T H E R E ’ S A LW A Y S R O O M F O R A U N I CO R N I N Y O U R L I F E The Byron Shire Echo • Volume 39 #49 • May 14, 2025 • www.echo.net.au
Parking permit fees are back
New local theatre hits stage
Paul Bibby
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yron Shire residents will be required to pay $55 a year for a parking permit as of July 1, after councillors voted to reintroduce the fee at last week’s meeting. Less than a year after the permits were abolished by former Mayor Michael Lyon in an attempt to appease those impacted by the introduction of parking meters in Brunswick Heads, it has returned and looks set to stay. Pensioners and the holders of Centrelink and student concession cards will be exempt from the permit fees.
Local actors Sally Davis and Noa Rotem rehearsing Displace I Call Home, the debut production from the Byron Theatre Company. Photo Kate Holmes Paul Bibby
A
new era of professional theatre is beginning in Byron Shire, with the launch of Displace I Call Home, the debut production of the newly formed Byron Theatre Company (BTC). Written and directed by local creative Bianca Sirianni, the play marks a significant milestone for the local arts industry and the community more broadly. It is the first offering from the Shire’s own professional theatre company, bringing together some of our most talented locals, along with involvement from local schools and colleges.
Displace I Call Home promises to be a powerful and ambitious first offering from the BTC, which will deliver an annual season of original theatre, alongside creative development programs for regional artists, including mentorships, masterclasses and collaborative residences. It stars Sally Davis, Noa Rotem and Tom Davies, with choreography by Waangenga Blanco and projection design by Victor Holder. Blending poetic storytelling, physical theatre, and cinematic projection, the work follows the story of Jacqui, a woman who has spent a lifetime studying problems in the natural world while avoiding her
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own. When a terminal diagnosis cuts through her isolation, she’s visited by a mysterious bird that draws her into a surreal journey through memory, myth, and healing.
Transmigratory world Set across the Australian landscape, the play reflects on the meaning of home and belonging in a transmigratory world. ‘One of the key themes in the play is that it’s easier to look outside ourselves rather than inside,’ Ms Sirianni told The Echo last week. ‘Things can be so difficult to sit with and think about and so we often avoid them. Jacqui’s story highlights how important it is to
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meet those things so that you can live the richest life that you can.’ Another key theme in the play, Ms Sirianni says, is that of the lyrebird. ‘Jacqui has these hallucinations in which she has this connection with a lyrebird,’ she says. ‘So there’s this connection to the spiritual and mythical worlds – an expanded way of being in the world that includes what’s underneath and below.’ Displace I Call Home will run from July 2–5 at Byron Theatre. A fundraising event for the BTC will be held on June 7, with a special screening of the film The Message of the Lyrebird followed by a Q&A session with the filmmaker.
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To fund admin and infrastructure The main argument made in favour of reintroducing the fee at last week’s meeting was that the revenue was needed to pay for the administration of the permit system, and to help fund other Council programs, including basic infrastructure works. The meeting heard that abolishing the permit fees in September last year had already cost Council in excess of $400,000, and that it would likely forego $825,000 a year if this continued. This did not include the parking revenue lost as a result of the free permits. ‘The paid parking scheme in Byron as it existed from 2015 to ▶ Continued on page 3
Bangalow billycarts ready to roll this Sunday ▶ p18
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