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Lismore
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On the Bruxner Highway 65km inland from Ballina,
LISMORE
is the principal town of northeast New South Wales and the commercial focus of the fertile Richmond River valley, surrounded by prosperous dairy and farming country. This is one of the most densely populated rural areas in Australia, and has been since the early days of the colony. In the nineteenth century Lismore was an important river port for the
timber
trade, as lumberjacks cut their way through the dense forest of the valley - the so-called Big Scrub - before moving up to the steep slopes of the McPherson Ranges near the Queensland border. Local red cedar, especially, was much sought after. There's still a fair amount of forestry in the region, but these days the economic mainstay is dairy farming and cattle breeding, along with a rapidly growing tropical agriculture sector: bananas, sugar cane, avocados, tropical fruit and macadamia nuts. The Rainbow Region organic market takes place at the Lismore Showground on Tuesdays.
For all the intense agriculture, however, this is not your typical Ocker backwater; the city of 46,000 even has its own
Southern Cross University
, which includes a Koala Hospital on its grounds. Since the alternative-lifestyle seekers discovered the northeast in the 1970s,
cultural life
has flourished and jewellers, potters, painters, graphic artists, sculptors and other arts-and-crafts people who have settled here have established a whole network of shops and galleries where they can sell their work. Every weekend they all come together for the region's
Art and Craft Expo
; at other times the
Regional Art Gallery
, 131 Molesworth St (Tues-Fri 10am-4pm, Sat & Sun 10.30am-2.30pm; free), is the best place to get an overview. The
Historical Museum
, on the same street (Mon-Fri 10am-4pm), houses an interesting, if somewhat motley, collection of pioneer relics and photographic records of the region's history. An annual
Folk Festival
with the best of the local and national bands takes place over the October long weekend (for details, call Jylie Jackson on 02/6621 7537). Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Australia,
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