Karamea’s Corporate Hippie

A quiet revolution is gathering in a far-flung corner of the West Coast. Karamea hostel owner Paul Murray is building a utopia that he says will unite artistic freedom with business savvy. James Beech paid him a visit.

"Locals call us corporate hippies,'' smiles Paul Murray, the owner of Rongo Backpackers and Gallery in Karamea. Leave out the negative connotations of both words, emphasis business sense with peace, freedom of expression and having fun and the description fits well.

Paul has invested more than $1 million of his own money into turning his dream into a reality. Rongo Backpackers is a pathfinder for his ultimate ambition: Living In Peace, a self-sustaining retreat where 20 artists can live, work and exhibit their art in exchange for upkeep.

It was watching friends who were passionate artists but struggled financially and gave up that prompted his Living In Peace concept. "One of them works in a bank and I think that's a tragedy,'' Paul said. "The retreat will bring together creative marketers with artists to make their art a product and sell it with the proceeds going back to the artist.''

Paul was born on Kangaroo Island and worked as a jackeroo, salesman, teacher, photographer and journalist for a Tokyo daily newspaper for 10 years. After touring Europe and America, he and his partner made Karamea their home almost three years ago.

They bought what would become Rongo in June 2004 and renovated the dilapidated building over three months. Rongo (Maori for peace) is an unmistakable kaleidoscope of colour on Waverly street. The timber building has abundant community goodwill towards it as it was once the maternity hospital.

Despite holding sufficient assets, Paul discovered banks were not interested in loaning him capital for Living In Peace. He originally founded Rongo as a means to the end of establishing the retreat but the hostel has flourished in its own right.

Rongo is alive with paintings, canvases, sketches and sculptures. Word of mouth draws more than 2000 travellers a year from around the world. Those who stayed leave their legacy by decorating rooms anyway they wanted, with Paul as the facilitator. His ideal is to fill the hostel's 22 beds every night so he can return to the banks and get their financial support for the retreat. In the meantime, the land is bought, the design for a peace symbol-shaped building is ready and Paul is offering 100 shares at $10,000 each to "venture philanthropists'' to get the party started.

Paul and friends have already made a positive impact by operating the community radio station. Karamea Radio 107.5 FM launched in September 2004 and broadcasts around the clock from the former hospital's ambulance bay. "We had a CD player and that was it,'' Paul said, while taking a break from co-presenting. "The real shot in the arm was a guy in Little Wanganui who donated a 25 CD changer then we got better microphones, a better record player and added computers.''

Today Karamea Radio DJs have 30 gigabytes of music files plus hundreds of CDs and donated vinyl to play with. A new mixing desk and aerial will bolster the signal which reaches 50km around town.

Anything goes on air, from classical, blues, electronica, world music, golden oldies to the latest music. Backpackers are encouraged to plug in their MP3 players and introduce their favourite tunes. A teacher and six pupils present a show every Wednesday as part of their media studies course. Sunday night is open mic with everyone welcome to say their piece, read poetry and debate. "If I can DJ anyone can. If you make a mistake, it doesn't matter, it's amusing. That's the spirit of community radio.''

Paul fondly remembers a retired doctor and wife from California who stayed at Rongo. Their host asked them what song they loved as teenagers and she replied The Way We Were by Johnny Mathis. The record was plucked from the shelf and played on air with a dedication to them. The couple heard it, strode over to the station house and started dancing. "They had a great night, playing their choice of records they hadn't heard for 30 years until dawn,'' Paul laughed. "The old boy sat back with a drink and a cigar and said this is the greatest place they'd ever been.''