Ballina Information Blog

Ballina Shire Council has announced the launch of the Festivals and Event Support Program which will provide $50,000 in funding for 2010/11 to support festivals and events within Ballina Shire. “Ballina Shire Council values the importance of local festivals and events that aim to showcase the rich cultural diversity and history of our local Ballina [...]

During the week commencing 4 July, NAIDOC (National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee) Week is being acknowledged in Ballina Shire. Celebrated across Australia in July each year, NAIDOC recognises the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The 2010 National NAIDOC theme is ‘Unsung Heroes – Closing the Gap by [...]

A mother shares her heartfelt journey into the chaos and confusion of autism in a new exhibition showing at the Northern Rivers Community Gallery this month. Through the Looking Glass is Gladstone mother and artist Melanie Jai’s artistic endeavour to understand the inner world of her autistic son. Ms Jai has created a series of [...]

The opening of the inaugural Artfelt Art Prize and Exhibition is on Friday, July 2, at the Northern Rivers Community Gallery in Ballina. The Artfelt Exhibition explores the theme ‘relationships – what they mean to you’ and is a major fundraiser for Heartfelt House, which operates in Wollongbar. Heartfelt House aims to heal and support [...]

Free bicycle workshops for women will be held in Ballina during July. The first will be on Saturday, July 24, from 9am until 11am at Missingham Park, Kingsford Smith Drive, Ballina. It will focus on bicycle confidence. The second will be on Saturday, July 31, from 1pm until 3pm at Jack Ransom Cycles, 16 Cherry [...]

Seventy-year-old Ballina man Lawrie Horder has completed his trek of the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea. Accompanied by his son Adam and Ballina locals Steve Gassiner and Andrew Smith, and Stuart O’Keefe, of Sydney, Lawrie set off on the Track on his 70th birthday on May 29. That’s the crew pictured at Owens Corner [...]

The annual fox baiting program is about to begin on the North Coast from South Wall at Ballina to approximately 6.5km south of the Black Rocks Camping Area in Bundjalung National Park. The program, a joint initiative of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), Land and Property Management Authority (LPMA) and North Coast Livestock [...]

Sunshine Coast surfer Dimity Stoyle won the open pro in the All Girls Surf Showdown at Lennox Head last weekend. Airini Mason finished second, Tyler Wright was third and Kirby Wright fourth. Ballina surfer Melissa Combo won the longboard pro. Results:

Recently Ballina Fair conducted a colouring in competition for a local school to win an educational Tomato Patch Program for their class by the Little Green Thumbs. The competition was part of the Let’s Live Better program, a partnership with the Children’s Food Education Foundation to grow healthier communities. The winners of the competition are [...]

Fair Trading Deputy Commissioner Steve Griffin is warning consumers on the NSW Far North Coast to beware of bitumen bandits offering to lay asphalt on driveways at cheap rates. Mr Griffin said Fair Trading was investigating reports of itinerant traders attempting to scam locals at Bangalow and possibly Lennox Head with cheap bitumen laying offers. [...]