High on the plateau that rises above Ballina sit the towns of Alstonville and Wollongabar. Occupying spectacular hinterland locations, it’s hard to imagine that both towns began as mud-filled logging camps. In the mid-1800s though, that’s exactly what they were. Large numbers of men – some with their families – had settled in the area to work in the logging industry, clearing what they called ‘the Big Scrub’. Once the loggers had left the area was settled by cane farmers. In fact, the first railway...