Ballina Information Blog

The Ballina Visitor Information Centre is featuring ‘Pioneering the Northern Rivers’, a new exhibition by local artists Riki and Bill Mason. The exhibition takes visitors on a colourful journey into our past, featuring original artworks and woodworks depicting our pioneering heritage from 1840-1935. The exhibition is currently on display and will run until Wednesday, September [...]

After Barry posted the Dust Storm in Ballina story, we have had a few responses from readers of our blog. One of our Ballina.Info readers, Rose from Alstonville, has sent us a few photos of the dust storm over Alstonville.

A recently published book on the East Ballina Waterfront Dance Hall and Skating Rink is sure to bring the memories flooding back for long-time Ballina locals. The book traces the history of the dance hall, built originally as an open-air dance floor on Byron Creek at Bangalow in the 1920s, its removal to the waterfront [...]

A skills development workshop for people interested in learning about archival and conservation techniques for personal collections of memorabilia will be held on Saturday (April 28) at Southern Cross University’s Lismore campus library. The workshop is being hosted by the Aquarian Archive Inc in conjunction with the Richmond River Historical Society, Southern Cross University library [...]

Tregeagle retired boat skipper Tom Kyle has spent the best part of six decades on Lismore’s Wilsons River and now his memories are to be recorded for all time. Mr Kyle is one of the many Northern Rivers locals who are being invited to share their stories about life on the river, from the early [...]

Milestones and Memories, an historical account of the Alstonville district, will be launched next month. The book has been compiled by the Alstonville Plateau Historical Society and will be launched by Ballina Shire Mayor Phillip Silver on Friday, March 16, in the RSL hall, Bugden Avenue, Alstonville.  The Historical Society says the book is a [...]

Have you ever wondered what the Richmond River was like before white settlement? Before the North and South Walls were constructed, and bridges built? This illustration, while not being able to show the no doubt pristine beauty of the river, gives you a bit of an idea what Captain Henry Rous found when he sailed [...]

How does the name ‘Deptford’ sound to you? Or ‘Woolwich’? Would you like to live there? Had it not been for the early settlers to this region, Ballina may still be known by the name Deptford. According to Glen Hall’s book, Port of Richmond River, Captain Henry Rous was probably the first white man to [...]

Ballina Shire Council is undertaking a shire-wide community-based heritage study. The council says the study, to be held this year and next, aims to identify and document buildings, places and moveable heritage items (relics and objects or records) in the shire considered to be significant to our community. “A heritage study investigates the historical context of a [...]