G'day (again) Billy the Bus,

My posting of last night seems to have sunk in the deeps of the ether ... Anyway, I'll try again!

I would have though Ballina was just a homesick naming for the Irish town - but James Ainsworth, who settled in the region in 1846 said "the Aboriginal name of the locality was Bullenah relating to fish or oysters" Another visitor, in 1856, mentions "the mouth of the Richmond (River), or as it is termed by the natives, Ballena - so it is a native name, preserves - and probaby 'assimilated' to the familiar Irish town name.

The "tractor as a whalewinch" is depicted in the "real book" - the one that goes with the LP - and Kevin Butcher's drawing shows a tractor mounted to the deck via a metal frame pedestal. The hawser is shown on 4-sheafed pulleys that replace all 4 wheels ... but the layout of the rope doesn't make sense to me. Perhaps Butcher was working from a blurry snapshot - or sketch ... or imagination!

Regards,

Bob Bolton