Nightmare on Minjungbal

A Communitarian Venture The political construct of  Communitarianism  underlies the ethos of the Sovereignty land-share scheme at Mt Burrell. In Communitarian systems the rights of the individual are subordinate to the collective. As presumed descendants of the original indigenous occupants of Australia, Sovereignty Activists aligned with the Minjungbal Tribe seized the land, evicting the purchase money creditors who paid for the properties.  They justify the land-grab by appeal to higher communitarian precepts, based on their belief that Aborigines should be the rightful owners of all Australian territory. The property at Mt Burrell in 2014, now occupied by Aborigines Recommended Reading on Communitarianism "Living Outside the Dialectic" :  See Niki Raapana's blog and books on Communitarianism  Communitarianism and Global Citizenship   Seeking a Path Not Included in the Plan 2020: Our Common Destiny & t he Anti Communitarian Manifesto  Niki R...

Local opposition to Nightcap Village proposal, 2008 The first attempt to build a Village in an environmentally protected Tweed valley began in 2007 by l andowner Peter van Lieshout,  when his  wife, Joan van Lieshout was Tweed Mayor .  Despite a storm of local opposition,  development approval was granted  in 2009 .  However,  Peter van Lieshout  was unable to complete necessary infrastructure, the venture failed and development approval lapsed. Peter and Joan van Lieshout In 2006 Nimbin GoodTimes reported local opposition to a proposal for a "Village Community" in Tweed Valley:  "Nightcap Nightmare: Tweed "Village" proposal sounds alarm bells" .   The project was rebirthed in 2016, when Peter van Lieshout made shareholder agreements with Sovereignty Activists controlling a failed neighbouring venture, Bhula Bhula Village Community, that left purchase money creditors disenfranchised.  In collaboration with Peter van Lieshaupt, the ...

By Charlie Peel, The Courier-Mail | 23rd Jul 2017 " A SECRETIVE colony for people who wanted to live off the grid in "earthships" has collapsed, leaving a community divided. " " Some out-of-pocket investors have been critical of the community's founders but others remain supportive, threatening The Sunday Mail with a class action should the paper publish an article, " the  Courier Mail  reports. " The Sunday Mail can reveal what was meant to be a dream Utopia in the forested foothills just over the Queensland-NSW border has turned into a nightmare.  Villagers paid up to $160,000 each to be part of Bhula Bhula but have now split into squabbling factions as they try to protect or recover their investment. " https://www.tweeddailynews.com.au/news/financial-scandal-destroys-alternative-community/3203729/ Mt Burrell Commercial, purchased  in 2016

An Australian land-share venture that began in 2014 as  Bhula Bhula Village Community , is now marketed "Nightcap Village," "Nightcap on Minjungbal" and also as " Earth-Haven Sustainable Communities and Display Villages ". After the original founder,  Mark Darwin , withdrew from the project, other Sovereignty Activists with legal and financial control expanded the venture to greater heights of ambition, with greater depths of harm to their clamouring creditors. In 2016, the incipient intentional community at Mt Burrell  was exposed as an alleged fraud in local newspapers, on social media and in our blogs. In 2017,  Bhula Bhula  was expanded to 3,500 acres with addition of a neighbouring property owned by Peter van Lieshout.  The project, promoted by Tyler Tolman, was neatly rebranded as " Mt Warning Eco Village ," until mountains of warning from angry investors crying " fraud " triggered another name change to " Nightcap Village ...

A Defrauded Investor - Unfortunately everything on this Blog is true! I say  "unfortunately"  because I am one of the members of this failed community. Very unfortunate for us. It has destroyed our lives. Now trapped in limbo, we are trying desperately to get our life savings back. The way they work is very ugly. Total con-men! Slick sales and the ability to lie directly to your face knowing all along that they plan to take your life savings and use it to buy themselves expensive toys and fund the expansion of their show. Our community did not fail because of personality differences, it failed because it became obvious that the financials were being kept secret and that $600k was missing from our accounts.  Records show it was taken by community leaders and those who were suckered in to follow them. It also became obvious that they had hidden a town planners report that showed we would never be allowed to build our community there due to water catchment restrictions that ...

Gi's Garden at Bhula Bhula  2015-16, before it was destroyed by community leaders

By A Concerned Neighbour - I am a  'Mt Burrell local'  and I have watched what has gone on at 3222 Kyogle Road since 2014 when  the promotors  set about getting the funds together to buy the land.  I was appalled by  the promotors' first   youtube video talking about our piece of paradise, calling it " Hicksville " and boasting how they, with the help of likeminded people, would educate the locals, take over Sphinx Rock Cafe and serve "real food"  grown on their own land.  Sphinx Rock Cafe, Mt Burrell During 2015-16 a shanty town grew up at 3222 Kyogle Road. Fortunately Tweed Shire Council became involved and the Land and Environment Court ordered all dwellings, except the original farmhouse, to be removed. Everyone left after taking down their dwellings. Gateway to a Bad Dream... 3222 Kyogle Rd, Mt Burrell, NSW What was once prime agricultural land is now in ruins.  I have subsequently met several of the people who  'invested' ...