Mullumbimby, New South Wales

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Mullumbimby New South Wales
Population:	3,129 ^[1]
Postcode:	2482
Coordinates:	28°33′12″S 153°30′00″E / -28.5532, 153.5Coordinates: 28°33′12″S 153°30′00″E / -28.5532, 153.5
Location:	5 km (3 mi) WSW of Brunswick Heads 15 km (9 mi) NW of Byron Bay 36 km (22 mi) NE of Lismore, New South Wales 130 km (81 mi) SSE of Brisbane 628 km (390 mi) NNE of Sydney
LGA:	Byron Shire Council
State District:	Ballina^[2] Lismore^[3]
Federal Division:	Richmond^[4]

Mullumbimby is a town in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia in Byron Shire. It lies at the foot of Mount Chincogan in the Brunswick Valley about 10 kilometres (6 mi) from the sea. It is a gateway to a number of hinterland areas of great beauty.

1 Origins
2 Location
3 Counter culture
4 Woolworths
5 References

[edit] Origins

By the 1850s a camp site was established at the junction of the three arms of the Brunswick River. This grew to become a village and later the township of Mullumbimby. It was an excellent site because the river was tidal and could be easily navigated to that point. Its central location gave access to all areas of the catchment area and it provided the best position for bullock teams to cross the river with their wagons loaded with timber. At low tide it is still possible to see the shallow region where the bullocks made the crossing of the Brunswick river.

[edit] Location

Mullumbimby is about 4 kilometres (2 mi) west of the Pacific Highway, where the Sydney via Lismore to Murwillumbah railway line crosses the Brunswick River, The line opened in 1894 and was closed in 2004 because of an argument over funding between Federal and State politicians, and despite strong community resistance across the region. Closure of the railway line between Murwillumbah and Casino has reduced transport options in the region. Mullumbimby is close to towns called Ocean Shores and Brunswick Heads and a rainforest pocket called Wilsons Creek.

[edit] Counter culture

The Mullumbimby town and surrounding area became a centre of alternative or counter culture in the 1970s and 1980s, alongside existing mainstream society, as did nearby Byron Bay and remains so today.

Mullumbimby was a separate municipality from 1908 until 1980 when it was forced to amalgamate with the Byron Shire Council. The Byron Shire Council offices were relocated to Mullumbimby in the 1990's.

A static inverter plant of HVDC Directlink is located near Mullumbimby.

[edit] Woolworths

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There has recently been great debate over the addition of a Woolworths supermarket to Mullumbimby. Land was purchased by a local supermarket a number of years ago RailCorp and they had the area rezoned by Frank Sartor, NSW Minister for Planning. Then, after the process, which took a number of months, was completed, the owners of the supermarket retired. Woolworths then purchased the site and are presently aiming to locate a supermarket in the middle of the residential district of the town. This has faced much local opposition who relate to Woolworths developments in other towns that have failed, saying that they do not want the same to occur. They also relate to the fact that they already have all that Woolworths offers in the local community. ^[5]