Northern Rivers is the most north-easterly region of the Australian state of New South Wales, located between north of the state capital, Sydney, and encompasses the catchments and fertile valleys of the Clarence, Richmond, and Tweed rivers. It extends from Tweed Heads in the north (adjacent to the Queensland border) to the southern extent of the Clarence river catchment which lies between Grafton and Coffs Harbour, and includes the main towns of Tweed Heads, Byron Bay, Ballina, Kyogle, Lismore, Casino and Grafton. At its most northern point, the region is south-southeast of the Queensland capital, Brisbane.
As with all regions of New South Wales, it has no official status, although state government department offices and local governments in the area work together for purposes such as tourism, education, water catchment management and waste management. This area has a mild, sub-tropical climate. Major industries are agriculture, fisheries, public services (particularly health) and tourism; the region is also popular for niche crops, hobby farmers, and retirees from life in the larger cities.
Geography
The Northern Rivers region is bounded by the Coral Sea and the Tasman Sea to the east and the New England region to the west, where the Great Dividing Range forms a mountainous boundary. To the north is the border between New South Wales and Queensland, where the Darling Downs are located to the north-west and South East Queensland directly to the north. The southern boundary is the Dorrigo ranges, which also mark the southern boundary for the Clarence River Basin.
The defining characteristic of the region are the fertile valleys of the Clarence, Richmond and Tweed rivers and their sources, hence the region's name; and the region's white sandy beaches.
Demography and area
The following local government areas are contained within the region:
The region is traversed by the Pacific Highway, Bruxner Highway, Clarence Way, Summerland Way and the North Coast Line which links Sydney to Brisbane, Queensland.
Characteristics
The northernmost part of the region contains Mount Warning and the surrounding remnants of the long-extinct Tweed Volcano, portions of which extend into southern Queensland. Immediately to the south was formerly the "Big Scrub", an extensive area of subtropical rainforest that was largely cleared for timber-getting and subsequently dairy farming in the nineteenth century. The major towns of the area developed at the navigable heads of the local river systems (Murwillumbah on the Tweed, Lismore on the Wilsons – a tributary of the Richmond – and Grafton on the Clarence) rather than on the coast, in order to be able to transport the valuable timber products (in particular the Australian red cedar, Toona ciliata) to markets interstate and overseas. Dairy production in the region was extensive up until the 1970s and many towns in the area retain their dairy processing plants ("butter factories") from that era, now largely re-purposed for other uses; dairy cattle were then largely replaced with beef cattle for economic reasons, although some dairy production remains. The north of the region is an important sugarcane growing area with smaller contributions from coffee, bananas and assorted tropical fruit and vegetables. The hills with their red volcanic soils inland from Byron Bay provide Australia's main region for the cultivation of macadamia trees which are used for their production of both raw nuts and macadamia oil. Ballina is a fishing port and was a centre for Australia's east coast offshore prawn industry, although boat numbers have declined in recent years, while additional vessels operate out of Iluka and Yamba. Byron Bay was at one time a centre for commercial whaling as well as mineral extraction via sand mining. Further south, the rural portions of the Clarence river catchment are predominantly used for forestry, agriculture and grazing.