Author
Peter Duke was born in Sydney, Australia and is a qualified physical education and special education teacher. Peter spent 7 years working with developmentally impaired children and adults. From 1989-1996 he was employed in sales at Citibank Ltd prior to working and travelling overseas.
“I arrived at Byron Bay from Sydney on the June long weekend in 1998. As I drove into town an incredible sense of well being overcame me, I had never been here before. The wide streets, old style buildings and ‘Queenslanders’ (style of house) were typical of a small Australian country town. There were no tall buildings and no traffic! I had yet to see ‘The Bay’ and already I felt at home.
I checked into the First Sun Caravan Park and walked straight down to the beach. The view from Main Beach is spectacular: Mt Warning, Byron Bay, Julian Rocks, Cape Byron and the sparkling Pacific Ocean. Having lived most of my life in the city, I was jumping out of my skin just to be here. Within the first two weeks, I began teaching English for one term at Mullumbimby High School and living at Wategos Beach.
Originally,
the idea of a book was to showcase the natural surroundings of this
magnificent region. However, the direction changed following lengthy
discussions with many of the older residents. I started to realise
Byron Bay was much more than
‘a pretty picture’.
A portfolio of images became the catalyst for fascinating conversations and the wonderful stories told would compliment the photographs. In addition, some beautifully written interpretations and poetry were passed on.
In 2005, the Byron Bay Historical Photographic Exhibition was successfully staged at the Byron Bay Surf Life Saving Club (see the Preview page). The Exhibition covered the years from the Indigenous Australians to the 1960s. The contemporary topic (1960-2008) has recently been finalised and combines with the pictures and stories from the exhibition to make up the eBook. In July of 2008, this project was successfully launched (on CD-ROM) at the Byron Bay Writers Festival. In the months to follow, an interactive Adobe eBook was configured and released in October 2008.
Researching this project provided the most valuable personal life experience imaginable. The Byron Bay eBook is in part a reflection of the experience I had and most definitely best represents the wonderful and generous people I met. I will always be most grateful to the people of Byron Bay who generously shared their memories and images with me.
The Byron Bay eBook, is a real life story that is lots of fun and laced with love.