Out of the Blue
a permanent large-scale venue proposed for the Shire
By Kali Wendorf
Subhead: At the crossroads of defining itself, Byron Bay considers the consequences of its reputation as
a party town. Meanwhile developers plan to bring even more large scale concerts to the area using the
beloved Blues festival as the Trojan horse. Will locals see beyond the skilfully marketed ‘music and
culture’ façade, and into the real agenda of big business?
End subhead
Another hectic Easter rolls past in Byron Bay and with it, another Blues Festival held for the last time in
Red Devils football ground. It heralds a turning point for the festival as well as a turning point for the
Shire – as both are being increasingly redefined by outside interests.
The East Coast Blues and Roots Festival has been a Byron icon for 16 years. It’s numbers are capped at
75,000 people over the five day event. Though surrounding residents groaned under the weight of the
massive influx of festival goers, the event was largely tolerated by some, and appreciated by others. But
the festival was outgrowing its home base and with it, some say, a clash of ethics between Byron Shire
resident Keven Oxford - the original founder – and his business partner Peter Noble (Lennox Head).
Last year the big names of Glen Wheatley (Melbourne), Michael Chugg (Sydney) and Daryl Herbet
(Melbourne) bought out Keven Oxford and teamed up with Peter Noble to create a new version of Blues
Festival. By definition, the Blues Festival is no longer a locally owned and operated event.
Placing a ‘new and improved’ and even larger Blues Festival amongst the rest of their many concert
ventures, the developers are now looking at purchasing a 300 acre tract of land in Tyagarah, next to
nature reserve, to house the entire multi-event endeavour – hoping to put Byron on the national tour.
Patronisingly named by the developers as ‘The Byron Cultural and Events Centre,’ the venue is defined
as ‘a large scale permanent concert and events venue to house the new Blues Festival as well as at least
three other large events the size of the Blues Festival or larger’. In short, Byron Shire is looking square in
the face of a development that will bring an additional half a million festival goers per year,
exponentially larger than what the Shire experiences now.
To gain a perspective of what is really the size of the proposed major events, look at it this way rather
than thinking in numbers:
According to the Byron Shire web information (www.byron.nsw.gov.au) the total population of the
shire is 29,083. This encompasses all towns from Wooyong to the north to Booyong to the south, Broken
Head to the east and the Koowyum Ranges to the west. That is the whole of the population of the Shire
including all major centres such as Byron, Brunswick, Mullum, Ocean Shores and all farm area and
communities.
This means that major Tyagarah venue proposed which is next to the Tyagarah Nature reserve could
have a population equivalent to the present population of the entire Shire and more for each event.
Cr. John Lazarus had this to say about the proposed venue, ‘I have severe concerns about the spikes in
tourism activity that this proposal will bring to this Shire,’ he said. ‘I have strong concerns about placing
these sort of events into quiet rural residential areas.’
The Tyagarah Sustainable Community Alliance (TSCA – www.tyagarah.org), formally known as the
Tyagarah Progress Association, is very concerned about the proposal. Apart from the obvious
consequences of living around a permanent concert venue site, they are concerned about the questions
unanswered by the developers and by council. The media has described their concerns as premature
and emotional. But residents know that big money is at hand here, and once the land is purchased, the
pressure on council to pass the DA will be immense. When concerns are not answered, it fuels mistrust.
A recent Northern Star article, for example, would suggest that the deal was already done. ‘While the
‘spirit’ of the festival may not change, both promoters confirmed a major change of venue, from Red
Devil Park to the tea tree farm at Tyagarah, was in store,’ said the article. While the developers accuse
the TSCA of bending the facts, they do not seek to clarify anything. ‘There’s been a lot of information
spread about that’s not even close to what we’re on about," Mr Chugg said in the Northern Star.
However, Mr. Chugg and his team cautiously refrain from ever disclosing what exactly they are
planning.
As the TSCA has a history of working along side council to create and sustain wildlife corridors,
preserve the safety on the beach and replant trees it seems reasonable to expect some level of
consultation. ‘We are a group that is so organised, that when cows escape onto the Pacific Highway in
the middle of the night, the farmer is immediately contacted, and the cows are moved off by
volunteers,’ says one TSCA member. ‘We do so many things in the name of sustainability. What kind of
message is sent to groups like ours who spend hours volunteering their time to help with community
issues, when such a large development can be proposed without any notice from the developers what
so ever? The developers need to be way more sensitive to our concerns and give us straight answers to
our questions’ The TSCA points out that this is not just a Tyagarah issue. Far from it, a development
bringing so many additional visitors a year will effect the entire Shire.
Mitra Ardon, a Tyagarah resident says, ‘I don’t want this to be a hot potato that we pass onto another
community in the area. It’s not just a Tyagarah issue. We don’t want this anywhere in the Shire. It’s
bringing the party demographic into town. There is confusion between a cultural centre and a concert
site. It’s got to the point where the population are saying, “we don’t want it”. Take it to a party town
like the Gold Coast. We have to say ‘yes’ to the things we do want. If the area is zoned for development
let’s choose the type of development we want. I want the developers to come clean about the size of the
event they are planning.’
‘The weekend markets are a good example of what works here,’ he continues. ‘They move sites, it is
locally managed, uses local stallholders and it supports local charities. It appeals to locals and tourists.
This is a Byron experience. If it is geared to tourists it is a tourist experience, not a Byron one.’
The TSCA hosted a meeting for all residents concerned about the proposed concert event site on
Monday, March 21st. About 80 residents from Tyagarah, Brunswick Heads, Ocean Shores and Byron
Bay turned up.
Residents were overwhelmingly in agreement with their desire to stop the development in its tracks
before it proceeded any further. Concerns included loss of neighbourhood amenity and safety,
unsavoury uses of surrounding land, traffic, affect on surrounding wildlife and reserve, noise and light
pollution. But the largest concern was for the Shire in general. Residents felt that the kind of tourism
such a venue would bring would only contribute to the growing party atmosphere of the Byron area
and topple the already fragile infrastructure.
Councilor Tom Tabart was at the meeting and said that he was adamantly against the proposal. ‘When I
first heard about the proposal – and it is every bit as large as being suggested here [at the meeting] – I
thought, “How awful!”’ Cr. Tabart suggested that the community remain very active on the issue.
‘What we need is a community owned and operated cultural events centre that serves the community
and hosts appropriately-sized events that benefit local residents and businesses,’ said Tyagarah
resident, Isaac Shapiro. ‘Not a corporately owned mega venue.’
Many people would argue that such festivals bring money to the local economy – not, it would seem,
according to retailers themselves. ‘The Blues Festival, and other events like it, like the New Years Eve
party, are ruining retail business in Byron Bay,’ said Phillip Redhead, a retail shop owner in Byron High
Street at the Tyagarah public meeting. ‘Anyone who thinks this kind of tourism is good for business is
wrong. These large festivals like Splendour, New Years Eve and the Blues are scaring away the
desirable visitors, such as people coming here because it is a beautiful place. Those people spend money
here. Party animals don’t. Some of our best restaurants in Byron have trouble filling bookings over
Easter. My feeling is to move it away, out of the shire completely. Gold Coast or Ballina. Re-introduce a
small-scale Blues Festival, about 10,000 people.’
The developers have been clever to buy the Blues Festival. They have bought a Byron trademark - a
darling - and with it, the hearts of locals. But the community is vulnerable to wolves and philanderers
and it needs to be very careful of how its love of music and culture is being manipulated and hijacked
for large outside corporate interests – just like everywhere else in the world today. Saying ‘no’ to a
‘cultural and events venue’ can make one appear like they are anti-culture or anti-festival. This is a
clever marketing tactic and requires discernment to read between the lines.
The emergence of such a development highlights the growing pains and deep questioning that seems to
be happening in the Shire. Where are we going? What kind of tourism do we want to attract? How big
do we want to become and in what way? They are important questions and need to be asked, and
answered, before such a development moves forward. The development also highlights the need for
locals to become increasingly discerning about the clever marketing strategies used by corporate
heavyweights. Our small town naivety is no match where big money is concerned.
Professor Waldersee, in his recent articles in The Byron Shire Echo emphasises the importance of being
pro-active in determining the Byron Experience. ‘Watch any Coke commercial and it is clear our
reputation is a party town,’ he writes. ‘But much of that reputational problem is self-inflicted. Of our
major signature events, only the Writers Festival is not targeted at the party hard market.’
Do we want the party image? If not, then the large concert venue is one development that could swing
the numbers irrevocably hard in that party image direction. Forget about McDonalds and Dominoes
Pizza, an additional three to four large scale concerts per year will bring the final tipping point beyond
return. Waldersee continues to write that if Byron is to change the course it is running now, then council
needs to change first, ‘Without an internal department responsible for tourism, critical issues…fall
through the cracks.’
Given that the Byron Shire has no official tourism and cultural committee and vision, the proposed
permanent large scale concert venue is an appalling proposition – it means bringing, at a minimum,
additional hundreds of thousands of festival goers annually – exponentially larger than we experience
now. How would the already overwhelmed infrastructure of the Shire manage such numbers? A
corporately owned and managed venue would eradicate any local vision of sustainability, community
and protection of the environment, and is no different than any other corporate take over of a once-local
asset. What Byron needs is a strong local tourism and development plan that will stand strong before
any proposed development, and ask the hard questions. From there, developments will either be
allowed or not allowed based on their congruence with the vision. This prevents the ‘us’ and ‘them’
mentality and keeps the development game from getting personal.
With an active and solid official community vision, Byron will cease to be always on the back foot with
proposals like the concert venue site. Instead, locals become the pro-active architects and creators of
what Byron Shire is and will be.
Kali Wendorf is the founding president of the Tyagarah Sustainable Community Alliance, the editor
and publisher of byronchild magazine, a free lance writer and a human rights activist. She lives in
Mullumbimby.