EASTER has always been a busy time at Byron Bay. In the 36 years that I have lived on the Far North Coast, it has just got progressively busier.
It was no different back in 1990, except for one edgier aspect – the town was ‘invaded’ by 200 bikies.
The bikies, from Newcastle and Brisbane, arrived in the town on Easter Saturday afternoon and set up their headquarters on the footpath outside the Surfside Hotel – today’s Beach Hotel.
That night, they erected a large marquee and camped in Apex Park across the street from the hotel.
Byron Bay police reported no major incidents involving the bikies, but said they had received a number of complaints about noise and rowdiness.
Local residents and some of the thousands of tourists who had flocked to the town, said they had felt intimidated by the bikies, many of whom were carrying knives.
An employee of one restaurant said he had been punched in the face and kneed in the groin after he told a group of three bikies late on Saturday night that the restaurant was full.
“They acted rather aggressively and they just intimidated everyone here,” said the employee who did not wish to be named.
The employee, who said he had not made a formal complaint to police, said other staff at the restaurant had been verbally abused by the bikies.
He said another member of the staff had called police, but he was not aware if police had responded to the call.
The bikies were eventually served “because what else could we do”?
Management had closed the restaurant two hours earlier than normal because of the bikies’ presence and this had significantly affected the night’s takings.
The employee said one of the bikies had a 30-cm knife strapped to his arm.
“It as an extremely scary situation,” he said.
“The whole town has been laid to ransom by a bunch of bikies.
“But I can understand the police being reticent about taking any action because of the threat of provoking any violence.”
The manager of the Surfside Hotel, Carl Frommel, said that to avoid the threat of any flare-ups, he had closed the hotel early at 10.30 on Saturday night.
Mr Frommel said there had been several minor scuffles between the bikies themselves, but he was unaware of any major incidents involving other hotel patrons.
He said the only damage was to two pot plants inside the hotel.
After the hotel had closed, groups of bikies moved to other areas of the town.
One group threatened to come back and cause trouble after they had been refused entry to the Byron Bay Services Club.
But a spokesman, who said that the club had experienced its best-ever trading period over Easter, said the bikies had caused no real problems.
Officer-in-charge of Byron Bay Police, Insp Chris Long, said he had been warned in the previous week that there were 70 bikies coming to town for the weekend.
Insp Long said when it was obvious there were more than 70 bikies, reinforcements in the form of two extra cars from Lismore and two from Ballina were called in.
He said police regularly patrolled the area where the bikies had congregated to ensure there were no serious breaches of the peace.
Police had spoken to the bikies on several occasions, but past experience had shown that a low-key approach could keep the situation under control, he said.
There had been a number of complaints about noise from residents, but there had been no complaints of assaults.
- Do any long-time residents have memories of that Easter?