Re: www.dte.org.au

ohn Elliott's former country property is in danger of going down the
psychedelic gurgler. By Anthony Hoy.

Bad enough for John Elliott he lost all his money. Now the bankrupt
Melbourne businessman may be forced to share his farm with hippies.

Elliott’s Woorooma Station, near Moulamein in southern NSW, sold to
developer George Fendyk in May last year for almost $8m, but Elliott
family interests managed to keep their hands on the station’s handsome
homestead. According to local agents, Fendyk is currently considering a
bid, rumoured to be in the region of $250,000, for 260ha (640 acres) of
Elliott’s old property from the Down to Earth Co-op Society, organisers
of the twice-yearly alternative lifestyle events known as ConFest.

These episodes typically feature “spiritual healing”, formless,
disoriented dancing, “arts” and “crafts”, hallucinogens and lots of
drumming. Always, always with the drumming. “We come to celebrate our
being-ness,” warns the ConFest web site. Highlight of this year’s Easter
ConFest, held last month at Gulpa Creek (on land bought by ConFest for
$200,000) in NSW: a pappadam juggling troupe. Some 10,000 people turned
up, tuned in and dropped their mobile phones in the mud.

They’ll be juggling their pappadams at Big John’s place if the ConFest
deal proceeds (where do hippies get this sort of cash, by the way?). The
plan is to rotate these ConFest dirt worship parties between the current
Gulpa Creek site and the former Elliott property.

All of which should really boil Elliott’s mung beans. Back in his
heyday, the then millionaire hosted his own Woorooma “communing with
nature” festivals, but these primarily involved duck shooting over the
farm’s rice paddies and five-star open-air dining on Billabong Creek,
complete with white linen table settings and black tie service. Getting
high required Elliott’s personal helicopter. A more down-to-earth
Elliott has lately been seen around Moulamein being chauffeured by an
attractive blonde in a relatively late-model Mercedes; they should blend
right in when the Children of Aquarius take over.

Believers in karma (that is, every festival attendee) will delight in
the fact that ConFest was conceived in 1976 by former Labor deputy PM
Jim Cairns, who aimed to “transform society and bring an end to
alienation, oppression, exploitation and inequality”. With ex-Liberal
Party president Elliott now among the oppressed, he’s sure of an
invitation to any future hippie gatherings at his old farm. Woorooma:
it’s Australian for Woodstock!
http://bulletin.ninemsn.com.au/bulletin/site/articleIDs/410B42ECFB69CEE1CA256FD9\
00131F46