Not Quite Square: the story of Northern Rivers architecture studies this phenomenon and tracks the influence of an owner builder culture that emerged in the region after the 1973 Aquarius Festival in Nimbin.

The lay of the land:

The Northern Rivers is home to a multitude of wonderful houses designed, made and lived in by people who have chosen to live outside the square.

This documentary tracks the influence of an owner builder culture that emerged in the Northern NSW region after the 1973 Aquarius Festival in Nimbin.

Scheduled to coincide with 40th anniversary celebrations of the Aquarius Festival, this documentary project involves extensive community consultation which focused research around particular aspects of local culture and history in the Northern Rivers.

Not Quite Square features newly commissioned photographs by Tim Hixson, which will also become part of Lismore Regional Gallery collection.

The project includes this newly commissioned film by Byron Bay based filmmaker Sharon Shostak.

Shostak, who grew up in a house of this vernacular outside Mullumbimby in the 1970s, is a past winner in the New York Short Film Festival with her film The Deep Pool (2004).

She also wrote, directed and edited a documentary feature, 'The Echo Doco – Born To Be Trouble' (2011), about people involved with Byron’s much loved community rag.

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