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Nimbin and Woodstock: Joined at the Hippies
Megan Everett, 22 May 2003
A grooving Merv King, Mayor of Lismore, was just one of the many strange and wonderful sights at the launch of the 30th anniversary celebrations of the 1973 Aquarius festival at Nimbin Town hall last week		The alliance was formally recognised in 1996 when the villages were declared sister cities at a ceremony held in Woodstock.
Much to spectators’ delight, Mr King was whirled around the stage by visiting Woodstock identities and special guests, Shelli Lipton and Nathan Koenig.		A certificate of the declaration is displayed in the Nimbin Community Centre.
They danced to the accompaniment of the original Dr Love, Paul Joseph, singing the festival’s signature tune “May the Long time Sun Shine Upon You.”		Zable said of the alliance today, “It’s about maintaining the mythology and forming cross cultural connections with people who are interested in similar ways of living.”
Ms. Lipton is director and co-founder the U.S. Woodstock Museum and a town ambassador along with Mr. Koenig, filmmaker-archivist-historian. They will be presenting a Woodstock film festival at Djanbung Gardens over the three weeks of the Aquarius celebrations.		“Hopefully we can help each other to blossom with exchanges of artists in residence and other programs.”
The Woodstock films tell tales of counter culture lifestyles, events and gatherings of the 60’s, including seldom seen but sought after stories of Native Americans and Indigenous Australians.		Nathan Koenig said that “We’re really enjoying the celebrations, and we’re also very busy filming footage of Nimbin to take back with us”, adding that Woodstock is holding its celebrations of its own this year.
Along with Lipton and Koenig, local festival organiser Benny Zable has played a major role in setting up an ongoing alliance between Woodstock and Nimbin.		“It’s our 100th anniversary as an art colony and we’ve been holding music festivals there since 1914.”
Zable, president of the Nimbin Aquarius foundation and legendary social activist, visited the US in 1979 as part of a “No Nukes” symposium where he met many like-minded Woodstock residents.		He said that funnily enough, many of the old timers of Woodstock dismiss the famous 1969 festival as just one of many. “It just so happened that it was the one that reached the rest of the world.”
“Members of the Woodstock Town Board were also taken with the similarities between the two villages’ said Zable, “and both parties were interested in creating a cultural bridge”		Graeme Dunstan, one of the organisers of Nimbin’s original Aquarius gathering, is a great believer in festivals as a way of uniting communities.
“Back in Nimbin, we formed the Aquarius Foundation, and local poet and writer David Hallett travelled to Woodstock as an ambassador, to continue liasing with Shelli and her partner, Nathan Koenig.”		He is optimistic that Nimbin’s diversity will still be going strong in another seventy years.
		“Celebration is a great way of getting a message across,” he said.
		“You can protest all you like but by celebrating, you can touch people’s hearts in a joyful, positive way, and bring them to you.”

 

 

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