Mullumbimby is a town in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 in Byron Shire

Byron Shire

Byron Shire is a Local Government Area located in the North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, on the Pacific Ocean coast between 50 and 80 kilometres south of the Queensland border. The shire, administered from the town of Mullumbimby, covers an area of , and has existed as a local...

, and is colloquially referred to as The Biggest Little Town in Australia. It lies at the foot of Mount Chincogan

Mount Chincogan

Mount Chincogan is located northwest of Mullumbimby, New South Wales, Australia and west of Ocean Shores. It is part of a large shield volcano Mount Warning which erupted thousands of years ago....

 in the Brunswick Valley

Brunswick Valley

Brunswick Valley, New South Wales, Australia is located just north of Byron Bay. It is a valley consisting of the towns Ocean Shores, Mullumbimby, Billinudgel and Brunswick Heads....

 about 10 kilometres (6 mi) from the sea. It is a gateway to a number of hinterland

Hinterland

The hinterland is the land or district behind a coast or the shoreline of a river. Specifically, by the doctrine of the hinterland, the word is applied to the inland region lying behind a port, claimed by the state that owns the coast. The area from which products are delivered to a port for...

 areas of great beauty.

Origins

Originally occupied by the Bundjalung people, by the 1850s a British 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. The name was given to the district by Aboriginal people possibly because of the proximity of Mount Chincogan. It is alternatively believed to refer to a small round hill on Goonengerry Rd (and not referring to Chincogan, the local landmark). The name of this small round hill is derived from the Bandjalung-Yugambeh dialect 'mulubinba' (pertaining to a native fern which grew there).

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.

Location

Mullumbimby is about 4 kilometres (2 mi) west of the Pacific Highway

Pacific Highway (Australia)

The Pacific Highway is a major transport route along part of the east coast of Australia and is part of Australia's national route 1.It is 960 km long and links Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, to Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, along the coast, via Gosford, Newcastle, Taree, Port...

, near where the Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 via Lismore

Lismore, New South Wales

Lismore is a subtropical town in northeastern New South Wales, Australia. Lismore is the main population centre in the City of Lismore local government area. Lismore is a regional centre in the Northern Rivers region of the State.-History:...

 to Murwillumbah

Murwillumbah, New South Wales

Murwillumbah is a town of approximately 7,500 people in far north-eastern New South Wales, Australia in the Tweed Shire. It lies on the Tweed River, 848 km north-east of Sydney, 13 km south of the Queensland border and 132 km south of Brisbane. At the 2006 census, Murwillumbah had a...

 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

Casino, New South Wales

Casino is a town in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales, Australia, with a population of 9,400 people . It lies on the banks of the Richmond River and is situated at the junction of the Bruxner Highway and the Summerland Way....

 has reduced transport options in the region. Mullumbimby is close to the towns of Ocean Shores

Ocean Shores, New South Wales

Ocean Shores is a coastal town in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales. Since being established in the early 1970s it has grown to a reasonable size town. It is the largest town north Byron Bay in the Byron Shire and second largest in the shire. It is located in the Brunswick Valley - a...

, Brunswick Heads

Brunswick Heads, New South Wales

Brunswick Heads is a town on the north coast of New South Wales, Australia in Byron Shire. In 2006, the town had a population of 1,614 people....

 and Wilsons Creek.

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

Byron Bay, New South Wales

Byron Bay is a beachside town located in the far-northeastern corner of the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located north of Sydney and south of Brisbane. Cape Byron, a headland adjacent to the town, is the easternmost point of mainland Australia. At the 2006 Census, the town had a...

 and remains so today.

Mullumbimby was a separate municipality from 1908 until 1980 when it was forced to amalgamate with the Byron Shire

Byron Shire

Byron Shire is a Local Government Area located in the North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, on the Pacific Ocean coast between 50 and 80 kilometres south of the Queensland border. The shire, administered from the town of Mullumbimby, covers an area of , and has existed as a local...

. The Byron Shire Council offices were relocated to Mullumbimby in the 1990s.

A static inverter plant

Static inverter plant

A static inverter station, also known as an HVDC Converter Station, is the terminal equipment for a high-voltage direct-current transmission line, in which direct current is converted to three-phase alternating current, and, usually, the reverse...

 of HVDC Directlink

Directlink

Terranora interconnector is a high voltage direct current electricity transmission line between Mullumbimby, New South Wales and Bungalora, New South Wales in Australia. It is one of the two interconnections used to trade electricity between New South Wales and Queensland...

 is located near Mullumbimby.
This inverter plant was previously the site of a hydroelectric power scheme generating electricity, that powered Mullumbimby and Byron Bay from 1926, using water from a weir

Weir

A weir is a small overflow dam used to alter the flow characteristics of a river or stream. In most cases weirs take the form of a barrier across the river that causes water to pool behind the structure , but allows water to flow over the top...

 in nearby Wilsons Creek.

The hydroelectric scheme was designed by William Corin

William Corin

William Corin was an English-born electrical engineer, who undertook some of the early design of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electricity Scheme in Australia....

(1867–1929).