Bunny Breillat

Listen to the Bunny Breillat story

Courtesy of Gold FM

Arthur Cyril (Bunny) Breillat was a well known local musician, music teacher and local character. Bunny was Belgian, sported a flowing white beard and was known for riding his bicycle about Murwillumbah, with the handlebars backwards. Bunny came to the Tweed in 1900 and was a founding member of the Murwillumbah Musical Festival Society.

One local recalls,

'I can remember A.C.Breillat, as probably most of the oldies around Murwillumbah can, on his faithful push bike (which he rode everywhere) pedalling along the street on his way to his studio in Broadway. The handlebars were always turned down, like a racing bike and a black umbrella was tied crossways along the handlebars. A familiar sight, with his goatee beard, dressed in a suit, hat and tie and trouser clips. The story went the rounds he was prone to being a little absentminded - once he was riding his trusty bike along the street to the studio and stopped to light his pipe, but as the wind was blowing the wrong way, he turned his cycle around, lit his pipe, got on his bike and peddled and found himself from where he had just come - home!'

The Museum holds Bunny's unusual horn violin in the Collection.

Bunny Breillat’s horn violin. Tweed Regional Museum Collection MUS2014.63