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Ballina locals pay their respects outside the Marine Rescue Centre in Ballina after two rescuers - Frank Petsch, 62, and Bill Ewen, 78, died while trying to save a stricken yachtsman.

The phone rang at 5.40pm. It became ‘the darkest night’ in these marine rescuers’ history

With a yacht in distress on one of Australia’s most treacherous coastal bar crossings, Marine Rescue NSW rushed to respond. It is now mourning two of its members.

  • Jack Gramenz

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HP composite Ballina boat incident

Hero volunteers killed in northern NSW yacht rescue identified

Bill Ewen and Frank Petsch died when their rescue boat capsized off the South Ballina breakwall. A man, believed to have been on the yacht, was also found dead.

  • Jack Gramenz, Sarah McPhee and Emily Kaine
Mark Hunt, pictured in 2015.

‘I’m just going to murder you in the end anyway’: Former UFC fighter accused of intimidation

“Super Samoan” Mark Hunt was granted bail after spending a night in police custody. A court heard he also allegedly texted a death threat to the woman.

  • Amber Schultz
Vanessa O’Bryan.

DPP lawyer accused of inappropriate relationships with inmates, receiving proceeds of crime

Vanessa O’Bryan is facing a string of charges after her home was raided by police. It is the latest controversy for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

  • Michaela Whitbourn and Perry Duffin
Old Quarter Coffee Merchants in Ballina.

Old Quarter Coffee Merchants

Exceptional coffee is the standard at this small-batch roastery and cafe.

  • David Matthews
Lindy Lucena died in Ballina in January 2023 following a fatal bashing

Police commissioner rejects critical findings into woman’s bashing death

It took police nearly an hour to respond to a Triple Zero call that a man was “bashing the hell out of his woman”.

  • Amber Schultz and Jessica McSweeney
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The incident took place near Flat Rock, Ballina. Angels Beach is to the left of the rock, and Sharpes Beach, right.

Beach closed after shark knocks surfer off board

A surfer has been knocked off their board at a beach south of Byron Bay as new details emerge about the death of a boy in Sydney Harbour.

  • Jack Gramenz
Lindy Lucena died in Ballina in January 2023 following a fatal bashing

The Triple Zero call came at 7.03pm. Lindy’s body wasn’t found until after midnight

Emergency services were told “there’s a man bashing the hell out of his woman”. Lindy Lucena later died 600 metres from a police station.

  • Amber Schultz
Ballina’s property market has risen.

‘Great place to live’: NSW regional towns where house prices rose most

Tree-changers, locals and investors armed with interest rate cuts are pushing up property prices beyond Sydney.

  • Elizabeth Redman
Fish kill in Ballina waterways in the weeks after Cyclone Alfred.

Mass fish kill chokes waterways in Byron region

The rivers of the NSW North Coast are clogged with thousands of suffocating fish, prawns, eels, and crabs.

  • Angus Dalton