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| The Big Prawn at Ballina
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Ballina
Home of the Big Prawn
Located 753 km north of Sydney, Ballina is a major holiday
and service centre on the New South Wales north coast.
Boasting a population of 14,000, it is home to one of
Australia's most spectacular 'bigs' - the Big Prawn. From a
distance of some kilometres, if you are entering the town
from the south, it is easy to see a huge cooked prawn
sitting above the surrounding sugar cane crops.
Aborigines had lived in the area for many thousands of
years (the middens on the coast are at least 2000 years old)
and it was estimated there were at least 500 living in the
area at the time of European settlement. They hunted the
pademelons, wallabies, bandicoots and flying foxes which
abounded in the hinterland and, in September, headed for the
coast to reap the rich harvest of salmon. The shoals of fish
were often caught inside the surf and the Aborigines would
kill them with spears. It was probably their word 'Bullenah',
which reputedly meant 'place where oysters are plentiful',
that gave rise to the town name - 'Ballina'.
The first European in the area was Captain Henry Rous
who, on 26 April 1828, 'discovered' and named the Richmond
River after the fifth Duke of Richmond. Settlers followed
quickly. They were looking for stands of cedar along the
coast and in the hinterland.
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| A boat being piloted out
of the Richmond River at Ballina
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As early as 1842 a boat named 'Sally' brought cedar
cutters, their wives and children, to the area and a
settlement developed at East Ballina where the combination
of high ground and reliable fresh water saw a village named
Deptford grow up near Shaws Bay.
The cedar cutters found considerable stands of the prized
timber which was rafted down the river to the sea. By 1853
the first sawmill had been built. It was around this time
that the Aboriginal word 'Bullenah', perhaps reminding
settlers of the Irish name 'Ballina', came to be accepted as
the name for the settlement.
The growth of the town was rapid. This was greatly
assisted by a short goldrush in the 1860s when gold was
found in the sands at the mouth of the Richmond River.
As people moved into the district Ballina came to serve
as a port for Casino and Lismore and the pastoral lands of
the district. There was a natural sequence with the timber
being cut, the land being planted with corn and then the
arrival of the sugar cane. Quickly, sugar cane came to
dominate and, by 1875, there were 75 sugar mills operating
along the length of the Richmond River. By 1891, this had
been reduced to nine mills with the Alstonville, Rous and
Broadwater mills being the largest. The river continued to
be used for sugar cane until 1974 when more modern methods
of transportation were introduced.
Things to see:
The Ballina Information Centre
The range of information available is quite remarkable.
Brochures and pamphlets include 'Services & Facilities',
'Dining Out Guide', 'Market Days in the District', 'Arts and
Crafts', 'Golf on the Far North Coast', 'Parks and Picnic
Areas in Ballina', 'Viewing Spots of Ballina Dolphins',
'Ballina Cycle/Walking Track', 'Ballina River Drive' and
'Self Driving Tours'. It is sensible to make the centre,
located on the corner of La Balsa Plaza & River St, a
starting point for any visit to the area.
The Big Prawn
If you have a fascination with 'Big Australia' (see the
separate section in Regions under the heading Australian
Eccentricities) then The Big Prawn is worth a stop. It has
the usual array of gift shops and eateries to entice the
traveller to part with some money. Otherwise it is just a
very strange and exotic building.
The Main Street of Ballina
The main street of Ballina (it is an extension of the
Pacific Highway from the south) has a number of particularly
attractive buildings - the post office and the courthouse -
as well as a superb tourist information office which is
combined with two museums. There is the FNC Family History
Group and the Naval Museum as well as a Maritime Museum. On
the waterfront there is the MV Florrie which was built at
Brisbane Waters in 1880 and traded on the Richmond River as
a passenger vessel and tug. At the time of her retirement in
1975 she was the longest working vessel in Australia. In
front of this collection of museums and information centres
is the MV Richmond which operated on the Richmond River for
nearly 50 years.
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| The Court House
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Ballina Court House
This beautiful Court House was built in 1867 and now is a
central feature of the town's main street. Located between
the Post Office and the Police Station it is part of an
impressive combination of public buildings.
Maritime Museum
Perhaps the most famous exhibit at the Ballina Maritime
Museum is the 12-metre long and 6-metre wide Las Balsas
which landed at Ballina on 21 November, 1973. The balsa wood
raft floated across the Pacific from Ecuador, a journey of
3760 nautical miles which it achieved in 178 days. It was
originally planning to land at Mooloolaba in Queensland but
coastal currents swept it south to Ballina. By the early
1980s more than 15,000 people a year were stopping in
Ballina to see the raft. It is open seven days from 9.00
a.m. - 4.00 p.m. Contact (02) 6681 1002 for more
information.
Fenwick House
Beyond the Maritime Museum the road crosses the mouth of
North Creek on Missingham Bridge. On the far side are two
attractions: Fenwick House and the Pioneer Memorial Park.
Fenwick House was built by Captain Thomas Fenwick in the
style of a Scottish manor house. It is characterised by an
English mahogany staircase, a slate roof and stained-glass
windows. Today it is known as Shaws Bay Hotel and is a
prominent landmark.
Pioneer Memorial Park
On the other side of the road is the Pioneer Memorial Park
which contains Ballina's first cemetery with headstones
which date back to 1853 when Pearson Simpson was buried. In
the 1950s (after there had been no new burials since 1915)
it was decided to build a wall containing all the historic
headstones.
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| The lighthouse at Ballina
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Rotary Lookout
The Rotary Lookout is far from being an ideal vantage point.
The major novelty value is trying to read a bronze map with
directions (the usual ploy for lookouts). There have been
walls constructed with PVC piping which, if you look through
the piping you see the particular coastal feature.
Ballina Lighthouse
The Ballina lighthouse must be one of the smallest
lighthouses on the Australian coast. First established in
1866 it turned automatic in 1926 and is now located
incongruously in a park near the water. It was built to a
design by the prominent Colonial Architect, James Barnet.
Thursday Plantation
Located only five minutes from Ballina on the Pacific
Highway, this unusual plantation focuses on Tea Tree
products in the larger context of a theme park environment
where there are rainforest walks and other attractions. For
details 1800 029 000.
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| Lighthouse Beach
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The Beaches
The beaches to the east of Ballina are exceptional. No visit
to the area is complete without trying the surf at
Lighthouse Beach, Shelly Beach and/or Angels Beach. They all
stand in sharp contrast to the urban quality of the town
centre. Here the Pacific Ocean breaks on beautiful sandy
beaches and there are nearly always ideal surfing
conditions.
Broadwalk
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for sale, Mixed Businesses for sale , Mobile Businesses for sale ,
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Wrecking Yard for sale in Ballina.
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