Ballina Information Blog

Community members and business leaders in the Lennox Head area are being encouraged to provide input over the next few weeks into the proposed extension of Hutley Drive.

If approved, a two-lane roadway will be constructed extending from the existing section of Hutley Drive to the intersection of North Creek Road and Skennars Head Road, Lennox Head.

SMEC Australia P/L is currently preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) which will assess the environmental, social and economic aspects of the road.

Ballina Shire Council’s Group Manager of Civil Services, John Truman, said as part of the process, a preliminary road concept design has been developed and public comment is now being sought.

Read the rest of this entry »

Matters of the heart will be front and centre when Alstonville locals Jason Bashforth and Cath Grippo get married in Murwillumbah on Saturday, 6 March.

The Heart Foundation said that instead of giving wedding guests a small gift, the couple decided to make a donation to the Heart Foundation as they have both been touched by cardiovascular disease.

Jason’s father Les died of a sudden heart attack 12 years ago when Jason was just 23.

Cath’s grandfather also suffered numerous heart attacks before he passed away in 1996. He had his first heart attack aged 35, which is the age Cath will be when she gets married.

Read the rest of this entry »

Two Far North Coast politicians are pushing for the return of mobile breast screening to local area.

Greens MP Ian Cohen will ask Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt about improving access for all Northern Rivers women to the new breast screen machines that are at Tweed Heads and Lismore, while Member for Ballina Don Page (pictured) has submitted a petition to State Parliament seeking the return of mobile screening vans.

Mr Cohen supports the concerns of residents who are protesting the removal of mobile screening units that serviced Ballina, Byron Bay, Lennox Head and Casino.

Read the rest of this entry »

Teven Tintenbar Public School’s longest-serving teacher, Bert Berghuis, has retired after racking up an astonishing 22 years of teaching at the school, and having taught over 1000 local students.

Bert was presented with a retirement medallion by Greg Cloak, School Education Director, North Coast Region, at the school today.

The school community also will commemorate Bert’s retirement with a special picnic at the school on Wednesday, 24 February, which will be attended by current and former students and teachers.

School Principal, Virginia Latta, said that Bert’s contribution to the school was incomparable, and he would be very hard to replace.

“Bert is one of the original foundation teachers of the combined Teven and Tintenbar Schools, which joined forces in 1988,” she said.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA), Ballina Shire Council and Lismore Council will hold two free workshops for parents and supervisors of learner drivers.

Jodie Hewett from Ballina Shire Council said the two-hour Helping Learner Drivers Become Safer Drivers course offers parents and supervisors practical advice on how to provide effective driving practice.

“We recognise the important role parents and supervisors play,” she said.

“It’s not an easy task supervising a learner driver for at least 120 hours. They need to be alert at the same time as advising and supporting novice drivers.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ballina Shire residents who work out of their town of residence could save on costs involved in getting to work by being a part of Australia’s first regional carpool network, to be launched on Thursday.

Ballina Shire Council is one of the six local councils helping to fund the network.

Already, partner organisation Southern Cross University has 78 staff and student members registered with the scheme and using it regularly, following a successful pilot program last year.

The local government-funded, web-based scheme aims to create a network of NSW North Coast commuters, from the Tweed Shire to the Clarence Shire, who have similar travel patterns, so they can reduce their travelling costs and share their travel time with compatible people.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Minister for Education and Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and the Federal Member for Page, Janelle Saffin, visited Ballina Public School today to inspect progress on Building the Education Revolution (BER) projects.

Ballina Public school received $2.35 million under the Primary Schools for the 21st Century (P21) initiative for a new school hall and covered outdoor learning centre in addition to $150,000 under the National School Pride (NSP) program for minor refurbishments.

BER is a key element of the Rudd Government’s $42 billion Nation Building – Economic Stimulus Plan to support local jobs, particularly tradies, stimulate every local economy and invest in important infrastructure for the long-term.

Read the rest of this entry »

Recycling and reusing items in materialising artworks is a major focus in the upcoming exhibitions to be hosted by the Northern Rivers Community Gallery, Ballina.

‘Darker Shades of Royal’ by Denise N Rall features a series of textile sculptures which represent dystopian royal figures decorated in recycled materials.

Each figure is expressed in a vignette – a short fairytale with a tragic ending.

Denise’s work challenges the notion of  ‘royal’. She presents it as a meaningless exercise in the demonstration of power; brutal, fleeting and very costly.

Read the rest of this entry »

On 10th October 2009, 10-year-old Ellie was holidaying with her family at the Sandon River and found a severely distressed green sea turtle stranded on a sandbank in the river.

This was the second turtle Elli had found there. In December 2008, Elli found a much larger green turtle at the same spot.

Sheldon (named by Ellie) was picked up by the crew from Ballina-based Australian Seabird Rescue and stayed at their sea turtle hospital for over six months before being transferred to Seaworld to swim in a larger pool. 

The second time around Ellie and her family knew what to do and provided the turtle with first aid by placing a wet towel over its back and then drove it directly to the ASR Sea Turtle Hospital in Ballina.

Read the rest of this entry »

This is what the design of Ballina’s new Big Prawn will look like.

Dubbed ‘Neville’ by developer Chris Condon, Big Prawn the Second is proposed to be built at the new service centre at the southern entrance to town when the Pacific Highway bypass is completed.

Media reports this week said that Lennox Head artist Angus McDonald and Lismore designer Natalie Wilkin put the new concept to Mr Condon, and he liked it.

Read the rest of this entry »