Latest News
Tweed Council to write to government for more housing support
With a shortage of affordable housing in most areas of the Far North Coast, it is not surprising that Tweed is also feeling the pinch and Council has declared a housing emergency in the area owing to a lack of availability and affordability.
Other News
Jungle juice
There are times when water just doesn’t cut it. And luckily, for those times, there is Jungle Juice.
Cartoon of the week – 21 April, 2021
We love to receive letters, but not every letter will be published; the publication of letters is at the discretion of the online and print letters editors.
Head-on crash car traveling in wrong direction
Police say that two men are in hospital after an accident on the M1 overnight, when emergency services responded to reports of a crash involving two cars near Clothiers Creek
Remembering Peter Warner
Ballina's legendary man of the sea Peter Warner died doing what he loved best, sailing, during an attempted crossing of the Ballina Bar in rough conditions last week. He was ninety years old.
Local youth among those hardest hit by housing affordability crisis
A 20 per cent spike in rents is driving an increase in youth homelessness across the North Coast, the organisers of a national campaign to end homelessness say.
No accountability for proven police misconduct
On Australia Day in 1998, I was the legal observer for the ‘Nude Ain’t Rude’ rally at Belongil Beach.
Stories about "Mary Gardner":
Jim Beatson and Mary Gardner – a valediction forbidding mourning
Jim and Mary are moving to Queensland. I am pretty sad about it. Even if you don’t know them, they have been your friends too because, separately and together, they have done so much for Byron.
The small fry in a world of baleen giants
Like others that day at the Cape Byron lighthouse, David Bryant saw this small whale ride a wave. Skilled photographer that he is, he had his camera to the ready and took this photo that has flashed its way through media around the world.
Protocols, process, and system failures
In the lagoon, the pace of winter life during the long dry seems pretty settled. The growth of small estuarine prawns slows down. Bream now five years old are grown up, itching for saltwater and their winter spawn.
Are there more sharks in our waters?
Are there more sharks or have we just become accustomed to vanishing species in our midst?
Trees or biotechnological genetic rescue?
We peered through the branches amazed to see this colourful bird, resting one wing awkwardly. By the next day it would be dead.
Batting for bats: their vital role in forestry
Flying foxes live life large across the landscape. They are the chief pollinators and seed carriers for many species of forest trees.
It’s not over till the big trucks fill
It’s not a done deal. The swamplands that define Byron Bay are crippled but still alive. The NSW Joint Regional Planning Panel is still debating how mega-development of West Byron might harm the Cumbebin Nature Reserve and the Belongil waterway.
Ancient anger a potent symbol for modern times
This replica nawi, unlike the bark canoe at the Maritime Museum, is oversized and made of steel. It is moored at a cove at Barangaroo, the inner city place named after a Cammeraygal woman.
Explore the waterways and let curiosity lead
Where to go during the holidays? Try following waterways and discovering waterplaces. Start with a ramble down some path or an hour along a shore: curiosity will take over. Where did this water come from? What is it doing now? Where might it go? What does it mean?
It’s time to plan the urban forest: Let’s grow trees
In our town, from December to January, each Royal Poinciana Delonix regia blooms. The magnificent red flowers cascade over the soft green leaves.
Local News
Simon Richardson steps down as Byron Shire Mayor
In an eventful day for Byron Shire Council, pot-stirrer Fast Buck$ was ejected from the council chambers yesterday and later Cr Simon Richardson announced that he will be stepping down as mayor from the end of next week.
Local News
Pay parking for Lennox Head?
David Lowe - 0
Yesterday's Ballina Shire Council meeting saw councillors raise the spectre of paid parking at Lennox Head, and possibly elsewhere in the shire.
Local News
They will not be forgotten…
In the wake of the pandemic restrictions, ANZAC Day will be commemorated in a COVID safe fashion and some areas will ask residents to...
Local News
East Ballina Lions desperately needs new members
East Ballina Lions Club has given over thirty years of service to numerous community programs and initiatives, but if it doesn't get more members soon, it will have to close.
