Just 2 hours south of Brisbane, 40 minutes from the Gold Coast Airport and 25 minutes from Ballina Byron Airport, Byron Bay has the distinction of being Australia’s most easterly point. A sub-tropical paradise with long stretches of soft golden sand beaches, clear azure seas and a lush rainforest hinterland, Byron has become one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations. It is estimated that 1.7 million visitors pass through each year and that 10% of Australia’s international travelers spend time in Byron. Byron is well known for hosting some of the largest festivals in Australia - the East Coast Blues and Roots Festival, Splendour in the Grass and the Byron Bay Writer’s Festival.

Historically a quiet coastal town built around industries ranging from logging to whaling to meatworks and to sand mining, current day Byron has reversed this karmic connection and is now a centre for (among other things) environmental preservation, whale watching, vegetarian cuisine, and new-age healing. Byron Bay’s population and cultural identity has developed through a series of sea-changes. The first wave of these occurred in the 60s when traveling surfers discovered Byron’s great breaks and moved out of their panel vans and into the beach shacks.

In 1973 the hippies arrived, lingering on after the Aquarius Festival (Australia’s Woodstock) which was held inland around Nimbin. The hippies were artisticly creative types whose focus and lifestyle attracted even more artists, as well as New Agers and followers of Eastern Philosophies. In the 80s some of the biggest names of Australian film bought property in and around the bay. When Crocodile Dundee’s John Cornell and Paul Hogan revamped the Beach Hotel in 1991 and backpacker hostels started popping up like mushrooms, the tourism love-affair with Byron had well and truly begun. The 1990’s attracted a different type of sea-changer as city dwellers seeking more relaxed lifestyles sold up and bought property in and around the bay. A-list celebrities continue to buy property and holiday here.

In recent years Byron has further added to its population melting pot by becoming a haven for filmmakers. According to a study recently compiled by local Producer/Filmmaker Cathy Henkel, the economic value of the local screen industry sector is estimated at $40 million. Filmmaking is fast becoming a significant economic driver of the local economy. Byron’s screen industry is growing in significance for the region, and has become a real player in the national arena.

Completed in late 2002, the Byron Community Centre is a world-class venue in the heart of Byron Bay. A multi-purpose facility, the Centre hosts a great variety of activities including performing arts events, exhibitions, conferences, seminars, receptions and functions. It also accommodates the Northern Rivers Writers' Centre, Bay FM Community Radio, Adult Community Education (ACE), Planet Corroboree (an Aboriginal art and craft shop) and Fundamentals (a natural health store).

The Centre is owned and managed by the Byron Bay Community Association, a not-for-profit incorporated Association. It is almost entirely self-funded. The Centre plays a major community development function in the Byron shire. Over 20 years it has established many community services, helping create over 50 jobs and bringing in over $10 million to the local community.

A typical programme of the time included five or six short non-fiction films like travelogues, a couple of one-reel  comedies, a newsreel, a story feature (two reels maximum) and another comedy to end the two hour show. Audiences of the time were enthralled by early Australian films such as The Story of the Kelly Gang and For the Term of His Natural Life. Theatres in those days were a mixture of vaudeville and ‘pictures’.

In 1913 the School of Arts changed its name to the Byron Bay Literary Institute and in 1916 took over the picture business. The pictures at the Literary Institute were a social occasion for the town’s people though it often got pretty rowdy. In January 1921, Sergeant Howarth was called in to keep order during the pictures.

In July 1931, the ‘talkies’ were first shown at the Institute and local historian, the late Eric Wright remembered watching Frank Buck star in “Africa Speaks”. Bob Dooley, an ex-digger, was a volunteer doorman but disliked summers, when the kids would pelt him with ice cream.

Between 1930 and the early 1960’s the Institute earned considerable income from the pictures and even invested in Cinemascope. With the arrival of television, the picture business declined although it continued to operate twice a week until the late 1970’s.

With the gradual loss in audiences, income fell and maintenance of the building suffered. Falling into disrepair the Institute was likely to be forced to closed, in danger of becoming a car park.

Activists Anuhdi Wentworth and Jenny Coman fought to keep the centre open. Local resident Jan Dawkins too was a prime mover in saving the building and due to the hard work of many enthusiastic volunteers the building re-opened in 1981. Despite the repairs the building remained in a poor state. After 20 years of fundraising the new Byron Community Centre opened in December 2002 with the theatre opening in April 2003.

Once again films were screened at the Centre culminating with the Byron Bay Film Festival presenting its first festival in 2006 and while the Australian film industry continues to go through peaks and troughs, Byron has emerged as Australia’s most vibrant regional filmmaking community.

The theatre at 69 Jonson St reflects the changing nature of Byron Bay and the art of filmmaking. The renamed Byron Bay International Film Festival is proud to be part of its long tradition. The Festival wishes the Centre a happy anniversary for the screening of film and for the theatre to enjoy a long and distinguished future.