Queensland council drummed up over ban on bongos

Residents of Burleigh Heads in Queensland are rattling up the drums after the Gold Coast City Council slapped a ban on playing bongos in Justins Park.

Banned also are fire twirling and slacklining which involves balancing on a slackened chain or rope.

Some residents of the laid back suburb are furious because all three activities have been held every Sunday afternoon for the past 17 years and drawn large families and tourists.

Known as the Bongo Beat, which attracted up to 40 drummers and 20 fire twirlers a week,  the community event is described as “our own little part of Byron Bay”.

But Gold Coast councillor Pauline Young says that while the events were ”very popular,” the ban was instituted because the gatherings were attracting graffiti artist, drunks and others making excessive noise and behaving badly.

Cr. Young told the Gold Coast Bulletin, “We’ve been dealing with concerns raised by a large number of residents about activities in the park when the bongo playing and fire twirlers have been there.

“In recent months I’ve taken phone calls well into the night with locals concerned by the users not respecting start and finish times, the effect the activities have on the local amenities, excessive alcohol consumption and the drug paraphernalia found on a Monday morning.”

A sign announcing the bans has been vandalised already, with someone scrawling “Fun” over the list of banned activities.

One resident wrote on social media, “‘No Hippies’ would’ve taken up less space and gotten the same message across.”

Another suggested it would have made more sense to monitor and ban the trouble making elements.

The feedback was that the anti-social behaviour was not by the performers.