add site
services
publishers
database
health videos
toolbar
stats
live show
health store
more stuff
JOIN/LOGIN
| advertise add site services publishers database health videos
| | about toolbar stats live show health store more stuff JOIN/LOGIN |
New South Wales Orthodontist Directory - Find NSW Orthodontist Websites... florida.orthodontist-dire... | Dental Board of New South Wales dentalboardnsw.org.au |
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.
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 MardiGrassMain article: 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.
 [edit] Police responseThe 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 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
 [edit] Accommodation and attractionsNimbin 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. [edit] TransportNimbin is 35km from Lismore Airport with flights several times daily to Sydney. Local and Private bus companies operate services from Lismore to Nimbin. Other nearby attractions:[2]
[edit] Gallery
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ↑ top of page ↑ | about thumbshots |
