Back in the lamb-and-three-veg days of the 1960s and 1970s, trying to get on a lawn bowls green was mission impossible.

"They were the premium years in bowls, the '60s and '70s," Balmain Bowling Club chairman Ross Craig told 9News.

"There were so many members in the clubs."

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And there were so many clubs, one for nearly every suburb. But as the '70s disappeared into the '80s, '90s and the 21st century, the core constituency that had kept the clubs afloat sadly began to fade away, either through ill health or the inevitable battle with the mortal coil, which no one ever wins. 

"Balmain Bowling Club is New South Wales' oldest bowling club," Mr Craig said.

"We've been here since 1880 in the community, supporting the community."

And the community supported the club from 1880, when it was first perched on a bare peninsula, and then surrounded by a smattering of houses and wharfs that rapidly thickened.

The Tigers, too, soon found themselves being backed against a financial wall. They sold off the third green, which swiftly evolved into an apartment block.

The middle and original green was left fallow, the remaining surface given the roughly $80,000 dollar yearly manicure required.

Even the roofspace was sold off to support a cell tower, perfectly positioned thanks to the topography of the Balmain Peninsula. Still, the till was not empty, but emptying.

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But bowls being bowls, teams travel from club to club for competition, and Ross soon found himself talking with other club officials dealing with similar financial problems.

Many had amalgamated with what had become a lawn bowls mega-club at St John's Park, on the western rim of Sydney's motorway orbital.

Driven by the growth of population and poker machine, St John's Park Bowling Club is not a club, but a complex, complete with multi-storey parking lot. Its business model considers these amalgams with smaller clubs as a positive.

"There was no way we were going to let the history of this club go," St John's Park marketing director Debbie Hilder told 9News.

"Bowls is the core of our business … and the little guys need some help."

It seems the deal works.

"They've taken over Balmain Bowling Club, but we still trade — or play — under Balmain Bowling Club as the name," Mr Craig said.

It's a new corporate relationship that has evolved for 12 other NSW clubs over the past five years. A better fate than folding, as seven other clubs have experienced over the same period.

Today, there was one other partner needing assistance, that being me, as I sprayed bowls all over the joint as Ross's partner in a few ends.

"It looks like Des and Neil have just towelled us up; I'm assuming that's the case?" I asked.

Ross: "Yeah, that's it.

Me: "Mate, get in there. Rescue us, from me."

A New South Wales woman has avoided jail for killing her elderly and disabled mother by poisoning her soup in her aged care home.

Barbara Eckersley was found guilty of the manslaughter of her 92-year-old mother, renowned botanist Dr Mary White, who was paralysed and non-verbal at the time of her death.

A judge found the crime was motivated by love and despair, ordering Eckersley to undergo treatment for her mental health condition while serving a two-year community corrections order.

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Outside Eckersley's lawyer Adrian McKenna said: "To say that it has been a trying and incredibly tumultuous almost three years for Barbara is quite an understatement."

Eckersley was found not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter in April.

Dr White was found dead in her room at a Bundanoon aged care facility in the NSW Southern Highlands in August 2018.

While feeding her mother soup, Eckersley laced it with "green dream", a drug used to sedate animals.

Mrs White died in her nursing home four hours later but it took three days for her daughter to confess.

An infatuated Delta Goodrem fan has told a Sydney court he was acting as a "lover, not a stalker" when he allegedly twice breached an apprehended violence order.

James Joseph Lafferty, 49, is accused of continuing to contact and visit the singer's Sydney apartment, despite a no-contact order put in place by police to protect the star.

Lafferty, convicted of intimidating and stalking the singer in February 2021, represented himself when he returned to court on Wednesday, telling the magistrate, "I never once had any thoughts about hurting her."

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Police allege the father-of-three, from the NSW town of Grafton, travelled to the star's home on April 26 and May 6.

On one occasion, it's alleged he lurked outside her property and proceeded to bombard Goodrem with more than one hundred messages, including one which read, "I'm outside… Four beeps for 'I love you Delta Goodrem'."

Police prosecutor Sergeant Chris Manning told Central Local Court the accused's trail of messages on Instagram showed a clear intention, and a pattern of re-offending.

Police arrested the 49-year-old on May 6, charging him with two counts of contravening prohibition in an AVO.

A current AVO states the accused must not go within 50 metres of the singer's home.

In an emotionally charged court appearance, Lafferty shouted, swore, and accused police of lying.

Bail was denied after the magistrate deemed he posed a genuine risk to Goodrem's safety.

Goodrem, meanwhile, spent Wednesday in Brisbane promoting her new album, Bridge Over Troubled Dreams, whilst quietly dealing with the confronting court case behind the scenes.

Lafferty will remain in custody until his next court appearance on July 2.

A young man has suffered suspected spinal injuries after falling eight metres through a roof on a worksite on Sydney's northern outskirts.

The 26-year-old fell eight metres onto timber scaffolding at a property in Kenthurst about 2pm, injuring his head, shoulder and leg.

CareFlight's Rapid Response Helicopter joined with NSW Ambulance paramedics to provide initial treatment.

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It took an hour for paramedics, Fire and Rescue NSW and the Rural Fire Service to extricate the man.

After he was freed, CareFlight's specialist doctor performed a clinical assessment and ultrasound.

He was taken by ambulance in a stable condition to Royal North Shore Hospital.

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Southwestern Sydney is a step closer to becoming a new national hub for Woolworths.

The supermarket giant today began building a massive national distribution centre at Moorebank which will soon service 1000 supermarkets across the country.

It's the first of two distribution centres, worth more than one billion dollars, that the supermarket will build at the site. In total, they'll take up the space of five SCG ovals.

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They will be automated which means some traditional warehouse roles will be gone.

"We're going to have to invest in our team in our existing warehouses – some of them will come and work here but many of them we'll have to invest in and give them skills for the future," Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci said.

The company says 2000 jobs will be created, with 1300 of those coming during construction of the two centres.

About 80 per cent of that workforce will be from Sydney's west.

"When we select our subcontractors, we're ensuring that they're based out in the Western Suburbs of Sydney," Claude Concha from Richard Crookes Construction said.

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Woolworths says when construction is complete on both centres in 2025, they'll be able to stock 8000 new products in stores.

"Eight thousand is a lot of new products but that will then be streamed into the store depending on what that particular store needs or what the customers around that store are looking for," Mr Banducci said.

Effectively, supermarket shelves will be tailored to the needs of a neighbourhood.

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet has welcomed the investment.

"It's great that they see NSW as the best place to do business," he said.

A Sydney woman has been accused of exploiting the information of cancer victims, submitting fraudulent expense forms and pocketing the money.

Police arrested 58-year-old Sara Stig yesterday at her home at Freemans Reach, near Windsor, a home she shared with former partner Chris Thomas.

"Multiple patients – we will be alleging it's in excess of $200,000 that she managed to obtain," NSW Police detective superintendent Linda Howlett said.

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Mr Thomas claims he was blindsided by the allegations.

"Just in shock… [I] just don't know what to say," he said.

Police will allege Ms Stig, who held an administration position at the clinic, submitted fraudulent expense forms for a patient who had passed away.

More than $200,000 was allegedly deposited into her bank account.

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"All these years she's told me she's a nurse – told my family, my daughter that she's a nurse… then I find out last night she's in admin," Mr Thomas said.

The not-for-profit confirmed today that a former employee is being investigated by police.

"It is important we keep our focus on caring for each other, our patients, and the community," they said in a statement.

The 58-year-old will face court in June.

Notorious businessman Peter Foster is again a wanted man after he failed to show up for a court appearance.

He was last seen this morning at his lawyer's office and was due to appear at Downing Centre today for a mention.

However, the 58-year-old's lawyer admitted to the court he simply could not find him.

Despite not appearing, all 16 fraud charges were withdrawn.

But he's wanted in Queensland and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.

"Queensland Police have issued a warrant for the arrest of a 58-year-old man in New South Wales in relation to a number of alleged fraud offences," a statement from Queensland Police said.

This afternoon NSW Police arrived at Mr Foster's lawyer's office inspecting CCTV from the building.

NSW Police have confirmed to 9News they will assist their Queensland counterparts in locating him.

Labour MP Kiri Allan read the Budget 2021 document in her hospital bed, where she remains fighting an aggressive stage 3 cervical cancer.The minister, who has been in hospital for more than a month, has taken time this evening to…

A magpie made a guest appearance in the 9News Queensland studio today, surprising presenter Melissa Downes as she prepared for the evening news bulletin.

The oblivious bird stuck its beak in front of the Brisbane skycam for its 15 seconds of fame, at one point appearing to peck at a passing insect.

The news was not on-air at the time.

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Downes was unflappable as she moved around the set, humoured by the giant uninvited guest.

It's not the first time a curious bird has unknowingly been caught on camera. In 2018, a cockatoo stole the show on a Cairns traffic camera.

Australians are being inundated by a new form of scam whereby victims are sent text messages asking for them to share personal details which are then on-sold.

Known as "smishing" – or sms phishing – the scam involves cyber criminals impersonating legitimate organisations such as banks or delivery companies and request mobile phone users to click a link.

Figures from the ACCC's Scamwatch show that in just one month smishing scams have increased by more than 20 per cent, leading experts to worry that incidences of identity theft are about to spike.

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"The latest figures from the ACCC are consistent with a wider global trend that text messages are becoming one of the most preferred ways for cybercriminals to target victims," Crispin Kerr, ANZ area vice-president of cybersecurity agency Proofpoint, said.

"These types of attacks are commonly referred to as 'smishing'.

"In smishing texts, scammers will often use fake branding of an organisation such as a company logo, combined with a sense of urgency and usually some form of request for the target to click on a malicious link contained within the text."

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Mr Kerr said the difficulty of containing SMS scams is that Australians are more likely to trust a link in a text message than they would in an email.

"With virtually all Australian adults owning a mobile phone, this makes this channel of communication ideal for cybercriminals to steal personal information and commit further crimes like identity fraud," Mr Kerr said.

"Many businesses are also using mobile messaging more to communicate with their consumers who are more trusting of text messages than email for example, and therefore more likely to click on malicious links within texts."

Figures from the ACCC show that Australians lost more than half a million dollars to unexpected prize and lottery scams, the highest amount recorded in more than 12 months.

In sheer dollar terms, investment scams are the most damaging with Australians fleeced an eye-watering $8 million in one month alone.

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Mr Kerr said any Australians worried about becoming the victim of a scam should be suspicious of communications that sound too good to be true.

"Australians should continue to exercise caution," Mr Kerr recommends.

"The best thing to do if you think you may have been contacted by a scammer is to refrain from clicking on any links and report the scam to the ACCC's Scamwatch service immediately. Only communicate with an organisation through official channels that are typically listed on their company website and never give out your personal information to an unsolicited source.

"By knowing these simple safe practices and what to look out for, you can help to prevent financial losses for yourself, your business and loved ones."