Celebrating 50 years of Las Balsas Expedition

By Samantha Elley

When 10 year old Fernand ‘Fern’ Robichaud heard the story of Marc Modena and his trek across the Atlantic Ocean on a raft from Canada to England, it was a story that would stay with him over the years.

“When I was 24, I contacted him and after that we became good friends,” said Fern at the 50 year anniversary of the Las Balsas expedition held last weekend at Ballina Naval & Maritime Museum.

“He invited me to come on the expedition.”

That expedition would make world headlines as it left Ecuador on May 27, 1973 and sailed for 178 days across the Pacific Ocean, having covered around 14,000km with 12 men on three rafts. (Balsa is the Spanish word for raft).

They saw their fair share of bad and good weather and amazing sea life.

“We sailed through a hurricane and were in the eye of a cyclone,” said Fern.

“The rafts became a floating atoll.

“First you had the little fish feeding near you and that attracted the bigger fish and then, of course, the sharks.”

L to R: Col from the Idaho, Dick Greaves, President, Ballina Naval & Maritime Museum, Las Balsas expeditioner Fern Robichaud, Ballina mayor Sharon Cadwallader, Brock from the Enterprise ready to cut the cake.

Seafood was definitely on the menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Then there was the issue of toileting procedures.

“It was the best seat on the raft,” laughed Fern.

“It was the only seat, so it was often used to sit on to read a book as well.”

Fern is very adamant when he talks about the two greatest highlights of the whole expedition.

“The first was when we left Ecuador and you realised that it was too late to jump off and go back to shore,” he laughed.

“And the second was when we arrived at Ballina.

“There were heaps of people on the shoreline and everyone was happy to see us.”

The expedition was originally bound for Mooloolaba on the Queensland coast, but a strong southerly current carried the rafts down the coast and the three rafts crossed the bar, with the help of some local trawlers, on 21^st November, 1973.

Australia obviously had an impact on Fern as he now resides permanently here.

The same can be said for the expedition on the town of Ballina.

Fern Robichaud with his assistant Kelly Morton

President of the Ballina Naval & Maritime Museum, Dick Greaves, said when they moved into its present site, a purpose built extension was made to the roof of the old Ballina Information Centre to be able to house the last remaining raft of the Las Balsas expedition.

Two of the local trawlerman Col and Brock were on hand at the 50 years celebrations to share their stories of the arrival of the expedition.

With the Navy’s HMAS Labuan following the rafts from Brisbane to Ballina, they called out for help to get all three rafts safely over the Ballina bar.

The Idaho, which Col was on board, and the Enterprise, that had Brock, responded and two rafts were safely brought in.

The third raft was too water logged to take the strain of being towed and was cut loose, where it drifted down to Newcastle, towed into port but eventually destroyed by vandals.

The two rafts that landed in Ballina were combined using their best parts to recreate one raft, which now stands proudly on display at the Ballina Naval & Maritime Museum.

For more local Ballina news, click here.

Turning the town purple to fight for respectful relationships

By Samantha Elley

If Tere Sheehan gets his way, purple will be the colour everyone sees each Friday, stretching from Ballina, where he is CEO of Cherry Street Bowling Club, right up to the Tweed.

“We have been running a Purple Friday campaign to show our support in the fight against domestic violence,” he said.

“Two Christmases ago we joined with Rotary and put our staff in purple shirts every Friday.

“Then on 1^st January this year of 2023, there was news of a woman in our area dying from domestic violence.”

From there Mr Sheehan said they had to really ‘up their game’ and through the ClubGrants program, the bowling club donated $25,000 for more purple shirts, to the Rotary Club in Ballina. They then invited as many businesses as possible to get their staff wearing the purple shirts.

“We just thought if we paint our town purple every Friday, we can get a conversation started about domestic violence,” he said.

“When we offered the shirts, we thought a few businesses might take it up, but instead it went beserk with Ballina Shire Council being the first and putting an order in for 140.

“We are thankful to the many businesses who have come on board to unite as one against domestic violence.”

Purple shirts against domestic violence

Just last week, Mr Sheehan and representatives from Rotary, accompanied Ballina MP Justine Elliott to Parliament House in Canberra as part of the launch of the national campaign against family violence.

“It was wonderful for our group to represent this vital work and voice it at a national level,” he said.

“Cherry Street Sports Group and Ballina Shire businesses have been the instigators of spreading awareness and opening up conversations.”

Mr Sheehan said he was now trying to get fellow club CEOs, up as far as the Tweed, to get their staff wearing the purple shirts.

“We will be advocating this campaign in other clubs in other towns and cities to ‘Say NO to domestic violence and YES to respectful relationships’.”

On Friday December 1, Mr Sheehan said the annual Domestic Violence walk will take place through the streets of Ballina.

“We have the support of both the NSW and QLD police,” he said.

“We will start at Ballina pool, and with the roads closed off, it will head down the town centre, to Ballina school, opposite our club.

“We will have our greens painted purple for the day and will encourage everyone to come over for some memorable shots.”

For more local Ballina news, click here.

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