Celebrating 32 years

Some of our sponsors

NBN - Harcourts Northern Rivers - Lismore App - Lismore City Council

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Gates

Gates open at 9am and close at 5pm on Saturday 18th and 9 am until 3pm on Sunday 19th May.

Prices

Come along and join us for a great family outing with entry only $5 for adults and $1 for children (under 5 yrs free).

Dates and location

Help us celebrate another great Gemfest at the Lismore showground on May 18th and 19th. See you there!

Find out more

Visit www.lismoregemfest.com.au or like us on facebook at /LismoreGemfest/

By Helen Trustum

When I started researching “Ferries on the Richmond”, I wanted to include Lismore, Gundurimba and Wyrallah. Realizing that the North Arm is now called the Wilsons River, I still went ahead and included them. I will endeavor to talk about each ferry, as there are 13 of them, as we make our way down the river fnishing at Burns Point, Ballina.

The Lismore Ferry was the oldest ferry on the Richmond River. In those early days the river was known as the North Arm and the river from Casino was known as the South Arm. The North Arm of the Richmond River was changed to Wilsons River on the 1stJanuary 1974.

The picture shows the old ferry in operation.

Note: “Port of Call” on the north side and the bell on the post which marks the site of North Coast Steam Navigation Company Wharf. This wharf was built in 1891- 92. The scrub on the north side close to the bridge has long since disappeared.

The cluster of scrub in the foreground on the extreme right of the picture marks the course of Browns Creek.

This same ferry started in service, what is now Ballina Street Bridge in 1850 and shifted down to the Leycester Creek and Richmond (Wilsons) junction in 1872. A track through the rainforest on the banks of the Richmond (Wilsons) River had to be cleared for people wanting to access the ferry.

The punt ferried horse drawn vehicles, livestock and school children across the river for some years before the construction of a bridge. A sliding section of the bridge was designed to open, allowing the passage of the river traffc. The bridge over the Richmond (now Wilsons) River, at Lismore was opened in 1884, the year after the courthouse was built.

The Lismore Ferry acted as a three way pick up, from North Lismore, South Lismore and over to Lismore.

The new bridge was named Fawcetts Bridge, after Police Magistrate, Mr C.H. Fawcett and later MP Richmond. The bridge was opened on 5th June 1884 at a cost of 11,000 pounds. The frst pile was driven by Mr E.W. Allingham, the Mayor of Lismore. The bridge was opened to the public on 5th July 1884. A great procession left the Albert Hall in Keen Street with school children numbering 500. They left the hall headed by the recently formed e Northern Rivers Times May 16, 2024

Lismore Band. The bridge was tastefully decorated with arches of evergreens and fag. One with an appropriate moto “Advance Lismore”. After the offcial opening the crowd advanced to the Recreation Ground for an afternoon of activities. At night an evening ball took place in the Albert Hall.

Ref: Ted Trudgeon and Robbie Braithwaite from The Richmond River Historical Society, Lismore.