I WAS in Byron Bay the other day and picked up the latest edition of Rusty’s Byron Guide which has been a Byron Shire summer institution for many years.
These days it seems to run like a well-oiled machine – although I know from my many years in newspaper publishing, things don’t always go that smoothly – but it wasn’t always like that as this story I wrote for the Northern Star in August, 1990, shows.
The headline, as you can see from the photo, read, ‘Guide book bout ends with a TKO’
This is the story:
‘IN the blue corner . . . laidback North Coast surfing legend and former Californian, Rusty Miller. In the red corner . . . the Byron Bay Chamber of Commerce. Up for grabs in a genuine fight for a title – control of that good little earner, the Byron Bay Holiday Guide.
And the winner, ladies and gentlemen on a TKO . . . from the blue corner, R-U-U-USTY MILLER.
For the chamber, the loss means that its income for the year has been given a nice old uppercut and indeed probably will leave it reeling against the ropes.
The guide was the chamber’s biggest source of income, making a profit last year (1989) of $7000.
The year before that it was in the region of $5500.
And from the winner’s corner . . . well, the spoils aren’t all that sweet.
He would have preferred that the bout had not taken place at all.
But after months of negotiations with the chamber, threats of legal action and alleged personal attacks, he decided to end the sparring and go it alone.
In a nutshell, the fight revolved around who was going to be the guide’s publisher.
The chamber, which brought out the first guide in 1984, naturally wanted to continue as its publisher with the guide carrying its endorsement.
But Mr Miller, who has been involved in producing most of the guides from its first issue as an employee of the chamber, told the chamber he wanted some guarantee on continuing rights.
His request followed a warm-up bout over last year’s guide.
In somewhat controversial circumstances, Mr Miller, who has lived in the Byron Bay area for 20 years, lost the tender to produce that edition.
The guide eventually was produced, but did not receive universal critical acclaim.
There were a number of advertisers who sought– and were given – refunds.
Because of that, negotiations began between the chamber and Mr Miller about the production of this year’s (1990) guide.
In the meantime however, after losing last year’s tender, Mr Miller and his partner, Dean Winsor, from Computer Graphics at Southport, did some early preparation for the title fight by registering the name, Byron Bay Holiday Guide, with the Corporate Affairs Commission.
Negotiations continued, with the chamber rejecting a number of proposals put forward by Mr Miller and his partner.
The latest offer made by the pair that they pay 7 percent of the gross advertising revenue to the chamber was endorsed as an interim solution by the new chamber president, Lindsay Smith-Moir.
But this offer was rejected by the chamber at its latest meeting.
It was then that Mr Miller and his partner decided they would produce the guide without the chamber’s endorsement.
“I was sincere in my negotiations with the chamber,” Rusty said.
“I don’t want to take it away from them. I have been begging for a continuity agreement for years.”
Mr Smith-Moir admitted this week that the chamber now had a real problem with its finances as the guide was its main source of income which used to finance community activities.
He said he thought the settlement rejected by the chamber had been ‘reasonable’.
But he said the chamber had taken a ‘dim view’ of the pair’s action in registering the guide’s name and ‘there was some antagonism there’.
With time running out, the chances of a rematch this year look slim.
However, the chamber already has taken the first steps on the comeback trail.
It has advertised in a local newspaper calling for expressions of interest in creating an alternative format to promote Byron Bay over the Christmas-New Year period.’
I really can’t recall whether the chamber published an alternative format that year or following years, but certainly Rusty’s guide is still going the distance. Pictured is the latest edition.