Hi there groovers !!!!
This is a public service "not for profit" web site.
This web space is dedicated to ConFest,
for its continual rejuvenation, evolution and spirit
in this new millennium, 2000 and beyond.
Welcome to this, 'not for profit', tribute web site, for ConFest, a publically attended Conference Festival.
The word 'ConFest' is a portmanteau of Conference and Festival.
In exploring this web site, and the links contained within, it is recommended that you read the disclaimer
to fully appreciate that this is a 'Tribute Web Site' for ConFest, and
its two primary generic activities of conferencing within a festival
environment.
It must be clearly understood that this 'Tribute
Web Site' is not a publication of the 'not for profit' Down to Earth
(Victoria) Co-operative Society Limited, registered in 1977, in the
state of Victoria, Australia."
The Down to Earth (Victoria) Co-operative Society Limited is an
incorporated co-operative, which has staged a sequence of later ConFest
events, after the co-operative was registered, in 1977.
Please note that the Down to Earth (Victoria) Co-operative Society
Limited is often abbreviated by the acronym 'DTE'. This co-operative
emerged 'after' the first Down To Earth ConFest in 1976, and has become
an organisation responsible for organising Conference Festivals called
'ConFest', to the current day."
This tribute web site also acknowledges with highest praise, the late
Dr Jim Cairns' instrumental role in both founding and instigating, the
first ConFest gathering, in December 1976, called:
"ConFest - Down to Earth: A Shaping of Alternatives";
co-ordinated through the organising group 'Alternative Canberra' which
was the logistics group formed by Dr Jim Cairns to stage this first
seminal event.
Please note that the 'Down to Earth (Victoria) Co-operative Society
Limited', at the time of formation, was a separate organisation to that
of Dr Jim Cairns' initial organising group 'Alternative Canberra'.
ConFest was instigated by Dr Jim Cairns in 1976, after the socially
progressive ALP (Australian Labour Party) of the day, headed by Gough
Whitlam, was sacked by the Governor General on the 11/11/1975.
Dr Jim Cairns was the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia when this Government was sacked.
Soon after this significant Australian political event, Dr Jim Cairns called for a new society, via a gathering of the clans.
In October 1976, a leaflet was distributed from the Parliament House
office of Dr Jim Cairns. It was a statement inviting all 'who feel the
need for radical change' to a forthcoming event. It stated that the
event would be host to:
Aborigines,
ethnic communities, women's liberation groups, peace activists,
homosexuals, lesbians, members of rural and city communes and
co-operatives and those concerned with self-management and work
democracy, law reform, ideology, theories of social change, alternative
food, health, energy, living structures, education, psychotherapy, yoga
and meditation. (Rawlins 1982:24)
The result was the
first Down to Earth ConFest gathering, which occurred in December 1976,
on the Cotter River Recreation Reserve, in the ACT (Australian Capital
Territory), where 10,000 - 15,000 people came together.
ConFest has continued to the current day, albeit in a different form to
the original ConFest, and by a different organising group.
Adding to the historical context of the ConFest phenomenon, this
tribute web site is honoured to be able to host the ground breaking PhD
Thesis by Dr Graham St John, whose detailed and thorough work has,
amongst other things, documented a broad history of the ConFest events
in Australia, to the time of its submission in July 1999.
Links to this thesis can be found on the about page of this tribute web site.
You may also download a 1.5MB *.pdf text version (without photos) of his thesis here.
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The Aquarius Legacy
Excerpt from "Nimbin & Environs, 1996" by Mousetrap Media
Aquarius
In 1972, scouts from the Australian Union of Students came to the village and persuaded the Nimbin Progress Association to allow a festival to be held here. Johnny Allen, Graeme Dunstan and Paul Joseph organised a celebration of the dawning of the `Consciousness' and `Protest' movements in the heady days of the Vietnam war, free love and marijuana - a festival of discovery .... It lasted 10 days and marked a watershed in Australian popular culture. Many decided to stay and bought up the cheap land available, settling in to a new lifestyle.
Although it could be said that now Nimbin is "A Living Theatre"; it remains an enigma, an energy, a process that some think could be outside the normal parameters of everyday living.
The new Settlers
After the Aquarius Festival of '73, the 'alternatives' had different problems to face but many common threads were there. Left with only a portion of the original forest, they were certainly much more careful with what remained! Twice they stood up to the Police and Authorities to save what was left at Terania Creek in 1979 and Mt. Nardi in 1982 and won out substantially.
A strong contingent of local 'Greenies' have been active ever since then, helping to save our heritage in other parts of the country - not without criticism and controversy.
However, it must be said that the population of Australia (and also overseas) are now much more aware of the issues at stake, partly due to these early protests and to the general lifestyle centred on Nimbin itself.
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JIM CAIRNS PRE COTTER FESTIVAL 21/12/1976.
The purpose of the festival is to show the urgent need to SHAPE ALTERNATIVES NOW. Ways must be found because of the violent, acquisitive, alienated, industrial society which now poses a threat to survival. People have for centuries searched for equality and the right to and ability to determine their own development. Individuals must accept responsibility for themselves. Personal happiness and equality, as much as a good society depend on self-realisation . The most vital factor is the sense of true identity. This is lost because our identities are created by others - not by ourselves. The all-powerful externally created hegemony in this assumed-to-be free society, and its eternalised personal alienation, must be understood if self-real-isation is to be achieved.
The starting point must be "will to be that self which one truly is".
There must be equality and effective individual participation in government and in every other group activity if self-realisation is to be achieved.
The festival will be concerned with the search true nature of man and woman.
For many centuries belief that man is inherently bad has exercised tremendous influence. Because of this belief, individual needs are suppressed and the result is that personal helplessness, lack of independence and the desire to be led are created. From infancy on, people re-trained to be self-denying, falsely modest, self-effacing and mechanically obedient. They are taught to suppress or hide their natural feelings or energy.
Social ideology is governed by contradictory altruism, by guilt and the inability to experience work and action as a pleasure. This results in tendencies towards violence. But is not the basic natural needs of people that has a destructive and hedonistic outcome - it is the result of the repression of basic natural need that is violent and destructive.
The internal social crisis of today that results from these contradictions means that we must SHAPE THE ALTERNATIVES NOW. There is not just one alternative. The new society will be made up of the choices of multitudes of people - individuals and groups - who are determined to find a way out. No one can be excluded.
Sincerely Jim Cairns
www.confest.org.au
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Lotus Flower
A seed is planted - Cotter River Confest 1976 - Photo by: Raymond Steiner
This site is maintained by the "The Tribute Web Site Team"
It was created on the 1st of January 2000.
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