Ballina Public Art – Hardwood Poles

Standing proudly within Wollongbar District Parkland, the Hardwood Poles are a striking timber sculpture installation inspired by the region’s Big Scrub rainforest. The artwork features designs created by Alstonville High School students, celebrating local plant species and the natural heritage of the Northern Rivers.

Artists Tim Fry and Jeremy Austin collaborated with students to transform their drawings into engraved motifs routed into natural timber poles. The result is a public artwork that blends environmental storytelling with community creativity — a lasting tribute to the connection between young people, art, and Country.

Tim Fry is a Northern Rivers artist and graduate of Southern Cross University whose work explores everyday life through a Pop Art-inspired lens, often using mixed media and ceramics to comment on social and environmental themes.
Jeremy Austin, also based in the Northern Rivers, is a multidisciplinary artist whose creative roots began in his father’s Lismore art store. Influenced by graphic design, science fiction, and comic art, his practice merges nostalgia with contemporary mark-making.

Together, their collaboration brings texture, imagination, and storytelling into Wollongbar’s landscape — grounding art in both nature and community.