The Cape Byron Information Centre (Cape Gallery) is located at the Cape Byron Lighthouse on Walgun. Boasting spectacular views the Cape Gallery is an information centre, gallery and shop operated by Arakwal National Park. In our cultural resource room you can learn about Arakwal cultural information from publications and information boards like:

• People & Land  * White Settlement  * Place of Plenty     * In the Beginning  * Life Today * Special Places
• the Bundjalung of Byron Bay Indigenous                   Land Use Agreements
• watching the film, Walking With My Sisters.

Come and see us at the gift shop where we offer publications, artwork and other gifts. Cape Byron Lighthouse, Lighthouse Road, Byron Bay. Open 9:30am-4:30pm 7 days a week (closed Christmas Day).

Click here to view some of the products available at the Cape Byron Gallery.

We stock a range of publications including DVD’s, reports, and resource books related to Arakwal culture and country. This includes the plan of management for Arakwal National Park prepared by NPWS. Check with us that we have them in stock.

Also you can check out Our Programs and Activities section of this website. In here are a range of our cultural learning programs, some of which have learning materials associated with them that may not be available through the Cape Gallery Shop. Go have a look when you get a chance!

Click here to go to Our Programs and Activities. 

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A number of our community members are talented artists expressing their culture in visual form. Their artwork tells stories and helps to maintain our culture and tradition.

See the paintings and artwork presently on display and available for purchase through the Cape Gallery Shop. You can also view work by these artists by going to the page ‘Our Creative People’ under this section of the website. There you can also read about these artists, their stories, why they create art and what inspires them.

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Whilst we don’t have a lot of crafts for viewing and for sale presently, our people enjoy making things from traditional baskets, practical tools to help us fish and hunt, and jewellery to wear.

This work reflects our culture and traditions and when combined with contemporary styles and materials creates quality fashion and craft items. Check this area out from time to time for additions to the gallery.

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 See and hear what some of our creative people are doing in art, dance, music, storytelling and crafts. This gallery space provides a brief outline and showcases their work. Some works can be purchased and skills can be employed if you are interested. Come and have a look.

We will update this space over time so come back again and see who is here and find out what they are doing!

The new Byron Bay library scheduled to open by the end of 2012 will contain a designated room for indigenous research and archival material, as well as a room for Arakwal cultural activities. This acknowledges the value of our culture to the wider community and appreciation of the role our people have played in making the land available for the library.

Keep posted for photos and information about our cultural displays and activities connected to this important local public space. Join as a ‘Friend’ and we will keep you updated.

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We have a site on Country to build our cultural centre which will be a key meeting place for our people. It is adjacent to the National Parks and Marine National Park headquarters where our corporation offices are currently based. We are busy raising and seeking the necessary funds and resources to make it a reality.

As well as a meeting and gathering place, we can hold workshops and activities there, as well as present cultural displays including art, music, dance, and our publications and products for viewing and purchase. In the meantime you can see a range of these at the Cape Gallery up at Walgun (Cape Byron) and on the Gallery pages of this website.

Keep watching this space – if you’d like to be advised of progress on the cultural centre then become a ‘Friend’ and subscribe to our free online newsletter by providing your details in the subscription box on the main Menu – we’ll keep you updated!

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A range of public and private galleries, collections and places include the creative work of our people, and display work that reflects the spirit of our Country.

We may provide links to these so that you can view these works and creative effort. Check in from time to time and see what links there are!

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The Arakwal Dubay (meaning women) Dancers are a dance troupe that practice and perform traditional dance. We have performed at local gatherings and key regional events including NAIDOC week, The Blues Festival and Splendor In The Grass. We perform a twenty-minute set and each dance has significance and meaning. For example, our welcome dance is about sweeping out the bad spirits and bringing in the good.

Our troupe is made up of local Indigenous women. 

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An Arakwal Family Member Nigel Stewart comes from the Minyungbul Coodjingburra (Fingal Heads) and the Yuin People (Narooma, South Coast NSW).  Nigel is an artist and dancer, and plays didjeredoo. He has knowledge of bush tucker and is learning to speak Bundjalung language.

“I think it is vital in our connection to country and we must learn it and speak it to keep the Bundjalung Language alive and strong to hand down to the next generation. It’s very important to know the language names of country as the names given tell a story.

Nigel has learnt from his elders and friends as well as attending Worawa Aboriginal College in Victoria after leaving high school. He works as a Ranger in Arakwal National Park Byron Bay, putting his knowledge and passion to work caring for Country. Always a coastal person, he enjoys living off oysters, mud crab, pippis, prawns, abalone, lobster, mussels and fish.

“I have been very lucky that the Arakwal Bundjalung elders have passed down their knowledge about the special places and places of plenty. All the bush tucker that I have learnt is from them, so I give my upmost respect to my elders for sharing and passing this culture to the younger generation. All other knowledge is from the ocean, most I have learnt from my father as he is a hunter and gatherer from the Yuin people. My father was taught this by his father and our links are very strong. We have a plentiful, healthy lifestyle growing up near the ocean. My nan and uncles showed me things like how to get pippis in the sand, good places to gather oysters and indicators of fish in the water. It is so important to spend this time with your family and elders to learn.”

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Sean Vidler Kay is an Arakwal Man who comes from Byron Bay, connected to this country through his grandfather and mum who are both Arakwal Bundjalung Traditional Custodians. Sean has grown up around Byron Bay, and knows this place really well – its his homeland. Sean’s passion is to paint Aboriginal designs onto canvas.

“I have designed carvings on wood, surfboards and pretty much anything that people request. I also love to do wood burning and paint boomerangs.  The boomerang is very symbolic to our people as we were taken away from our country, but just like that boomerang, we always come back.”

The paintings he creates come from the spirit of his country and ancestors.  His designs include carpet snake, goanna, dolphin, whale, echidna, pippis, campsites, spirits and trees, all on a beautiful backdrop of landscaped country.  The main colours he uses include earth ochre – reds, yellow, white and ocean aqua.

““Painting helps me relax, focus and remember. My paintings come from my feelings which is derived from my family life and history, totems, heritage and culture. When I paint I think of all my Arakwal Family and how we would hunt and gather and live on our land many, many years ago. I have a very close spiritual connection to my grandfather whom walked this land in search of bush tucker and materials to make his artefacts and crafts. I feel his presence still with me today and I represent this in my art.”

Sean is keen surfer who won the Indigenous competition at Fingal Heads in recent years. Check out this video of Sean here surfing in the Bay.

“I love being in the ocean swimming just like a dolphin – this keeps me connected also.”

He has a strong connection to Arakwal country, its stories and history, and fond memories of being with family here. This influences his approach to life and his art.

“The Eagle is the male totem and when I see the eagle flying over, I feel like it is my Grandfather watching over me. The dolphin is the woman’s totum and I feel the same feeling, when I see them – its like all of my family that have past are watching over me. I represent this in my art also. Me and my family would gather pippis at Tallow Creek and Belongil, we would light a fire and cook them up for a feed, we always had fish, mudcrabs and bushtucker, this place is plentiful. I thank all my elders for passing this beautiful connection onto me”. 

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Corey is a Byron Bay Arakwal family member from the Minyungbul Coodjingburra (Fingal Heads, NSW) and Yuin  (Narooma, NSW) peoples. He is a coastal man who loves to go to the beach, poetry and singing. Corey likes to go fishing with his family, getting pippis on the beach, gathering mussels (bimbala) and oysters with his uncles and brothers.

“I love painting, cause I see the beautiful colours that can be created, like the colours of the rainbow.  My passions are to be loving and caring for everything on this earth.  I like to clean country by picking up rubbish around creeks and the river, excercising outdoors and saying hello to friends.”

Corey’s culture is in his painting, poetry, family connections and gathering from nature and his painting reflects this.

“When I draw my hand this represents coming together and helping people.  Other paintings are about my family and I like to paint boats, snakes, snails, and most recently dolphins and fish. The colours I use represent the colours of the rainbow and the energy within life.”

Corey’s artwork and post cards are available at the Cape Gallery Shop and supports people working with a disability.

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