Essentially a form of cultural "ethnic cleansing", where half-caste Aboriginal babies were taken from their families, sent to orphanages, and raised as cleaners and/or domestic servants for whites. Genuinely disturbing, but also extremely divisive and overhyped.
Again, for a number of decades, Britain, in this case, sent (at least) ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND children, who had already been separated from their unmarried mothers (see above), over to Australia and, very importantly, Canada, to live in orphanages and "homes", and later serve as a domestic labour source. They were abused, disturbed, and many, many died.
Etc, etc. Rinse, repeat. You could literally study "institutional child abuse" in this country FOR YEARS, without even truly scratching the surface. And so it continues, on and on forever (Don Dale, Ashley, Salvation Army, YMCA, electrocution of child in public housing. There's some more leads, if you wish to look further).
I wouldn't bother with Reddit, or the Australian Media's, take on this...
It's thoroughly disturbing, and shows a society in a severe state of regression and. cultural decline (BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT AUSTRALIA DID, REGULARLY, 50 YEARS AGO) whether it was done for "reasons of vaccination" or not.
Also, I may be a coward, but if you, as the male friend or partner of this girl, stand around and do NOTHING, while this goes down, or even tell her to "give up", as he seems to in this video... You don't deserve to be called a man, or even a boy (they're probably also a teenager), in this case...
If someone came for my girl like this..? You fucking bet I'm going to fight, female cop be damned.
Yes yes I know that. Trust me, I've been. Many, many times.
There's still hippies like this, there. They're just not camping out in the park, so much...
But honestly, she could be in Lennox, or in Nimbin, or in Mullum. I don't know the details. The media says "Byron", and besides, that's the most recognizable of those places, for an international/mixed audience...
So I agree with you, yes, but I don't really think that's the point, here.
And nah, Melbourne is the Seattle of Australia, politics-wise. Byron is rural Northern California, if anything... But I don't know enough about NoCal to suggest an exact town...
Of the places in the US I've been, it most resembles Sausalito (California), or, much more so, Boulder in Colorado. It's inland, but... It most closely resembles what you are getting at, there. Except, unlike Byron, Boulder actually has a massive (legitimate) student population, which... Changes the dynamic slightly.
Unironically, yes, that does sound quite similar...
Sierra Nevada? The brewing co that produces the beer that tastes like ash (Bigfoot), right? That was the first "legal" beer I drank on my 18th, I think... At my cousin's goading. God it was rank, lol...
But anyway, yes, yes and yes. Byron has a whole bunch of craft breweries, too. Stone & Wood is probably the most famous, though there's The Byron Bay Brewery, as well, amongst others. Also Byron Bay cookies rolls eyes...
Though, the distinction is... Byron is tiny. Less than 10k people. And no university (trade school, yes, but the biggest "tertiary provider" is a private music "college"). How big is Chico?
Byron does have a... Surrounding population of like 35-40K, including Mullumbimby, which is, I think, the "largest town in NSW" (ergo, town vs city. In Aus, pretty much anything over 25/30K is a "city")....
Also Ballina is not that far away, which is bigger again. But yeah...
Other than that, yeah, sounds like you're pretty much on the money, lol.
Bear in mind that a major difference is that you guys have more than ten times our total population (California alone has twice the pop of Aus), and even more than ten times the number of "colleges", so... That's why Byron doesn't have one, yet, I guess.
Instead of the "state university system", we just have a smaller number of massive universities, with multiple campuses across multiple cities and towns, which is, again, a major difference...
I think SCU in Lismore is probably the nearest Uni to Byron, and yes, that is MOST DEFINITELY a party Uni, lol... Also SCU on the Gold Coast, but less so...
Yes Bigfoot is a beer of theirs. I like it though I don't drink it often since I have many other local options where I live (I don't live in CA; closer to Seattle though I don't live there either). Their Pale Ale is their most popular beer, which I think is a very good reference beer for the style.
Chico is 100k-ish, but there's not much population around that area outside of the city. That's not always true of cities and their surrounding areas in the US but happens to be true there. Didn't feel like a 100k city when I visited it though. Either that's because I never tried to go the downtown area or because the way the city is constructed.
Beyond that NorCal's big. Probably other cities that fit the bill. I don't really have a city I consider "canonical" for NorCal because the coast is different from inland is different from mountains.
Oh, I also forgot to mention the dairy industry...
Byron shire is home to Norco, which is the most successful dairy "co op" in Australian history (though dubious as to whether it's much of a "co op", anymore...).
That's where Nimbin got its origin. As a massive dairy town.
Now, of course, the irony is that these places are full of fucking Vegans and Freegans, who refuse to consume said dairy. Dairy is a "no no", at least among Nimbin's druggie-hippies, and Byron's faux hippie trendites...
Which means that the irony cycle is now complete, and the fucking industries that actually built these towns which the hippies came to occupy (dairy, logging, fishing. and whaling which is of course more controversial), have now been run out of town, leaving... High end tourism, real estate and drugs... And music festivals/big events. And of course the beer...
The Northern Rivers (the region we've been talking about) is weird, man... Like NoCal, but with like 1% of the population... Oh also the Christchurch shooter came from (and worked in) like, an hour south, within the same region...
Fair nuff. Yeah, Byron isn't really a "city"... More a beach town where rich faux-hippies now live (it was originally a whaling settlement, then a timber town, then a holiday shack destination. Then it became "trendy" AF), but it is also surrounded by like 50 other towns of varying size (Mullum - bigger. Bangalow - smaller. Federal - much, much smaller), including Nimbin, some 50+km away, which used to be bigger, but is now little more than a large "village" full of hippies and druggies...
It's pretty much a "no go zone", for polite society. Like Skid Row, but in the rural hinterland, and heavily touristed by internationals who think it sounds cool/go there to buy weed and harder drugs...
All of which could collectively be considered "Byron", if one doesn't know better rolls eyes.
The airport, which was renamed "Byron Bay", to appeal to international tourists, is actually in Ballina, which I mentioned earlier, and which is the largest actual... "City", of sorts. That's where you go, if you live in Byron, but you need to go to, say, a big box store, or a decent mechanic, or whatever... Or Mullum, I suppose.
Byron itself doesn't have any of that.
I don't know how I didn't say this before, but Byron and Nimbin take their original calling literally from Woodstock. That is literally how they came to be what they are today, by hosting "gatherings" aping Woodstock. Literally. Especially Nimbin.
See also Newport, and Fairport. Byron is what you get if you take Newport or Woodstock, and plonk it in Australia, then leave it to, eh, ferment for 50-odd years...
Let's take a (selective) tour of 20th Century Australian history, regarding children, shall we..?
This gets more disturbing the more you look into it.
First we have this, which continued for at least half a century, if not longer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_adoption_in_Australia
Most of the "victims", let's say, were unmarried mothers and their children. Supposedly this shit ended decades ago, but clearly, uhh, it hasn't.
Then we have this, which is the most talked about, and "scandalous" of these: https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/explainer/explainer-stolen-generations
Essentially a form of cultural "ethnic cleansing", where half-caste Aboriginal babies were taken from their families, sent to orphanages, and raised as cleaners and/or domestic servants for whites. Genuinely disturbing, but also extremely divisive and overhyped.
Next, we have what I would probably argue is the most disturbing of these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Children
Again, for a number of decades, Britain, in this case, sent (at least) ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND children, who had already been separated from their unmarried mothers (see above), over to Australia and, very importantly, Canada, to live in orphanages and "homes", and later serve as a domestic labour source. They were abused, disturbed, and many, many died.
Finally, we have this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampa_affair and this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_Overboard_affair, where the Australian government's treatment of refugee children at sea resulted in international diplomatic incidents, in the early 2000s. Fucking awful. Because we never fucking learn...
Etc, etc. Rinse, repeat. You could literally study "institutional child abuse" in this country FOR YEARS, without even truly scratching the surface. And so it continues, on and on forever (Don Dale, Ashley, Salvation Army, YMCA, electrocution of child in public housing. There's some more leads, if you wish to look further).
This blew up the internet back in Jan, but is making the rounds (on Reddit) again due to the whole "vax mandates" shit down here...
Here's the Daily Mail: https://archive.md/mqVAp
And here's The Sun: https://archive.md/jrqlX
I wouldn't bother with Reddit, or the Australian Media's, take on this...
It's thoroughly disturbing, and shows a society in a severe state of regression and. cultural decline (BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT AUSTRALIA DID, REGULARLY, 50 YEARS AGO) whether it was done for "reasons of vaccination" or not.
Also, I may be a coward, but if you, as the male friend or partner of this girl, stand around and do NOTHING, while this goes down, or even tell her to "give up", as he seems to in this video... You don't deserve to be called a man, or even a boy (they're probably also a teenager), in this case...
If someone came for my girl like this..? You fucking bet I'm going to fight, female cop be damned.
There's plenty of kids that should be taken away from parents. This is what it looks like. Who knows if it's a good thing or not.
Yes yes I know that. Trust me, I've been. Many, many times.
There's still hippies like this, there. They're just not camping out in the park, so much...
But honestly, she could be in Lennox, or in Nimbin, or in Mullum. I don't know the details. The media says "Byron", and besides, that's the most recognizable of those places, for an international/mixed audience...
So I agree with you, yes, but I don't really think that's the point, here.
And nah, Melbourne is the Seattle of Australia, politics-wise. Byron is rural Northern California, if anything... But I don't know enough about NoCal to suggest an exact town...
Of the places in the US I've been, it most resembles Sausalito (California), or, much more so, Boulder in Colorado. It's inland, but... It most closely resembles what you are getting at, there. Except, unlike Byron, Boulder actually has a massive (legitimate) student population, which... Changes the dynamic slightly.
Chico? Home of Chico State University, which is known as the "party school" of the California State University system.
Also home of the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, which is one of the largest breweries in the US.
Unironically, yes, that does sound quite similar...
Sierra Nevada? The brewing co that produces the beer that tastes like ash (Bigfoot), right? That was the first "legal" beer I drank on my 18th, I think... At my cousin's goading. God it was rank, lol...
But anyway, yes, yes and yes. Byron has a whole bunch of craft breweries, too. Stone & Wood is probably the most famous, though there's The Byron Bay Brewery, as well, amongst others. Also Byron Bay cookies rolls eyes...
Though, the distinction is... Byron is tiny. Less than 10k people. And no university (trade school, yes, but the biggest "tertiary provider" is a private music "college"). How big is Chico?
Byron does have a... Surrounding population of like 35-40K, including Mullumbimby, which is, I think, the "largest town in NSW" (ergo, town vs city. In Aus, pretty much anything over 25/30K is a "city")....
Also Ballina is not that far away, which is bigger again. But yeah...
Other than that, yeah, sounds like you're pretty much on the money, lol.
Bear in mind that a major difference is that you guys have more than ten times our total population (California alone has twice the pop of Aus), and even more than ten times the number of "colleges", so... That's why Byron doesn't have one, yet, I guess.
Instead of the "state university system", we just have a smaller number of massive universities, with multiple campuses across multiple cities and towns, which is, again, a major difference...
I think SCU in Lismore is probably the nearest Uni to Byron, and yes, that is MOST DEFINITELY a party Uni, lol... Also SCU on the Gold Coast, but less so...
Yes Bigfoot is a beer of theirs. I like it though I don't drink it often since I have many other local options where I live (I don't live in CA; closer to Seattle though I don't live there either). Their Pale Ale is their most popular beer, which I think is a very good reference beer for the style.
Chico is 100k-ish, but there's not much population around that area outside of the city. That's not always true of cities and their surrounding areas in the US but happens to be true there. Didn't feel like a 100k city when I visited it though. Either that's because I never tried to go the downtown area or because the way the city is constructed.
Beyond that NorCal's big. Probably other cities that fit the bill. I don't really have a city I consider "canonical" for NorCal because the coast is different from inland is different from mountains.
Oh, I also forgot to mention the dairy industry...
Byron shire is home to Norco, which is the most successful dairy "co op" in Australian history (though dubious as to whether it's much of a "co op", anymore...).
That's where Nimbin got its origin. As a massive dairy town.
Now, of course, the irony is that these places are full of fucking Vegans and Freegans, who refuse to consume said dairy. Dairy is a "no no", at least among Nimbin's druggie-hippies, and Byron's faux hippie trendites...
Which means that the irony cycle is now complete, and the fucking industries that actually built these towns which the hippies came to occupy (dairy, logging, fishing. and whaling which is of course more controversial), have now been run out of town, leaving... High end tourism, real estate and drugs... And music festivals/big events. And of course the beer...
The Northern Rivers (the region we've been talking about) is weird, man... Like NoCal, but with like 1% of the population... Oh also the Christchurch shooter came from (and worked in) like, an hour south, within the same region...
Weird, weird place...
Fair nuff. Yeah, Byron isn't really a "city"... More a beach town where rich faux-hippies now live (it was originally a whaling settlement, then a timber town, then a holiday shack destination. Then it became "trendy" AF), but it is also surrounded by like 50 other towns of varying size (Mullum - bigger. Bangalow - smaller. Federal - much, much smaller), including Nimbin, some 50+km away, which used to be bigger, but is now little more than a large "village" full of hippies and druggies... It's pretty much a "no go zone", for polite society. Like Skid Row, but in the rural hinterland, and heavily touristed by internationals who think it sounds cool/go there to buy weed and harder drugs...
All of which could collectively be considered "Byron", if one doesn't know better rolls eyes.
The airport, which was renamed "Byron Bay", to appeal to international tourists, is actually in Ballina, which I mentioned earlier, and which is the largest actual... "City", of sorts. That's where you go, if you live in Byron, but you need to go to, say, a big box store, or a decent mechanic, or whatever... Or Mullum, I suppose.
Byron itself doesn't have any of that.
I don't know how I didn't say this before, but Byron and Nimbin take their original calling literally from Woodstock. That is literally how they came to be what they are today, by hosting "gatherings" aping Woodstock. Literally. Especially Nimbin.
See also Newport, and Fairport. Byron is what you get if you take Newport or Woodstock, and plonk it in Australia, then leave it to, eh, ferment for 50-odd years...