History never looked so happy. Congratulations to Peter Geddes and participants for documenting the arrival of the hippies in Bellingen, "Bellingen the Promised Land". Five decades have passed. The arrival heralded the transformation of small town Bellingen into a major cultural centre. No small feat.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Observations? Lean fit bodies, no Macca packs. Tattoos, the narcissistic body statement were absent. Think about this girls; ageing paints different pictures. The inked bird in full flight on the wrinkled and blotched body tarmac will look like yesterday's road-kill.
Also revealing were the vehicles parked in Hyde Street: just cars. 1970's shots before the age of automotive narcissism; the inner bull-bar. Not an over-wrought 4 wheel drive to be seen.
Warren Tindall, Bellingen.
Editor's note: The film Bellingen The Promised Land screened in December and January. It's a feature-length documentary by Peter Geddes and Peter Gailey portraying "The untold story of what happened in the 1970s and 80s when a group of alternates invaded Bellingen, a dying rural town on the mid north coast of NSW."
For those who missed it, there are plans for the film to be made available possibly via Vimeo (pay to view) and possibly a DVD. "At the moment the Peters need to rest, the response has been quite overwhelming," it says on their Facebook page.
