Ballina () is a town in the

Northern Rivers Northern Rivers is the most northeasterly Regions of New South Wales, region of the Australian state of New South Wales, located between north of the state capital, Sydney, and encompasses the catchments and fertile valleys of the Clarence Ri ...

region of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia, and the seat of the

Ballina Shire Ballina Shire is a local government area in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire was formed on 1 January 1977 by the amalgamation of the Municipality of Ballina and Tintenbar Shire. The Shire is located adjacent ...

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

. It lies north of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and south of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

. Ballina's urban population at the end of 2021 was 46,190. The town lies on the

Richmond River The Richmond River is a river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may ...

and serves as a gateway to

Byron Bay Byron Bay ( Minjungbal: ''Cavvanbah'') is a beachside town located in the far-northeastern corner of New South Wales, Australia (in Bundjalung Country). It is located north of Sydney and south of Brisbane. Cape Byron, a headland adjac ...

History

Ballina is located on the ancestral land of the

Bundjalung people The Bundjalung people, also spelled Bunjalung, Badjalang and Bandjalang, are Aboriginal Australians who are the original custodians of a region from around Grafton, New South Wales, Grafton in northern coastal New South Wales to Beaudesert, Que ...

, who are its

traditional owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

and original inhabitants. Archaeological evidence demonstrates Bundjalung occupation of the region for at least 6000 years. One view suggests that the name Ballina comes from corruption of a clan name for the ''Bullina'' or ''Bul-loona'' band of the Arakwal. It has been argued that in this tribe's

Bundjalung language Bundjalung may refer to: * Bundjalung people The Bundjalung people, also spelled Bunjalung, Badjalang and Bandjalang, are Aboriginal Australians who are the original custodians of a region from around Grafton, New South Wales, Grafton in north ...

, meant "place of many oysters". This theory argues that the Aboriginal name reminded the predominantly Irish settlers of "Ballina", so the name's origin could be an accidental or deliberate corruption. Another view is that town's name comes from the Irish

placename Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for a proper nam ...

Ballina (''Béal an Átha'', "mouth of the ford"), which is found in several parts of Ireland. Ballina was established in the 1840s on the northern shore of the Richmond River, 20 kilometres south of

Cape Byron Cape Byron is the easternmost point of the mainland of Australia, located in New South Wales. It is about east of the town of Byron Bay, New South Wales and projects into the Pacific Ocean at 28.6335° S, 153.6383° E. A lighthouse is situated t ...

, Australia's most easterly point. HMS ''Rainbow'', commanded by Capt. Henry Rous, first sailed into the Richmond River in 1828, followed by overland settlers from the Clarence River. In 1842, more settlers arrived on a ship called ''Sally,'' forming a settlement at what is now East Ballina on Shaws Bay. A lighthouse, Richmond River Light, was first constructed in Ballina in 1866, which served as a significant port in the region. The temporary lighthouse was replaced with the current one, designed by

James Barnet James Johnstone Barnet, (1827 in Almericlose, Arbroath, Scotland – 16 December 1904 in Forest Lodge, Sydney, New South Wales) was the Colonial Architect for Colonial New South Wales, serving from 1862 to 1890. Early life Barnet was born ...

, in 1879, and first lit in 1880. It is still active. A branch railway line connected Ballina with the Murwillumbah railway line railway at Booyong. The line was opened on 24 August 1930 and closed on 12 January 1949.

Landfalls

Ballina has a number of famous "landfalls" associated with it. In 1928,

Charles Kingsford Smith Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith (9 February 18978 November 1935), nicknamed Smithy, was an Australian aviation pioneer. He piloted the first transpacific flight and the first flight between Australia and New Zealand. Kingsford Smith was ...

's plane, the ''

Southern Cross CRUX is a lightweight x86-64 Linux distribution targeted at experienced Linux users and delivered by a tar.gz-based package system with BSD-style initscripts. It is not based on any other Linux distribution. It also utilizes a ports system to ...

'', crossed the coast over Ballina after its epic journey across the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. Ballina had a festival associated with the event during the 1970s and 1980s, and a school in East Ballina bears the name "Southern Cross". In 1973, the

Las Balsas Between 1966 and 1973, Spanish explorer Vital Alsar led three expeditions to cross the Pacific Ocean by raft – La Pacífica in 1966, La Balsa in 1970 and Las Balsas in 1973. Travelling from Ecuador, South America, to Australia, the first expedi ...

rafts were towed into Ballina by fishing trawlers after their journey from

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

. One of the rafts is preserved at the Ballina Naval & Maritime Museum. They had planned to arrive in Mooloolaba in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, but currents forced them off their course. Their journey was almost twice as long as the ''

Kon-Tiki The ''Kon-Tiki'' expedition was a 1947 journey by raft across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian islands, led by Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl. The raft was named ''Kon-Tiki'' after the Inca god Viracocha, f ...

'' expeditions of 1947 and proved that people could have travelled across the Pacific in ancient times.

Heritage listings

Ballina has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * 37 Norton Street:

Brundah Brundah is a heritage-listed private residence at 37 Norton Street, Ballina, in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. It was built in 1908. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999. Hist ...

Location

It is approximately north of Sydney and south of Brisbane. Ballina is a coastal town and is connected to the Pacific Highway which now bypasses it. The

was an important transport route for the region for the first 100 years after settlement. The river and its estuaries abound with marine wildlife and provide for recreational fishing and water sports.

Demographics

The population of Ballina township was 18,532 at the 2021 Census (representing 40 percent of the

population of 46,296). The urban area had a population of 46,190, which includes Lennox Head and other suburban areas.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups, w ...

made up 3.3% of the population; compared with the national and state average of 2.9%. The most common ancestries in the area were English 31.2%, Australian 28.3%, Irish 10.9%, Scottish 8.7% and German 3.2%. 81.0% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 3.4%, New Zealand 1.7%, Scotland 0.5% and South Africa 0.4%. 13.3% of people had both parents born overseas. 88.7% of people only spoke English at home. The most common responses for religion in the area were No Religion 30.2%, Catholic 23.0% and Anglican 19.6%.

Economy

The median household income was estimated to be A$1,093 per week, with the median mortgage repayments estimated at A$1,733 per month, and median rent estimated at A$345 per week. The average number of motor vehicles was 1.6 per dwelling. Ballina serves as a tourism gateway to the close by destinations of Lismore and

. The town has access to several beaches, such as Shelly, Lighthouse, Angels, Flat Rock and Sharpes beaches. It is also home to historical sites such as the Ballina Manor and the Ballina Naval & Maritime Museum, however its most famous landmark is the "Big Prawn".

The Big Prawn

Ballina is home to the world's largest prawn model (made of concrete and fibreglass). On 24 September 2009, Ballina Shire Council voted to allow the demolition of the Big Prawn, but this permission was never acted upon.

Bunnings Bunnings Group Limited, trading as Bunnings Warehouse or Bunnings, is an Australian hardware and garden centre chain. The chain has been owned by Wesfarmers since 1994, and has stores in Australia and New Zealand. Bunnings was founded in Per ...

purchased the site and refurbished the Prawn as part of the redevelopment. The Prawn now sits on a stand next to the entrance of the Bunnings Warehouse car park. The Ballina Prawn festival ran from 2013–2017, featuring performances from Kav Temperley of

Eskimo Joe Eskimo Joe are an Australian alternative rock band that was formed in 1997 by Stuart MacLeod, on lead guitar, Joel Quartermain, on drums and guitar, and Kavyen Temperley, on bass guitar and vocals, in East Fremantle, Western Australia, Aus ...

, Simon Doe and Painted Dice, indie-rock band Hot Compost, and the late Howie Hughes singing his 'Prawn Song, For The Ballina Prawn Festival'. In March 2018, Google Maps' facial recognition software blurred out the facial area of the Prawn, first noticed on

Reddit Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...

Australia, and later reported in the ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in ...

''. There is an ongoing "Prawn War" between the two Big Prawns with another being in

Exmouth, Western Australia Exmouth ( , Thalanyji, Dhalandji: ''Ningaloo'') is a town on the tip of the North West Cape and on Exmouth Gulf in Western Australia, north of the state capital Perth and southwest of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin. The town was establish ...

; the Big Prawn in Ballina is significantly larger but Exmouth locals say theirs is more realistic.

Climate

The town of Ballina experiences a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(Koppen ''Cfa''), typical of the central part of Australia's eastern coast. Summers are sultry, humid and rainy, with approximately 40% of the town's total annual precipitation occurring from December to March, with March being the wettest month of the year, receiving an average of of precipitation. Ballina's annual precipitation total observes a considerably higher concentration in the first half of the year (January–June) than the second half of the year (July–December). Ballina's wetness is due to the town's coastal location and proximity to

, the easternmost point in Australia, which means that exposure to moisture-laden frontal systems that develop throughout the year in the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, who in 1642 wa ...

follows accordingly. Ballina experiences a copious of precipitation annually, which is one of the highest annual precipitation levels to be found along the eastern coast of Australia south of the tropical coast of northern Queensland. The all-time highest and lowest temperatures ever recorded in the town are and on 12 January 2002 and 17 June 1999 respectively.

Media

The ''Northern Rivers Echo'' is a free weekly community newspaper with 27,000 copies distributed to Lismore, Alstonville, Wollongbar, Ballina, Casino, Nimbin and Evans Head. ''

The Northern Star ''The Northern Star'' is a daily newspaper serving Lismore, New South Wales, Australia. The newspaper is owned by News Corp Australia. ''The Northern Star'' is circulated to Lismore and surrounding communities, from Tweed Heads to the no ...

'' is a tabloid newspaper based in Lismore. It covers the region from Casino to Ballina and up to Murwillimbah and Byron Bay, covering a population of several hundred thousand. Ballina receives TV channels from SBS and

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

and the regional affiliates of Seven,

Nine 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Hindu–Arabic digit Circa 300 BC, as part of the Brahmi numerals, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bot ...

and

WIN Television WIN Television is an Australian television broadcasting, Australian television network owned and operated by WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single television stat ...

’s 10 Northern NSW. The commercial radio stations in the area are Triple Z (Hit Music) and 2LM 900 AM. Both are run by

Broadcast Operations Group Broadcast Operations Group is an Australian media company, operating radio stations across various centres across regional New South Wales and Queensland, Australia. Branded as the Super Radio Network, stations carry one of two formats – a n ...

. The community radio station is Paradise FM 101.9. Other radio stations are

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

96.1 FM,

ABC Radio National ABC Radio National, more commonly known as Radio National or simply RN, is an Australian nationwide public service radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. ...

96.9 FM,

ABC Classic FM ABC Classic, formerly ABC-FM (also ABC Fine Music), and then ABC Classic FM, is an Australian classical music radio station available in Australia and internationally. Its website features classical music news, features and listening guides. I ...

95.3 and ABC North Coast 94.5 FM.

Facilities

There are five primary schools in Ballina; Ballina Public School, Emmanuel Anglican College, Holy Family Catholic Primary School, Richmond Christian College, St. Francis Xavier Primary School and Southern Cross School. There are also four high schools in the town; Emmanuel Anglican College, Richmond Christian College, Ballina Coast High School and

Xavier Catholic College Xavier Catholic College is an Independent school, independent Roman Catholicism in Australia, Roman Catholic Mixed-sex education, co-educational Secondary school, secondary day school, located in the Northern Rivers regional town of Ballina, New ...

. There is also a hospital, the Ballina District Hospital, which is a rural community hospital and various aged care facilities.

Transport

Ballina bypass

The Ballina bypass project upgraded 12.4 km of dual carriageway road, extending from south of Ballina at the intersection of the Bruxner and

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

highways to north of Ballina at the intersection with Ross Lane at Tintenbar. Twelve kilometres of local roads were also upgraded. Early works started in April 2008 and substantial works on 16 June 2008. The Cumbalum to Ross Lane section opened in 2011 (the bypass was extended an extra 0.5 km to allow for a better connection to the Tintenbar to Ewingsdale Project) with full completion in mid-2012. The project had its final traffic switch opened to the public in April 2012, allowing for separation of the Pacific Highway and the Bruxner Highway traffic.

Airport

Ballina Byron Gateway Airport is the region's main airport, located on Southern Cross Drive and from the Ballina CBD. It has links to

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

and

with FlyPelican,

Jetstar Jetstar Airways Pty Ltd, doing business as, trading as Jetstar, is an Australian low-cost airline headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Qantas, created in response to the threat posed by the ...

Rex Airlines Rex Airlines Pty Ltd is an Australian regional airline based in Mascot, New South Wales. It operates scheduled regional services using turboprop aircraft. Between 2021 and 2024, Rex also operated jet services between selected major Australian ...

and

Virgin Australia Virgin Australia, formerly known as Virgin Blue, is an Australian airline based in Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of two active airlines (the other being Virgin Atlantic) to use the Virgin Group, Virgin brand, as well as the larger by fleet ...

operating services. The airport is a 30-minute road trip to

and 40 minutes to Lismore. In 2005 Ballina Airport was renamed the Ballina Byron Gateway airport in a bid to attract more people to the area. In 2024 a $20.68 million upgrade was completed on the airport to further increase services.

Sports

* The Ballina Seagulls is the local

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

club that competes in the

Northern Rivers Regional Rugby League The Northern Rivers Regional Rugby League (NRRRL) is a rugby league competition run in the far north of New South Wales, Australia. It is run under the auspices of the New South Wales Country Rugby League, Country Rugby League. The league formed ...

competition. * The Ballina Seahorses is the

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

club that competes in the Far North Coast Rugby zone. * The Ballina Bombers is the

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

club that competes in the Queensland Football Association Division 2 South. * There is also a

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

competition with clubs such as the Ballina Bears and Tintenbar-East Ballina competing at both the district and regional ( LJ Hooker League) level.

Notable people

* Ruth Drummond Ainsworth, artist *

Mitchell Aubusson Mitchell Aubusson (born 1 October 1987) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a and , spending his entire career with the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League (NRL). He won three NRL premierships w ...

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

NRL player *

Simon Baker Simon Lucas Baker (born 30 July 1969) is an Australian actor and director. He first gained prominence on the Australian soap opera ''E Street (TV series), E Street'' (1992–1993). He later starred in the CBS legal drama ''The Guardian (TV ser ...

, actor *

Dustin Clare Dustin Clare (born 2 January 1982) is an Australian actor. He is known for his starring role as Gannicus in the Starz series '' Spartacus: Gods of the Arena'', '' Spartacus: Vengeance'' and '' Spartacus: War of the Damned'', and as Riley Ward ...

, actor * Nathan Crosswell, basketball player * Declan Curran, rugby union player * Dustin Dollin, professional skateboarder * Lute Drummond, operatic coach *

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the Beatle ...

, mayor of Ballina * Hunter Poon, cricketer * Kerry Saxby-Junna,Saxby-Junna, Kerry
at the

International Association of Athletics Federations World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international governing body for the sport of athletics, coverin ...

Saxby competed with the Ballina Athletic Club

Twin cities

Ballina is twinned with: *

Ballina, County Mayo Ballina ( ; ) is a town in north County Mayo, Ireland. It lies at the mouth of the River Moy near Killala Bay, in the Moy valley and civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Kilmoremoy, with the Ox Mountains to the east and the Nephin Beg Ra ...

, Ireland *

Matamata-Piako District Matamata-Piako District is a Territorial Authorities of New Zealand, local government area in the Waikato List of regions in New Zealand, region of New Zealand. It lies to the east of the city of Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton. Geography The d ...

Waikato The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...

, New Zealand

Gallery

Boats on the Ricmond River at Ballina.jpg, Boats on the Richmond River at Ballina Shelly Beach Ballina from Lookout.JPG, Ballina beaches Ballina LasBalsas1.jpg, The Las Balsa raft at the Ballina Naval & Maritime Museum Riversleigh, Ballina NSW.jpg, Riversleigh, Ballina Wigmore Arcade.jpg, Wigmore Arcade Missingham Bridge, Ballina, NSW, Australia.jpg, Missingham Bridge crossing North Creek from Ballina to East Ballina. Richmond River Prawn Trawler.jpg, Richmond River Prawn Trawler

References

External links

*
Ballina Shire Council
{{Authority control Towns in New South Wales Populated places established in 1866 1866 establishments in Australia Ballina Shire