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Byron Bay Historical Society

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25.01.2022 Whaling in Byron Bay 1954 to 1962 - The demand for the newly produced soluble whale concentrates in liquid form from the Byron 'Bay whaling station has been so great that the company is having difficulty in keeping up with orders. The company went into operation for this season about four weeks ago. This position arises .even,. though the company produces over five tons of the product daily, seven days a week. Mr. T. H. Hamilton, m...Continue reading

24.01.2022 A one horse town ? Not quite ,it was a booming town with a jetty and this is Jonson St looking north from the intersection with Byron St . The large building on the right is the original Great Northern Hotel , a very grand accomodation and refreshment building. In 1897 it burnt to the ground along with the building on the north side . #byronbay ,#history http://byronbayhistoricalsociety.org.au/development-of-b//

24.01.2022 Exciting New Audio History Walking trail soon to be launched in Byron bay Byron Bay Historical Society Membership and funding raising appeal The Byron Bay Historical Society has developing a new web site and is about to launch an exciting new electronic media (audio, pictures and written) history trail that tell twenty informative stories over your smart phone using a QR scanner app, as you walk the coast trail. These stories explore the early European settlement and developm...ent of the Byron Bay town, its industry, little-known facts about its agriculture past, whaling and ship wrecks while also acknowledges the History of the Bays traditional custodians the Arakwal People of the Bundjalung Nation. Commencing at Main Beach in front of the Surf Club the History Trail takes you east along the fore shore walking trail over the Pass lookout down into Wategos and up to the beautiful cape, the most easterly point on Australian mainland, while you listen to the story like Captain Cooks first sighting and naming of Cape Byron as you head on to the iconic Byron Bay lighthouse café for coffee. Following this head on down to overlook the beautiful Tallow beach where you will hear stories about Gold mining, how Tallow beach got its name and the Bundjalung Arakwal Indigenous Land use Agreement. This history trail project has taken 4 years plus hundreds of volunteer hours and personal funding by the four BBHS committee members. There has been some grant money from council to assist. We are on the verge of officially launching this project and BBHS are asking for financial assistance from the public with a goal to raise a minimum $5,000 either by becoming a financial member or donation. This would enable BBHS to complete and maintain stage 1 of the History Trail then expand the story points around the rest of our town giving our hundreds of thousands of visitors an insight into the rich and diverse history which we are proud to share. We are not just a party town. Donations can be made by direct fund transfer to ANZ Bank Byron Bay, BSB 012554, A/C 485551918. Please use your name as reference.Remittance email for cross referencing and receipt - [email protected] To become a member simply click onto The Byron Bay Historical Society web site byronbayhistoricalsociety.org.au search membership and fill out the form Warm regards to our old friends and our new acquaintances Donald Maughan President of Byron Bay historical Society See more

22.01.2022 Early 1960s at Cape Byron Lighthouse with its weather radar and bare hills . Sand mining was in full production on Tallow Beach and Wategos Beach had been subdivided into almost unsellable goat building blocks .

20.01.2022 No matter how bad the weather was the lighthouse workers must keep the light rotating.

20.01.2022 Byron Bay Surf-Bathing and Life-Saving Club formed 14th January 1909.

20.01.2022 Post 1960 panoramic photos of Byron Bay .

19.01.2022 The Green Frog locomotive is a legend in Byron Bay history as it arrived from England in the early 1920s and replaced the horse for pulling passenger and freight carriages to the old jetty and then used again for the same work at the new jetty about 1.5km north . It shall become a static display at the railway precinct in time .

17.01.2022 A story about the original Byron Shire Council hall and chambers .

17.01.2022 http://byronbayhistoricalsociety.org.au/development-of-b// The old jetty was a hive of activity and brought prosperity to Byron Bay .The location of the photographer for this shot would be what is now the swimming pool western end.

13.01.2022 If you were standing here in the mid 1960’s there was no foreshore park, walkway, Lawson Street or buildings. Dunes and swamp extended inland as far as Marvell Street and the sports fields. Only after the area was mined for rutile and zircon in 1968 was the land developed as you see it now. In 1934 Zircon Rutile Limited (ZRL), was formed in Byron Bay. This was the first company in the world to recover zircon and rutile commercially from beach sand. Mining started in January 1...935 at Seven Mile Beach. Initially black-sanders manually scraped, dug, concentrated and stockpiled the heavy, black sand. They were paid $4.80 for a 44-hour week, lived in tents near the beach and kept all gold, platinum and tin. ZRL processing plant The concentrates were transported to ZRL’s treatment plant on Jonson Street in Byron Bay. In 1943 ZRL became the first company in the world to produce separate, high-grade rutile and zircon from mineral sands. These were bagged and exported from Byron Bay to the world. The zircon was used in the foundry, ceramic and enamel industries. Rutile was used to make white pigment, for paint and plastics, and titanium metal. Black sand lead containing zircon and rutile In 1947 mining commenced on Tallow Beach at Broken Head and ended up at Cosy Corner beneath the lighthouse. Mining moved inland, and in the 1960’s to Main and Belongil Beaches. In 1948 floating suction dredges, which separated the heavy minerals simply and cheaply from other sandgrains, were introduced. The heavy minerals were pumped to the treatment plant. The rest of the sand remained at its source. In 1951 ZRL began rehabilitating, reforming and replanting the mined areas; but not always with native species. Environmental opposition to sand mining grew. Sand Mining on Main Beach in 1967. RTRL Photo. Mining ceased in 1968; processing in 1972. Some mined areas are now incorporated in Arakwal National Park; some are public places and some contain private houses, commercial buildings or infrastructure. After 38 years and production of more than half a million tonnes of premium mineral sand products from its beaches and dunes worth more than $500 million today Byron Bay’s pioneering role in this industry was over. http://byronbayhistoricalsociety.org.au/about-us/membership/

11.01.2022 Could this be a delivery of the Byron Bay Record newspaper to the Post Office for delivery around the town ? The paper started circulation in 1902 by a gentleman named Mr Alfred Burgess . In January 1925 the building containing the Byron Bay Record burnt down .

09.01.2022 Mr David Tillotson Jarman , the first permanent white settler at Cavanbah- Cape Byron Bay- Byron Bay circa 1882. An American who fought hard for the jetty , the railway and many other infrastructure projects in the Byron Shire . He built Lincoln Hall (presumably after Abraham Lincoln ) that would become the first Byron Shire Council building . He was a mystery man who had a wife Mary Ann Goldsworthy and 9 children that he left behind in South ...Australia and moved to the North Coast with a mystery woman named Elizabeth (see added information further down supplied by Theresa Stefano Grenoni) David is buried in Byron Bay cemetery but Elizabeth disappeared and my investigative trail went cold . He was a ferryman at the Brunswick River before moving to Palm Valley , The Pass at Cavanbah circa 1883. Addendum- David and Elizabeth never married and I've found no evidence of a divorce from his wife Mary Ann Goldsworthy. Mary Ann remained in Clare, SA until her death in 1916. As you know, David deserted Mary Ann and their 9 children after 26 yrs of marriage. She placed him as a missing person in 1881, which would be about the time he and Elizabeth began living as a "married" couple. There were no children of this union. I believe his "wife" was Elizabeth Almenea Griggs. The 4th child of my 3x Great Grandfather, John Griggs and his 2nd wife, Mary Arden. Elizabeth was born in 1845 at Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire, England. The family immigrated to Australia in 1849 when Elizabeth was 3 years old, and they settled in South Australia. Elizabeth would've been 36 years old in 1881, to David's 48 years. In 1899, Elizabeth applied for crown land at Lismore, Byron, Rous, Byron Bay. She applied under the name of Elizabeth Almenea Jarman. Elizabeth remained in NSW even after David's death in 1908. In 1913 she was on the electoral roll at Byron Bay in NSW. Shortly after this, she returned to SA where she died at the Methodist Memorial Hospital in North Adelaide, on 28 July 1920 at 75 years. She shares her grave site with her sister Caroline. http://tree.fergusonfamilytree.info/hourglass.php https://www.northernstar.com.au//tireless-workers/3133224/ https://www.talesfromthegrave.org//bad-health-couldn-t-sto

04.01.2022 Circa mid 1960s.