Remembering Ballina’s New Year tragedy: four lives and a fishing trawler lost without trace
As the anniversary of one of Ballina’s greatest maritime mysteries approaches, the loss still sits quietly but heavily with those who lived through it.
In 1963, Ballina was a small fishing town, and the disappearance of an entire trawler crew was devastating. Four lives and a working vessel vanished without a single confirmed piece of wreckage ever being found.
The fishing trawler Weona disappeared without trace on December 28, 1963, taking the life of 14-year-old Clive Threlfall and three adult crewmen.
Sixty-two years later, the vessel has never been found.
This week, a small but deeply symbolic act of remembrance brought the story back into focus, when Marine Rescue returned a long-held painting to Clive’s sister, Trish.
The artwork had been painted by her late mother, Audrey Threlfall, and gifted decades ago as a personal thank-you to those who searched for her son.
One of two Canberra times articles covering the exhausting two-week search. Adding to confusion, both articles refer to the ‘Weona’ using different names.
A search that ended in silence
The Weona crossed the Ballina bar and headed out to sea at about 7pm on December 28 and was never seen again.
Search efforts intensified over the following days, eventually covering vast areas of ocean.
According to a report published in The Canberra Times on January 11, 1964, the official search was abandoned after a meeting of officials in Ballina concluded the vessel had sunk and that any further air search would be futile.
The conference was attended by the Minister for the Interior, Doug Anthony, Ballina Mayor Alderman Barlow, the town clerk, and six experienced local fishermen.
“All present agreed it had been the best possible under the circumstances,” the paper reported.
Captain Boulton said the RAAF had covered more than 120,000 miles during the search.
The article detailed several leads that ultimately went nowhere.
Police ruled out a cabin door found on the beach at Kingscliff, while a Ballina boatbuilder confirmed that neither the door nor a hatch cover recovered that day came from the missing trawler.
An unusual echo-sounder “sighting” recorded three miles offshore was sent to Sydney for examination by naval experts, adding another unanswered question rather than an explanation.
For a town built around the river and the sea, the silence that followed was profound.
A family that never stopped listening
Trish was five years old when her brother disappeared.
She remembers Christmas Day clearly, sitting on the front veranda with Clive, using a comb and wax paper to play carols.
He left to go to sea on December 28.
A few days later, the family was told the boat had not returned.
“I remember Mum and Dad just absolutely devastated,” Trish said.
Clive was the eldest of four children.
He loved fishing and was thrilled to be heading out on the water, stepping aboard at the last moment when another man decided not to go.
Marine Rescue Captain and writer Geoff Hutchinson presents a copy of his book ‘Shipwrecked’ to Trish Threlfall. The story of the Weona never made it to the pages of the book, as it focuses on vessels and incidents within a 4km square area around the bar.
Main Image: Ballina Marine Rescue Commander Peter Hill presents the paining back to Trish Threlfall
The vessel was skippered by a man named Bruce, whom Trish remembers clearly, though his surname has faded from family memory over time.
For years afterwards, the family listened for familiar sounds.
Clive used to ride his bike home from the wharf, his handlebars scraping along a wall.
“At the same time every day, we’d hear a scrape and run outside, thinking it was him,” Trish said.
“It never was.”
Her parents eventually decided to leave Ballina, unable to remain in the town where the loss felt inescapable.
They later returned, although the grief never fully eased.
“You never get used to it,” she said.
“You just learn to live alongside it.”
Audrey’s quiet thank-you
Audrey Threlfall was a gifted artist who painted Australian landscapes, particularly gum trees.
When the family returned to live in Ballina and 20 years had passed since the tragedy, Audrey gifted one of her paintings to the Coast Guard as a deeply personal gesture of gratitude.
It remained with the organisation for decades.
Following Audrey’s death four years ago, Trish asked whether the painting might be returned.
This week, Marine Rescue commander Peter Hill formally handed it back.
Mr Hill said the timing, so close to the anniversary, felt important.
“It shows that even the most experienced boaties can be caught out,” he said.
“Complacency is dangerous, particularly at this time of year.”
He said the Weona’s disappearance was a reminder that the sea does not allow assumptions, even when conditions appear favourable as they did on the day the trawler went missing.
“With the holiday boating season underway, it’s a timely reminder to prepare properly and never take safety for granted,” he said.
