NIMBIN, AUSTRALIA IS GROUND ZERO FOR THE COUNTERCULTURE LIFESTYLE AND CANNABIS REFORM DOWN UNDER.
Nimbin, located in New South Wales (NSW), Australia is a magnet for serious cannabis consumers—comparable to other stoner meccas such as Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco, California; Amsterdam in The Netherlands or Freetown Christiania in Denmark.
Nearly 50 years ago, the sleepy town of Nimbin, once a thriving dairy community, was reinvented as a counterculture hippie paradise. On May 12-23, 1973, the Aquarius Festival, a large gathering of university students—mostly hippies—was held in Nimbin, organized by the Australian Union of Students. It was self-described as Australia’s version of Woodstock, and it included not only rock n’ roll, but tightrope walkers, Indian street performers and other colorful performances. It was the last of four events organized by students. Tightrope walker Philippe Petit, who walked the tightrope across the World Trade Center Towers in New York City in the ’70s, performed that year.
It was that pivitol event that kickstarted Australia’s hippie counterculture movement, and some hippies literally never left Nimbin and are still there to this day. But don’t
