Nimbin

Nimbin was a declining dairy village until the Aquarius Festival in May 1973 brought thousands of students and alternative-lifestyle seekers to it, many of whom stayed and set up communes in the surrounding hills. Fifty years on, the main street is a short row of hand-painted shopfronts in bright murals, with the Nimbin Museum, a chaotic collage of local and countercultural history, the Hemp Embassy, craft shops and cafés. The surrounding valleys hold permaculture farms and intentional communities, and the Nimbin Rocks, volcanic plugs sacred to the Bundjalung people, stand nearby. The village's association with cannabis is open and long-standing, and policing of it is a recurring local flashpoint.

History

The area, part of the Rainbow Region important to the Bundjalung, takes its name from the Nimbinjee spirit people of the Whiyabul clan's Dreaming. Red cedar drew loggers from the 1840s, the town was subdivided in 1903 for dairying and bananas, and after the dairy industry collapsed in the 1960s it declined until May 1973, when the Aquarius Festival, the first event in Australia to seek the Aboriginal owners' permission to use the land, brought students and alternative-lifestyle seekers, hundreds of whom stayed to form communes (Wikipedia, Nimbin, New South Wales).

The main sights

• The painted main street - a short row of murals and hand-painted shopfronts.
• The Nimbin Museum - a collage of local history and counterculture.
• The Nimbin Rocks - volcanic plugs sacred to the Bundjalung, seen from the road.
• The hinterland valleys - communes and permaculture farms in the hills.

When to go

April to November for drier weather; the region is subtropical with heavy summer rain. The MardiGrass festival at the start of May is the village's biggest event and fills it entirely. Weekday visits are quiet.

Practical notes

The village is very small, essentially one street, and takes an hour. Street dealing is openly present and can be persistent toward visitors. The place divides opinion sharply, and some find it more run-down than charming.

Nearby

Nightcap National Park lies northeast; Lismore is south and Byron Bay east.

Key facts