Page 82 - Tropic Magazine Issue 13

INDUSTRY • REGIONAL HISTORY

Hippies of Holloways of years I was at Holloway’s Beach it all camping and subsequent evictions
went from being a matter of like 8 or from the makeshift camp sites.
Magic mushrooms, makeshift 10 people to being up to about two to The forced exodus led many up the hill
three hundred people. We lived in tents,
to Kuranda, where they established a
camps and the battle for caravans, kombi vans, under the stars.” more secluded lifestyle in the rainforest
beachfront real estate in the The rapid growth of the hippy with the added bonus of free, abundant
counter-culture of Cairns. population inevitably raised the ire supplies of magic mushrooms.
of local authorities and the real estate Many bought cheap land in Kuranda
Words Gavin King industry. to avoid the harassment of police and
This letter to the editor published in the council officers, while itinerant hippies
You wouldn’t know it from the spacious Cairns Post in July 1967 summed up the floated in and out.
homes and middle-class community rising tensions between the two sides. Meanwhile, back in Holloways Beach,
residing there today, but for a brief real estate started booming as land
moment in time Holloways Beach was a on the northern beaches became
hive of drug-addled hippy activity that increasingly desirable. It’s a pity the
attracted national media attention. suburb’s Bohemian community of
In the late 1960s, Holloways Beach Something must be done about artists, writers and soul-searchers – a
was invaded by hordes of long-haired the situation at Holloways very distinct and separate group from
layabouts, with numbers reaching such Beach. No water, land values the subsequent wave of young hippies –
a point the council was forced to ban stagnating (I haven’t been able was shut down in the process.
camping on the beach and police were Writing in national magazine Pix in
called in to make arrests and clean up to sell my property) and the 1969, a journalist noted:
the place. nauseating stigma attached to “For years, genuine artists have been
According to a research paper by residents by townspeople. The living a carefree existence on the
James Cook University Professor beaches. They have developed their
Rosita Henry, it all kicked off in reason? Yes, it’s the good-for- talents and made new industries for
Holloways around 1967. In an nothing Bohemian element the tourist trade. But the hippies, with
interview Prof. Henry conducted of ‘paint daubers’, ‘guitar their drugs and naked parties, have
for the study, a resident of the time twangers’ and do-it-yourself threatened the Bohemian life. Local
described the scene. authorities, unfortunately, too often
“As the population of Holloways craftsmen and layabouts. see the artists and hippies in the same
increased, we were starting to get - 1967 letter to shade of black”.
travellers coming in from various parts Cairns Post Once described as the Greenwich
of the world that was eventually known Village of Cairns, the suburb of
as the ‘Hash Trail’ which started in Cairns City Council duly launched a Holloways Beach could’ve been a
Europe, made its way through Pakistan, special committee to investigate the national hipster haven long before the
Afghanistan, across country India, camping situation, resulting in a ban on term was invented.
down through Thailand, down through
Malaysia, through to Bali.
“There was a cheap flight from Bali to
Darwin, a $60 flight, and then they
would come overland from Darwin to
Cairns on the milk trucks. The drivers
would carry passengers because it was a
long drive for them on their fresh milk
runs between Malanda and Darwin.
“So, it was part of a global overland
trekking network and over those couple

82 • Tropic • Issue 13