Ballina Who's Who
YOUR COMMUNITY. YOUR CONNECTIONS.
Meet the people behind the place.
Discover the people, businesses and groups who call Ballina home, and meet members across Australia.
Each Portrait connects you with the public introduction and links that member has chosen to share.
PART OF THE WIDER NETWORK
Meet members across Australia
Discover members from other towns, cities and regions.
Distinguished and Famous people from Ballina
Ballina's notable connections include a race walker who developed through the local athletics club and a tug operator whose work helped vessels enter the Richmond River. The waterfront is part of both stories, through sporting commemoration and maritime history.
🏅 Kerry Saxby-Junna
Kerry Saxby-Junna moved to Ballina at thirteen and took up race walking through Ballina Athletic Club after initially competing as a swimmer and runner. She went on to represent Australia at three Olympics, finishing seventh in the 20-kilometre walk at Sydney in 2000. Commonwealth Games gold and world championship medals also marked her career. Her local association is an upbringing and club connection, with a riverside walkway named in her honour.
⚓ Thomas Fenwick
Captain Thomas Fenwick became a major figure in Ballina's nineteenth-century port through his tug service. Bringing vessels across the Richmond River bar demanded practical seamanship, and his business also included river transport and a slipway for maintaining vessels. Fenwick House at Shaws Bay remains a conspicuous reminder of that success. The mansion tells one part of the story; the working waterfront and the ships he handled tell the other.
