Historical Australian Towns: Byron Bay, NSW: From Working Class To Hippie Surfer

Located on the far-north coast of NSW, Byron Bay is Australia's most easterly point. This coastal town attracts many backpackers, hippies, and hipsters.

Arakwal Aboriginal (Bundjalung Clan)

Badjelang (paidjal/badjal means "man"). There were more than 20 groups which became known collectively as the "Bundjalung Nation" in more recent times.

Cavanbah is the Arakwal name for the area around Byron Bay. There were up to twenty dialect groups among the Bundjalung, many of which shared similar languages (Tindale 1974).

Audio recordings of Bundjalung speakers made during the 1960s and 1970s, as well as word lists and the grammar of various dialects, enable the language to be taught.

The Big Scrub (subtropical rainforest) was located between what are now the towns of Byron Bay (east) and Lismore (west) and was used by the Bundjalung people as a place for camping and hunting.

Rainforest bushfood obtained here included staples like Black Bean (Castanospermum australe), which need to be detoxified before eating.

A corroboree may include dance, music, costume and often body decoration.

According to Tim Low, Place of Plenty: Culturally useful plants around Byron Bay (2003), "whenever Byron Bay Arakwal people visit beaches to feast on pipis or fish, they gather pigface fruits as well". (Pigface, Carpobrotus glaucescens)

Aboriginal groups across Australia were commonly organized into two or more sections (“skins”), which are similar to clans. These sections are based on descent, are often associated with one or more animal totems, and determine marriage rules.

For example, marriage between members of the same section was forbidden. The Bundjalung were organised into four sections and only certain sections were allowed to intermarry.

Bora is an initiation ceremony of Aboriginal people of Eastern Australia. The word "bora" also refers to the site on which the initiation is performed. In south-east Australia, the Bora is often associated with the creator-spirit Baiame.

The Rainbow Snake is another Dreamtime creature. According to Bundjalung stories, the earth was flat and empty until the Dreamtime when giant ancestral creatures rose up that looked like animals, plants or insects.

The great Rainbow Snake came down from the sky and moved his multicoloured body across the land, forming mountains and rivers. By lifting his tail he makes rainbows. Songlines are the pathways of creator-beings or ancestors in the Dreaming.

Aboriginal climbing a tree with a scrub vine,

An anthropologist (Calley) who worked with the Bundjalung in the 1950s, reported that the Dhangati from the Upper Macleay River valley and the Gumbaingheri of Bellingen were traditional enemies, and that some Bundjalung people would not travel south of the Clarence River (Calley 1964).

Evidence of long Aboriginal occupation can be found in the 900-year-old shell midden at “The Pass”, stone arrangements, rock shelters, and tool-making sites.

1770

Captain James Cook, sailing HMS Endeavour past the cape in 1770, named it after fellow British explorer Vice-Admiral John Byron. He had also noticed a "remarkable sharp peaked mountain" which he called Mount Warning. Cook and botanist Joseph Banks observed a group of Aboriginal people walking along a beach near Cape Byron.

Banks noted: "... not one was once observed to stop and look toward the ship; they pursued their way in all appearance entirely unmoved by the neighbourhood of so remarkable an object as a ship must necessarily be to people who have never seen one..."

On 15 May 1770, Captain James Cook sailing up the east coast of Australia on the Endeavour passed the most easterly point of the Australian continent

1820s

A survey ship named HMAS Rainbow, led by Captain Henry Rous in 1828, explored the bay at Cape Byron and observed that it provided a safe anchorage for both large and small vessels.

William Edwardson sailed from Sydney to explore the coast north of Cape Byron in 1822.

1840s

Surveyor Robert Dixon visited Cape Byron in June 1840. Dixon and his party, passed "a tribe of natives with their nets, fishing".

1850s

The first cedar-getters arrived in the Byron Bay area (the Big Scrub) in the late 1850s. The earliest transport routes to the area were simple tracks.

1860s

Government reserve created around Cape Byron in 1861.

Cape Byron waters were charted in 1865 by Commander Frederick William Sidney.

Inspector of Police, John Brown, visited Cape Byron in 1865 and noted the rugged terrain.

1870s

Gold miners arrived in the area in September 1870, living in tents and bark huts.

Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), Wednesday 26 July 1876

1880s

David Tillotson Jarman was the first permanent European settler (American) at Byron Bay in 1882. It appears that Jarman deserted his wife and their 9 children after 26 yrs of marriage in South Australia and moved with another woman to the Byron Bay area.

Jarman selected the Palm Valley site and built a hut which became a hotel. He built Lincoln Hall, which became the first Byron Shire Council building.

David Tillotson Jarman built Lincoln Hall which became the first Byron Shire Council building, NSW.

Captain Howard made a survey report of Cape Byron Bay and a sketch of Byron Bay in 1883.

In 1884, the first licensed hotel, Ocean View, opened at Brunswick Heads. And a provisional school opened at Byron Creek (Bangalow).

George Jarvis operated a mail service from 1884, from Lismore to the Brunswick River ((22.6 km from Byron Bay), and a coach service on the same route in 1885.
The town,called Cavvanba at this time, was laid out in 1884. However, the name was changed to Byron Bay in 1894.

A government land sale for the village of Cavvanba occurred in 1886, the same year that Byron Bay's first Post Office opened.

The Big Scrub was being cleared, and Bundjalung people were relocated to reservations.

Sugar cane was grown and processed at a small mill at Ewingsdale from 1887.

The “old jetty” was completed in 1888.

1. Sunday afternoon in King Charley's camp. 2. Byron bay jetty in the course of construction. 3. Travellers on route from Tweed to Brunswick. 4. Brunswick township. 5. Ferry crossing. Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Saturday 16 October 1886

First publican's licence granted at Byron Bay (to David Jarman), 1888.

In 1889, post and telegraph services were amalgamated.

1890s

Byron Bay Aboriginal men wrestling, NSW, 1890s, State Library of NSW

Byron Bay, NSW, maybe about 1890s (the original Great Northern Hotel)

Dairy farming became a prominent industry in the area.

The first sawmill in Byron Bay built in 1891. ( J. E. Glasgow)

In 1892, the first public school opened at Byron Bay.

Cedarcutters, the Big Scrub, between what is now the towns of Byron Bay (east) and Lismore (west), Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 13 February 1892

Bush transport through the Big Scrub, between what is now the towns of Byron Bay (east) and Lismore (west),Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 13 February 1892

The Byron Bay School of Arts was established in 1894.

Byron Bay railway station, on the Murwillumbah line, opened on 15 May 1894 and closed on 16 May 2004.

The NORCO Byron Bay butter factory was built, in 1895, at the southern end of Jonson Street.

In 1897, the Great Northern Hotel, Byron Bay was destroyed by fire.

Byron Post and Telegraphic Office shortly after completion in 1897, NSW

The first church (Anglican) opened in Byron Bay in 1898.

The Cape Byron Lighthouse was built from 1899 to 1901.

1900s

KIRK'S PEDESTRIAN RUNNING TRACK, BYRON BAY. NSW (Kirk's Hotel). Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Saturday 8 December 1900

Cape Byron Lighthouse connected to the Telegraph Office in Byron Bay by means of electric bells.

Opening of Cape Byron Lighthouse, NSW, Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918, 1935), Saturday 21 December 1901

In the centre is Bobby Bray On the right is Alice. On the left is Clara with her two children, Linda and Peter, grandchildren of Bobby. Byron Bay, NSW, 1901

Joseph Hollingworth bought Glasgow’s sawmill in 1902.

Clarence River Advocate (NSW : 1898 - 1949), Friday 6 March 1903

Byron Bay railway station, NSW, early 1900s

Batey's Great Northern Hotel, Byron Bay, N.S.W. - circa 1905, Aussie~mobs

Steamship 'Orara' at jetty in Byron Bay, N.S.W. - very early 1900s, Aussie Mobs

Byron Shire was created on 7 March 1906.

David Jarman was the first President of the Byron Shire Council in 1906.

Coffs Harbour Advocate (NSW : 1907 - 1942; 1946 - 1954), Tuesday 23 April 1907

In 1908, the Byron Private Hospital, Bangalow, opened.

The Orara at Byron Bay, NSW, no date. Donna Newton

Byron Bay Surf-Bathing and Life-Saving Club is established in 1909.

Passengers leaving the Byron Bay station, NSW, 1910’s (Source – EJW – RTRL)

The Byron Bay Co-Operative Canning and Freezing Co Ltd's meat works opened in October 1913.

Byron Bay Co-operative Canning and Freezing Works — The Official Opening Ceremony, Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Wednesday 22 October 1913

WWI

Studio portrait of 6744 Private (Pte) Arthur Beaumont Goard, 2nd Battalion, of Byron Bay, NSW. A dairy farmer prior to enlistment, Pte Goard embarked with the 22nd Reinforcements from Sydney on SS Port Nicholson on 8 November 1916. He was promoted to Corporal and was later killed in action at Passchendaele, on 4 October 1917. He was aged 28. AWM

Surf Club, Byron Bay, Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Wednesday 18 February 1914,

Australia Day at Byron Bay, NSW, Land (Sydney, NSW : 1911 - 1954), Friday 27 August 1915

Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), Thursday 19 October 1916

Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), Tuesday 17 June 1919 (Spanish flu epidemic)

Great Northern Hotel, Byron Bay, NSW, 1919

Post office at Byron Bay, N.S.W. -1919

1920s

By the 1920, 25% of NSW’s milk was processed at Byron Bay.

Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), Friday 24 September 1920

Banana are an important crop.

SS Wollongbar foundered on the beach at Byron Bay. The hull, boilers, rudder bar and tiller were all that was left after salvage. The rudder bar and boilers can often be seen today, and in between large storm waves, the hull is visible.

SS Wollongbar aground at Byron Bay, NSW 1921.

Early 1920s photo of the Main Beach, Byron Bay, NSW

Harry Bray and his wife Clara lived in a hut at Brays Beach at various times and Bray’s Hole at Broken Head is named for the family.

The Bray family, one of the local Arakwal families, lived at what is now Broken Head Nature Reserve

Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), Thursday 19 October 1922

Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Tuesday 24 October 1922

(Aboriginal response to the clearing of the Big Scrub for agriculture) Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931), Friday 29 June 1923

BYRON BAY MAIN BEACH JETTY, NSW. 1923 JANUARY, MAIDEN VOYAGE FOR THE WOLLONGBAR 11.

At the Byron bay Public School, NSW, Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 24 September 1924

THE NORTH COAST CO-OPERATIVE COMPANY'S CREAMERY, BYRON Bay, NSW, Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 24 September 1924

Byron Bay, NSW, maybe about 1920s

Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), Saturday 18 July 1925

Electric light, for the first time, was switched on to Byron Bay streets in June 1926.

The “new jetty” was completed in 1928. And the Byron Shire Council chambers were destroyed by fire (new chambers opened in the following year).

Surf Beauties of Byron Bay, NSW, Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1883 - 1930), Wednesday 27 February 1929

Byron Bay Beach (NSW) Dated: No date, Museums of History NSW - State Archives Collection

Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Wednesday 26 June 1929

1930s

By the mid1930s, Byron Bay was producing 60% of NSW's butter.

Tourists walk from the train station at Byron Bay, NSW, to the beach, Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), Wednesday 1 October 1930

Bangalow and Byron Bay Lady Cricketers, NSW, Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), Wednesday 8 October 1930

Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), Wednesday 1 October 1930

Jonson Street, Byron Bay, NSW, 1930. (Feros café under third peak on left)

Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), Saturday 3 December 1932

Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), Monday 11 September 1933, Byron Community Centre

A. W. Anderson's works at Byron Bay. The firm commenced to manufacture fertiliser, and the latestdevelopments is the manufacture of bone meal and meat meal. Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), Tuesday 22 August 1933

Byron Bay Cup Team, NSW, Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), Tuesday 31 July 1934

The Zircon Rutile Ltd.'s enterprise in the treatment of beachsands at Byron Bay for the extraction of minerals Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), Saturday 28 December 1935 (beach mingling at Byron Bay ended in 1974)

Land (Sydney, NSW : 1911 - 1954), Friday 11 October 1935

Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), Tuesday 3 August 1937

Byron Bay, NSW, Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), Tuesday 21 December 1937

Mrs. R. D. MacLennan, who was re elected president of Byrcn Bay branch of the Country Women's Association.Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), Wednesday 7 December 1938

Mullumbimby Star and Byron Bay-Bangalow Advocate (NSW : 1936), Friday 9 October 1936

1940s and WWII

So many soldiers travelled by train during WWII, that many people preferred to travel to Sydney by daily shipping, either from Ballina or Byron Bay.

Byron Bay, NSW, 1940

Pilot A. North, of Byron Bay, is another recruit from the Northern Rivers who has recently been accepted fcr the R.A.A.F. He received his training at the Kingsfortl Smith Plying School and has the distinction of being the first Byron Baypilot, A keen sportsman, he was "goalie" in the Byron Bay hockey team for six years and was also a member of the local surf life saving club. Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), Friday 22 March 1940

The "Hill" at Byron Bay, NSW, Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), Monday 22 January 1940

Northern Miner (Charters Towers, Qld. : 1874 - 1954), Tuesday 18 March 1941

Tweed Daily (Murwillumbah, NSW : 1914 - 1949), Saturday 5 July 1941

Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), Friday 1 August 1941

Studio portrait of 403416 Observer Reginald Stanley Brandon RAAF. A dairy farmer from Byron Bay, Brandon enlisted on 6 January 1941 and embarked for training in Canada in April that year. Whilst serving as a Flight Sergeant (Flt Sgt) with No. 459 Squadron he was killed during operations on 13 August 1942 in the Middle East. The Hudson FH 294 aircraft in which he was flying failed to return from a dawn strike at Salum (Sollum) Bay, Egypt. Also killed were 404472 Flt Sergeant Walter Richard Samuel Cornish; 402410 Flt Sgt William Norris Smith and 402618 Flt Sergeant William Edmund Somerville. AWM

In 1943 a freight ship (the SS Wollongbar II) travelling from Byron Bay to Sydney was sunk by a Japanese submarine and 32 people lost their lives. (the wreck has been found off Crescent Head)

Byron Bay, NSW in 1947

Byron Bay railway station, NSW, 1940s, Hotel, Byron Bay, destroyed by fire in 1949.

Jonson Street, Byron Bay, NSW, 1948. (Richmond-Tweed Regional Library)

1950s

The RSL clubrooms which are nearing completion at Byron Bay, NSW, Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), Wednesday 1 November 1950

Relaxing at Beach, Byron Bay, NSW, Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), Tuesday 29 December 1953

Anzac Day March,= with wreath bearer, Byron Bay Anzac Day March, perhaps early 1950s. Jonson Street in front of H.H. Butler shop. Richmond Tweed Regional Library

The Byron Whaling Company's new station, NSW, Farmer and Settler (Sydney, NSW : 1906 - 1955), Friday 20 August 1954

A major cyclone occured in 1954, with giant waves that broke through the sandhills reaching the recreation ground. 600ft lost from new jetty & both cranes collapsed into the sea, 23 fishing boats lost in huge seas. The jetty was never repaired.

Flooding Byron Bay, NSW, 1954 cyclone, Richmond Tweed Regional Library

The Cape Byron Lighthouse was converted from kerosene to electric power in 1959.

1960s

Watego’s Beach subdivision, Cape Byron, first sold 1961.

Byron Bay was relatively unknown as a surf zone until Bruce Brown released Surfing Hollow Days in 1962. Americans, seeking the perfect waves they had seen in the film, slowly began arriving. The Americans started businesses: cafés/restaurants, music venues, and surf shops.

1970s

The North Coast Mail rail service stopped in 1973.

The Aquarius Festival in Nimbin in 1973

NORCO’s butter factory closed in 1972 and the bacon factory in 1975.

Sunnybrand Chickens, was established in 1972, processing and selling chickens in the local Byron Bay area.

From 1970 to 1973, the entire Main Beach dune between the Clarkes Beach Caravan Park and the surf club was rebuilt and reshaped by council.

Alan Fox and his girlfriend Anneke Adriaansen were last seen on 15 January 1979 hitch-hiking from Sydney to Kempsey and Byron Bay. (missing)

Byron Bay, NSW, about 1979

1980s

The journalist Craig McGregor wrote in 1982 about driving into Byron Bay.

"You climb up Highway 1 onto the hills that stare over the east coast … whip through the fast esses that snake along the ridge top … and suddenly there is Byron Bay… I've come to think of it as the most stunning seascape I've ever seen. See Naples and die; see Byron and open your mind."

Walkers Meat Works closes in 1983.

1990s

Bluesfest began in 1990. The festival now takes place at Byron Events Farm (formerly the Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm).

Byron bay Beach Hotel built by John Cornell and Delvene Delaney in 1990.

2000s

The Cape Byron Marine Park, was declared in 2002.

2003: Byron Shire has an estimated population of 30,400 (June 2003).

2005: Olivia Newton-John established a wellness resort.

2011: Sunnybrand Chickens was bought out by Australia's second-largest chicken processor, Inghams.

2014: Byron Bay's Inghams chicken processing factory (formerly Sunnybrand) closes.

2015: The disused former Inghams chicken factory site along Ewingsdale Road is sold to a developer and the government approved rezoning for housing and commercial use.

2017: The Byron Bay Train, a not-for-profit passenger rail service commenced in December 2017, it operates on a three-kilometre section of the disused Casino-Murwillumbah line. A 1949-built 600 class railcar was converted to solar power and is used to carry passengers.

2019: Théo Hayez, a, 18-year old Belgian man, disappeared in the Cape Byron area. He was last sighted leaving Cheeky Monkey’s bar in Byron Bay at approximately 11:00 pm on 31 May 2019. (missing)

2021: Chris Hemsworth, Zac Efron and Matt Damon own property close to Byron Bay.

1922: The inquest into the disappearance of Marion Barter commences at Byron Bay Court. Ms Barter was reported missing to Byron Bay police in October 1997. (podcast, The Lady Vanishes)

Byron Bay in flood, 2022, NSW

Around Byron Bay

Cape Byron Lighouse, NSW, was built in 1901 by Charles Harding

A 1949-built 600 class railcar was converted to solar power for use at Byron Bay, NSW

Byron Bay's former post office, NSW

Byron Bay, NSW

The Great Northern Hotel (burnt down 1897, 1936, re-built 1937), Byron Bay, NSW

Byron Bay scene, NSW

Byron Bay, NSW

Byron Community Centre, NSW

Byron Bay, NSW. The railway station. The railway from Casino reached the town in 1894. Now disused. denisbin

Byron Bay railway station is station located on the Murwillumbah line in Byron Bay, NSW. It opened on 15 May 1894 and closed on 16 May 2004, when the line from Casino was closed. The station complex was built from 1894 to 1913. (stationmasters cottage)