Once a quiet abattoir town, the sun-kissed Byron Bay of today is one of Australia’s most popular summer holiday destinations, home to first-class beach houses, award-winning restaurants and bars, backpackers and touring families, famous Hollywood celebrities and an even more famous stretch of coastline.
Somewhere between its working-class past and current popularity – believed to be during the late 1950s – Australian and American surfers in search of the best waves on the east coast were drawn to Byron and its surrounds, shaping the hippie, non-conformist reputation that region has carried for decades.
Determined to dispel the mainstream misconception that surfers arrived in Byron Bay following Nimbin’s 10-day Aquarius Festival in 1973, social geographer, researcher and author Tricia Shantz penned Neverland, a compilation of the stories of more than 40 surfers who came to Byron.
“I wanted to show that the surfers were here long before [1973],” Tricia said.
“In fact, the first American surfer, Bob Cooper, arrived in 1959, and then a lot [of surfers] came in the sixties and the word was out because surfers travelled.
“[There were a] number of films that were created in the sixties and early seventies that did show the North Coast of New South Wales, so the word was out amongst surfers, who in their respective countries, whether it was Australia or California in the United States, would hop in the car and travel distances to catch waves, and so it's not that far of a jump to then get on a plane and come to Australia. And, without a doubt, most of them came to stay.”
Seeking surf spots less crowded than Rincon and Malibu, and some determined to avoid fighting in Vietnam, American surfers were charmed by the likes of The Pass, Wategos and Belongil beaches, among many others. Disinterested in Byron’s conventional industrial work, it was a contingent of Australian and American surfers who would go on to establish businesses that would see the dairy farm, meatworks and sand-mining town become a thriving beachside metropolis.
“[Byron Bay] was very much a factory and a working-class town… and that was the only work that you could get,” Tricia said.
“Surfers always find a way to surf in the middle of the day… So, definitely, the police were suspect of them, and I think [that] some of the older local people that worked in the meatworks weren't exactly enthusiastic about these people coming along and not appearing to work. And I guess that's the other myth I wanted to debunk; that [American surfers] couldn't get the dole… so they did have to work.
“They became very creative, and started the restaurants and made films and newspapers and music venues as a means to stay and create a life for [themselves].
“I call them the new pioneers because they were pioneering a new way of living and working based around surfing.”
By 1983, Byron’s meat industry had ceased and its tourism industry’s upward trajectory was underway, sustained largely by the businesses that the surfers had founded. Byron Bay’s standing as a hippie hamlet dissipated and gave rise to the bustling holiday destination that it is today, with the imported surfing lifestyle a catalyst for this change, Tricia says.
“I learned [things] I didn't know, and that's really pleasing to me because it was about documenting history and the people that aren't famous, like Roy Meisel, who's on the cover, who started Bare Surf, which was the second surf shop in town,” Tricia said.
“Danny Doeppel, who started the Arts Factory, came in 1967 on a ship with his band, which was called The Nutwood Rug… [he] discovered the North Coast and bought the old Norco piggery and turned it into the Arts Factory and created a whole music industry… which was the genesis of Blues Fest.
“Those people to me were your next pioneers, and pioneers in the old days used to get streets named after them… and these people, men and women, they pioneered a new way of life and they pioneered a cultural shift in Byron, and I thought that was really important to document, for history to be written down.”
On Wednesday, March 1, Tricia will be in conversation with her husband, 1965 US Surfing Champion and Byron Bay surf coach, Rusty Miller, at Ryan’s Hotel in Thirroul sharing the stories of Neverland. More than a history of surfing, Neverland is a social history and the account of how the surfing community transformed a coastal town that promises to interest everyone.
“It's [for] anyone interested in history and changes to coastal communities, and what precipitates that change and how they evolve,” Tricia said.
“[Byron] is a surf town, all said and done, and the Illawarra has lots of beautiful surf towns.
“I’m really excited to come down and see that South Coast.”
For more information on the Ryan’s Hotel event, visit Collins Booksellers Thirroul website.