Byron attacks !

The Gold Dinner, allegedly Australia's smartest charity event has been taken over by the Byron Bay set ie: the Hemsorths, as our main pic shows. This year it was held in a marquee at the Overseas Terminal at Sydney Airport. Well why not as nothing else is happening there. But Mascot? In this weather?

Above: Lucciana Barroso, Lauren Phillips, Elsa Pataky, Chris Hemsworth, Gabriella Brooks and Liam Hemsworth There were other celebs there:

Above: Rose Byrne like so many Hollywood names is fleeing LA and looking for a home in..you guessed it: Byron Bay. With Lucciana Barroso (left) wife of actor Matt Damon and Elsa Pataky

As we predicted..

And thus it came to pass ! More on our tale about the rumblings in the northern paradise of Byron Bay, one of Australia's most beautiful, unique areas which has become incredibly popular over the decades.

Chris Hemsworth's Mega Mansion

Byron Bay was a sleepy whaling town in the early part of the 20th century. It's also Australia's most Easterly point. Even today one can see whales heading North (fleeing from Japanese whaling ships?)and groups of gamboling dolphins are regularly spotted from the beach.

But has Byron (as the locals call it) become a victim of it's own success?. Just days ago we reported that many locals are getting fed up with the thousands of tourists who flock into town on weekends and depart, leaving a mess for locals to clear up and pay for.

About a 15 minute drive inland from Byron is the town of Mullumbimby, another quaint village that has also been popular with newcomers. It's where Whispers has stayed with friends over the years. We even meet & BBQed with the Super Star Action Heroes Chris & Liam Hemsowrth when they were mere lads-their parents lived there for a time. Now both Hemsworth brothers have departed Hollywood and Chris Hemsworth has built a ginormous shopping centere style mansion in the area. Other Hollywood stars are flocking there including Zac Efron who with Matt Damon, are looking for suitable houses to buy. As for Mullumbimby, the quiet town now has traffic jams on weekends with nary a parking spot to be found.

Now a local has gone public with an article in the Sydney Morning Herald as they plan to sell up and move back to the city. At the current rate of skyrocketing house prices in Byron, this shouldn't be much of a problem.

Read the article here: https://www.smh.com.au/culture/tv-and-radio/paradise-lost-why-i-m-leaving-byron-bay-just-when-netflix-is-moving-in-20210411-p57i73.html

Bogan Bay

Some snaps from sunnier days in Byron Bay, the northern town that has become so popular with the ex-Hollywood set like Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky, Matt Damon, Zac Efron and assorted characters. Whispers has been visiting Byron Bay and nearby Mullumbimby for nearly 40 years. Ever since our pal the late British printing press heir Nicholas Shand re-located from Shropshire and puchased a few hundred acres in "Mullum". Shand set up the local newspaper, the Byron Echo which has since become the established newspaper for the area. Shand sadly passed away in a car accident and there is statue of him outside the local council chambers.

But there are rumblings of discontent about the "newcomers" and the glitzy Hemsworth set and assorted hanger-ons who number in the dozens, from the oldtimers who first moved to Byron Bay over the previous decades. And the addition of anti-vaxxer chef Pete Evans has really got blood vessels pumping. We can't name the locals but it seems most cannot abide the new crowd and the attention it has brought to Byron. Among the complaints are the rapidly rising house prices and the flocks of visitors who pour into the town on weekends.

One local described it as similar to the beautiful California enclave Sausalito which in the 60s & 70s was a playground for those wishing to escape the city ratrace but went along similar lines as Byron with property prices outstripping the ability of the sort of "arty" crowd that made it popular in the first place.

Byron Bay locals are now calling it Bogan Bay and say an event a few weeks ago sums up the new mob. A marquee and tables were set up in a park at the beach claiming Covid was a hoax and wearing masks stupid calling them "face nappies" as an insult. It was the sheer numbers who headed for these tables to lend support that upset the locals. Many early Byron locals were "alternatives" in the 60s thru 80s when they moved there but are not like the QAnon nutters who have been boring the world to death lately.

The original movie super-star to spot Byron's potential was Paul Hogan who snapped up acres in the hinterland and built a magnificent mansion and redeveloped the pub in the main street. Hoges packed up nearly 20 years ago selling up for $Millions and moved to LA. Now Byron, or Bogon is flooded from the recent torrential rains and the beach was recently washed away in another storm which caused terrible damage. One prominent local likened it to God's wrath.

Star Struck Weddings & a new Beiber

 

Former Home & Away star Chris Hemsworth has married his girlfriend Spanish actress Elsa Pataky. Hemsworth has a major role in the new Avenger's film along side Scarlet Johannsen and Robert Downey Jr due for release in 2012 but it's his starring role in the film Thor which should catapult him into action superstar status. Thor is to be released in March next year.

Hemsworth and Elsa married in Bali surrounded by a handful of close friends and family and are honeymooning on Phillip Island.

Emma Cooper

And one of Australia's top film publicists Emma Cooper wed  film writer  Henry Cripps at a North Sydney chapel yesterday with a host of Hollywood stars in attendance including her good pal Naomi Watts as a bridesmaid. Naomi's husband Liev Schreiber gave a reading of Henry Lawson's After All during the service and the party moved onto Taronga Park Zoo for the reception.

Emma's dad Guy Cooper was the director of the zoo for years and was once named Australian of The Year.

bridesmaid Naomi Watts

And cheering on the couple-Mentalist star Simon Baker who has just scored a $30M contract to appear in his hit show for the next 3 seasons,  Without A Trace's Anthony LaPaglia who flew in from the US for the wedding, actress Lisa Hemsley, singer Tim Freedman from The Whitlams and designer Collette Dinigan.

Cooper who has become the top Aussie film publicist over the past 20 years divides her time between Sydney , Melbourne and New York. In 1996 she masterminded the successful Victor Chang charity visit of Princess Diana to Sydney on her last ever public appearance.

The happy couple return to New York next week where they are neighbours of Watts and Schreiber

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 Move over Justin Beiber.

Get ready for Munther Mania with the new teen heart throb 16  year old Swedish singer and songwriter Ulrik Munther. 

With the cool tussled looks of the late Rivers Phoenix Ulrik has become an internet sensation and his first album-Boys Don't Cry had 30 record companies bidding for it when the title song was uploaded to YouTube. It's released early next year and here is rough cut of the video :