:34-25:36
Yeah. - 25:36-25:41
Franca, you got any questions of all four of these? - 25:41-25:45
Not that I can think of off the top of my head. - 25:45-25:47
Franca was in the park singing. - 25:47-25:48
Yeah, that’s great. - 25:48-25:51
And in the exhibition and in the AQ50 exhibition. - 25:51-25:52
Yeah, okay. - 25:52-25:54
Archives out, AQ50. - 25:54-25:56
Yeah. - 25:56-25:58
Let’s see. - 25:58-25:59
What else? - 25:59-26:02
If you were writing a report, what would you put in it? - 26:02-26:03
Whatever you feel like. - 26:03-26:04
What about food? - 26:04-26:06
What happened with the food? - 26:06-26:07
What about the CWA? - 26:07-26:09
Were they involved at all? - 26:09-26:12
I don’t think so. - 26:12-26:15
Harry Grisham’s had their end of the talk. - 26:15-26:17
It was a bit over-catered, wasn’t it? - 26:17-26:19
There was a lot of food. - 26:19-26:21
Oh, you can never have enough food. - 26:21-26:22
People get hungry. - 26:22-26:33
Because I was up at 10 and didn’t go home until dark by 6 or something, it was a big, long day for me. - 26:33-26:41
But I think it was Caroline in the hall kitchen feeding the workers. - 26:41-26:43
So I got fed. - 26:43-26:45
I’d just go and say, “What have you got today?” - 26:45-26:47
And they’d give me a meal. - 26:47-26:49
It was good. - 26:49-26:50
Great. - 26:50-26:54
So the kitchen was going the whole time feeding volunteers and workers. - 26:54-26:55
Yeah. - 26:55-27:00
So were you also more or less an interface for the volunteers that were coming in? - 27:00-27:07
And what kind of things did people volunteer on? - 27:07-27:14
Well, I guess — well, I don’t remember organizing any other volunteers except for just at the desk. - 27:14-27:19
But there was obviously a lot of kitchen volunteers that Caroline had them all sorted. - 27:19-27:22
I suppose there was a clean-up mob. - 27:22-27:24
I don’t know. - 27:24-27:25
Oh, yes. - 27:25-27:27
Oh, the toilets were always difficult. - 27:27-27:32
There was never enough and they were overfilling and people would knock them over down in the car park. - 27:32-27:35
And so that was a bit complicated at times. - 27:35-27:36
Oh, really? - 27:36-27:37
I didn’t realize that. - 27:37-27:46
So Michael’s arrangement of, “We’ll just do the same,” as the Mardi Gras toilets, they weren’t sufficient, really? - 27:46-27:48
Not when they got knocked over. - 27:48-27:49
Oh. - 27:49-27:52
So Mardi Gras was right before. - 27:52-28:02
Mardi Gras was before and the Hemp Embassy kept the toilets here and probably their rubbish system. - 28:02-28:04
I’m not really sure, wasn’t it? - 28:04-28:05
Yeah. - 28:05-28:24
And so, like, if Nimbin were to do the same thing again, would you recommend having it right after Mardi Gras or would you put a different time of year or — - 28:24-28:37
I think May is probably — because it is a May — it was originally a May event and all the other events have been in May that have been held. - 28:37-28:39
I suppose after Mardi Gras is all right. - 28:39-28:43
Mardi Gras is always the first weekend in May. - 28:43-28:46
But for me, I mean, I’m a bit of an old duck. - 28:46-28:50
I’m 78 now. - 28:50-28:59
So 10 days was a bloody long time and I don’t know whether that can be sustained. - 28:59-29:00
Yeah. - 29:00-29:08
Because as well, I don’t know if there’s people coming through to keep doing it given that it was 50 years. - 29:08-29:19
And then, well, you said something interesting as well, which was that people came asking to know what Nimbin was all about. - 29:19-29:32
And I wonder if that kind of event is an opportunity to ask that question more so than other events in Nimbin. - 29:32-29:37
Do you think? - 29:37-29:38
I suppose so. - 29:38-29:40
I don’t really know. - 29:40-29:58
I mean, I volunteer in the gallery, the Nimbin Artists Gallery, and we’ll often have people come in who want to talk about Nimbin and how it works and how the communities work and what’s available in Nimbin. - 29:58-30:03
And if you’ve got time, you can sit and have a good old chat to people. - 30:03-30:07
But I guess, yeah, I suppose the festival did that. - 30:07-30:13
It provided the opportunity for people to find out more and talk about it. - 30:13-30:25
And so how did – so people are aware that there’s more to Nimbin than hemp? - 30:25-30:28
I hope so. - 30:28-30:30
I hope so. - 30:30-30:42
I mean, politics has always been really important to me, so I think Nimbin being a radical town is really important. - 30:42-30:45
It’s an important part of Nimbin to me. - 30:45-30:47
Oh, the political side to Nimbin. - 30:47-30:48
Absolutely. - 30:48-30:55
And does that extend then beyond hemp to other areas in Nimbin for you? - 30:55-30:56
Environment. - 30:56-30:58
Right. - 30:58-31:05
And social justice, the whole gamut of progressive politics. - 31:05-31:15
And so do you think that Nimbin has a special role in those areas? - 31:15-31:24
I don’t know whether it’s a special role, but it certainly is progressive. - 31:24-31:29
Whether it’s more progressive than other places, I really don’t know. - 31:29-31:33
But it’s progressive and I’m pleased about that. - 31:33-31:34
Yeah. - 31:34-31:38
Were you part of any of the rainforest blockades yourself or was any of that? - 31:38-31:40
The Terrania a little bit, yeah. - 31:40-31:41
You were? - 31:41-31:46
Oh, and Mount Marti a bit, but not a lot, no. - 31:46-32:02
And then you kind of obviously have been active in social justice and the environment too with your work in the community. - 32:02-32:04
Yeah. - 32:04-32:07
And your partner’s quite political too. - 32:07-32:09
She is, yes. - 32:09-32:10
A radical? - 32:10-32:12
A radical, yeah. - 32:12-32:15
What does radical mean? - 32:15-32:20
Damn definer. - 32:20-32:32
It used to be labelled a left-wing rat bag, but now it’s just being progressive, doing the same thing. - 32:32-32:34
But okay. - 32:34-32:37
So, yeah, why do you think that’s so important? - 32:37-32:40
Why was it imported in 1973? - 32:40-32:43
Why is it important today? - 32:43-33:05
In ’73 we had Whitlip in power and it virtually heralded in a new age, a new progressive age for women, absolutely, for progressive politics. - 33:05-33:11
There was a hope that things were going to get better quickly. - 33:11-33:17
The revolution was just around the corner and I was ready for it. - 33:17-33:21
Because what came before? - 33:21-33:26
What were you getting away from? - 33:26-33:34
Well, very conservative, liberal politics. - 33:34-33:38
And the mainstream lifestyle, I suppose. - 33:38-33:47
Yes, I’ve always been a bit weird, I suppose. - 33:47-33:53
I’ve got my old album just to show you. - 33:53-34:05
It’s not unusual these days for young people to be involved in progressive politics, but when I was growing up it was pretty unusual. - 34:05-34:15
So even from school I was involved in the Easter, all the Marston peace marches. - 34:15-34:23
It was frowned upon to be left wing in those days, but of course. - 34:23-34:36
And stayed involved in anti-conscription, anti-Vietnam stuff, and that kind of morphed into environmental issues. - 34:36-35:03
So what’s your experience of Aquarius in particular in terms of feminist politics or being a woman in Nimbin? - 35:03-35:08
How do you feel that that panned out through Aquarius and afterwards? - 35:08-35:14
Was it something that was being talked about in ’73? - 35:14-35:17
Yep. - 35:17-35:29
And when I came to live here in January ’74, live here full time, there wasn’t all that many of us alternatives around. - 35:29-35:37
We kind of spread around out in the hills, in cow sheds and tents and shanties and the whole bit. - 35:37-35:44
So with the women, we very quickly had a women’s group going. - 35:44-35:49
And I think that might have started in ’74 or ’75. - 35:49-35:53
And we met in the Rainbow Cafe one night a week. - 35:53-36:00
And it was really important. It was really supportive to be part of that group. - 36:00-36:13
Because we’d left living wherever we’d been living under good conditions and come to the bush and living pretty rough, pretty basic. - 36:13-36:18
And for a lot of women, and it was baby time, baby making time too. - 36:18-36:24
So a lot of women were pregnant and had little kids and were living pretty rugged. - 36:24-36:35
And found that they were thrown back into traditional roles out of necessity, I suppose. - 36:35-36:38
Everyone was really poor. No one had any spare money. - 36:38-36:47
Most people were either on the dole or they’d go away working for six months and come back with a bit of money and live off that for a bit. - 36:47-36:52
So the women’s, I’ve always been involved in the women’s movement. - 36:52-36:58
And that was so important to have the women’s group as a good support group. - 36:58-37:05
And then you’d hear men around town, they’d go, “Oh, we should have a men’s group. We should have a men’s group.” - 37:05-37:08
And they never got around to doing anything about it. - 37:08-37:16
So one of the women wrote a poster, “Men’s group, blah, blah, blah, night, meet here.” - 37:16-37:21
And put the posters up. And all these men turned up for their men’s group. - 37:21-37:30
“Oh, who put the sign up?” No one had a clue that it was one of the women. - 37:30-37:32
They didn’t last long in the men’s group. - 37:32-37:37
But how long did the women’s group last? - 37:37-37:47
Well, I went to Pine Gap Women’s Peace Camp in ’73 with a big contingent of women from the North Coast. - 37:47-37:50
We filled a huge bus full. - 37:50-37:59
And the women’s group was still going then, just from my shock and old memory. - 37:59-38:08
So it was still going then, but things got a bit easier for people and things changed. - 38:08-38:14
But at the drop of a hat, women can form a group again. That’s no problem. - 38:14-38:15
You think so? - 38:15-38:16
Yep. - 38:16-38:18
[laughter] - 38:18-38:20
[child crying] - 38:20-38:22
Can I get a cup of coffee? - 38:22-38:39
So, how about, did you have any experience of the rainbow community in terms of how was sexuality expressed at Aquarius - 38:39-38:48
and also in the community beyond, if you’re happy to talk about that? - 38:48-38:52
I guess it was really different for everyone. - 38:52-39:04
When I came to Aquarius in ’73, I was in an open relationship, so I could do what I wanted to really, with whom I wanted to. - 39:04-39:13
I guess I was very lucky. I had lots of interesting and good sexual experiences. - 39:13-39:22
And the same living in Bingee, again in an open relationship. - 39:22-39:30
Yeah, I don’t, personally, I didn’t feel that I was exploited or used. - 39:30-39:37
Maybe I used people. Who knows? I don’t know. - 39:37-39:39
What was the question? - 39:39-39:47
I suppose sexuality was part of Aquarius in ’73, and a sexual liberation. - 39:47-39:48
Yeah. - 39:48-40:01
And then now, how does it feel 50 years later? What is the Nimbin community like in terms of the sexual revolution? - 40:01-40:03
I don’t know. - 40:03-40:09
You don’t notice any… - 40:09-40:12
Yeah. - 40:12-40:17
We’ve probably all gotten a little bit more conservative and careful. - 40:17-40:19
You think so? - 40:19-40:24
Well, I don’t know. That’s the thing. I don’t know. - 40:24-40:27
I don’t know about people’s personal lives. - 40:27-40:33
Right. So do you think that there’s a gay and lesbian community in Nimbin? - 40:33-40:34
Yep. - 40:34-40:40
There is. And they are welcome to feel safe here. - 40:40-40:42
Yep. I think so. - 40:42-40:56
I mean, there’s always been, Tunable’s always had a whole range of transgender people on Tunable. - 40:56-41:00
And that’s, as far as I know, it’s always been acceptable. - 41:00-41:06
Yeah. Did you ever talk to T. Cosey about his oral history? Is that what he’s recording? - 41:06-41:08
No. No. - 41:08-41:10
Yeah. - 41:10-41:12
He was on Tunable early, wasn’t he? - 41:12-41:13
Yeah. - 41:14-41:19
Yeah. So, let’s see. - 41:19-41:25
I’m more broadly speaking. Anything that… Oh, there was two questions. - 41:25-41:31
Any particular stories that cracked you up? The 50th. - 41:31-41:37
Any particular yarns that you had about something happened? - 41:37-41:44
One of the times I was in the foyer, someone came out of the hall and very distressed and said, - 41:44-41:50
“There’s a man in there dancing around naked. What are we going to do about it?” - 41:50-41:56
So, I thought, “Oh, I don’t know what I’m going to do about it. Why should it have to be me?” - 41:56-42:00
I thought, “All those years we were naked for years and years and years.” - 42:00-42:04
But it wasn’t in town. It was out on the communities where we lived. - 42:04-42:09
So, went in and, yes, he was having a wonderful time dancing around naked. - 42:09-42:12
And there was good music on, so why not get up and dance? - 42:12-42:16
But it really did distress some people. - 42:16-42:20
And one person said, “There’s children here.” - 42:20-42:24
I thought, “Oh, dear. Okay.” - 42:24-42:29
And he had a sarong around his waist, but it was just kind of tied on like a belt. - 42:29-42:35
I said, “Oh, look, excuse me. Some people don’t want you to be naked in the hall. - 42:35-42:38
Would you mind covering up?” - 42:38-42:42
He said, “Oh, no problem at all.” So, he whacked his sarong on and just continued to dance. - 42:42-42:45
So, everyone was happy about it in the end. - 42:45-42:50
But it was–I found it an interesting little interlude. - 42:50-42:54
(LAUGHTER) - 42:54-42:57
I would live like that. - 42:57-43:00
(LAUGHTER) - 43:00-43:05
Oh, yeah. Any other little stories? - 43:05-43:08
Oh, thank God. - 43:08-43:18
And more broadly speaking, I suppose Wendy recorded you for Aquarius movie. - 43:18-43:29
Were there any stories after you shared with Wendy, anything else you wanted to record? - 43:29-43:32
– No. – No? Good one. - 43:32-43:35
Thank you. Thanks so much. - 43:35-43:42
Let’s see. Have we recorded everything that you wanted to say in your report? - 43:42-43:45
– I suppose so, yeah. – Oh, good one. - 43:45-43:50
Okay, so this recording is just to transcribe and use in a report. - 43:50-43:56
And what I’ll do is I’ll transcribe it and I’ll do a little bit of editing - 43:56-43:58
so that it makes sense in the written form. - 43:58-44:03
And then I’ll email it to you and maybe I’ll highlight some bits - 44:03-44:09
that I feel like would be really good to have on the website. - 44:09-44:13
And what I’m planning on doing is all of the reports that were made, - 44:13-44:22
I’m going to give them all a bit of a separate section of what people reported about the festival. - 44:22-44:27
But it’s just going to be a way of presenting– - 44:27-44:32
I’m going to turn it more into a story about what happened at Aquarius 50. - 44:32-44:40
So, I’ll think about how to include your story as part of that. - 44:40-44:47
So, let’s see, anything else about your story about Aquarius 50? - 44:47-44:49
What haven’t we covered? Anything? - 44:49-44:54
Tess, Franca, before Pauline has nothing further to say? - 44:54-44:58
Before Pauline’s– poor stories! She got less to say. - 44:58-45:00
What about volunteers? - 45:00-45:03
Like, how did it go getting volunteers together? - 45:03-45:06
Was it easy getting people to come and get engaged and helpful? - 45:06-45:08
Did you find yourself doing that? - 45:08-45:10
Because it sounds, from what you’re describing, - 45:10-45:14
you ended up with this massive responsibility and massive workload– - 45:14-45:15
The bloody money. - 45:15-45:20
–as one unit between the interface, between the event and– - 45:20-45:25
Well, no, see, I think that the food, they organised their own volunteers, - 45:25-45:31
and I’m sure the cleaning people probably organised their own too. - 45:31-45:34
So, I was really just doing the front desk, - 45:34-45:37
and there was a couple of people who were on as volunteers, - 45:37-45:44
and I was so pleased with them, they didn’t come back because they were absolutely useless. - 45:44-45:47
But the ones who stuck with it were fantastic. - 45:47-45:52
Really good with people and happy and cheerful. - 45:52-45:57
Because I’m a bit of a grump, so it’s nice to have some cheerful people there. - 45:57-46:00
And cheer ourselves about. - 46:00-46:03
Nobody just called it like it is. - 46:03-46:09
We might need a black book of Nimbin volunteers. - 46:09-46:14
Well, yeah, Nimbin is a bit of a volunteer community, really, isn’t it? - 46:14-46:16
Well, it certainly is, yeah. - 46:16-46:20
I mean, recently I put together that list of volunteer organisations - 46:20-46:23
that got printed in the Good Times, - 46:23-46:29
and I was surprised at how many organisations there are that run on volunteers. - 46:29-46:33
And then, you know, it got printed and then everyone said, “Oh, but you forgot blah, blah, blah,” - 46:33-46:38
and then you didn’t put in blah, blah, blah, so there are at least another ten more. - 46:38-46:39
Wow. - 46:39-46:40
So, yeah. - 46:40-46:43
But maybe lots of communities run on volunteers too. - 46:43-46:47
I think that we’ve got a– - 46:47-46:48
Yeah. - 46:48-46:50
It seems to be a sort of– - 46:50-46:52
It seems to be–I’m not entirely sure, - 46:52-46:56
but it seems to be a bit of a chasm between old-time volunteers - 46:56-47:00
who’ve got it in their bones and in their cells - 47:00-47:03
and young volunteers who– - 47:03-47:09
young people don’t necessarily have that culture of volunteerism. - 47:09-47:11
I mean, it’s hard to get young volunteers around here. - 47:11-47:17
The volunteers that we engage with tend to be old people flicking their hands. - 47:17-47:19
But that’s how it’s always been, I think. - 47:19-47:20
Is it? - 47:20-47:21
I think so. - 47:21-47:22
Yeah. - 47:22-47:23
Okay. - 47:23-47:28
And whether it’s because young people don’t have the time - 47:28-47:31
or the commitment or whatever it is, I don’t know, - 47:31-47:36
but it’s really not until you’ve got a bit of time on your hands - 47:36-47:40
that you can step up to a volunteer role, I think. - 47:40-47:42
I had time when I was working– - 47:42-47:45
when I was working on the Dole, and I didn’t have a job. - 47:45-47:46
And you volunteered. - 47:46-47:50
I had time to volunteer, but, yeah, I don’t think that these days there’s that option. - 47:50-47:54
Young people don’t want to go on the Dole and just go and volunteer. - 47:54-47:55
Yeah. - 47:55-47:59
That’s how I like it. - 47:59-48:03
But I think one of Nimbin’s unique things - 48:03-48:10
is the amount of buildings that are owned by the community in the village. - 48:10-48:17
I think that’s quite astounding and a real credit to the community. - 48:17-48:20
And part of the legacy of Aquarius as well, yeah. - 48:20-48:25
Yeah, yeah. - 48:25-48:26
Okay. - 48:26-48:29
Thank you. - 48:29-48:32
I have been interviewed. - 48:32-48:33
You do? You hate it. - 48:33-48:35
You’re really wonderful at it. - 48:35-48:36
Am I? - 48:36-48:38
Yeah, very natural. - 48:38-48:43
You warmed up a little bit, but I can tell that you hated this microphone business. - 48:43-48:48
You hate it. - 48:48-48:56
Oh, yeah, because usually when I talk to you, you’re pretty– - 48:56-48:58
what’s the word–quick. - 48:58-49:01
You’re like, “Bang, bang.” - 49:01-49:07
I can see the wheel turning a little bit when I’m interviewing you. - 49:07-49:11
Rusty wheels. - 49:11-49:14
Okay, I’m going to put–stop.