Balin Stewart’s memory honoured with second memorial in Buddina

There have been some days when Michael Stewart has passed his son Balin’s room and collapsed on the floor in grief. The revelation comes as a second memorial to the stabbed teen has been unveiled. WATCH THE VIDEO

There have been some days when Michael Stewart has passed his son Balin’s room and collapsed on the floor in grief.

Balin Stewart, 16, died outside his family’s Buddina home after he was stabbed in the torso on January 20, 2022.

A 17-year-old boy known to Balin has been charged with his murder.

Mr Stewart said the pain of losing his son had continued long after the initial trauma.

“You wish that you could wake up from this nightmare,” he said.

Balin Stewart, 16, died on January 20. Picture: Supplied

“You have multiple little triggers, you may walk past his room and collapse to the floor and once again you ask yourself ‘why, why did this happen?’”

The Stewart family continues to honour their beloved boy’s memory and their campaign to end youth knife violence is also gathering momentum.

Michael Stewart shows a tattoo of his son, Balin Stewart.

Along with a tropical almond tree that the Stewart family and about 200 friends gathered to plant at the Point Cartwright Reserve on May 14, friends and family will have another place to connect with Balin’s memory.

Mr Stewart and mum Kerri-Lyn Stewart, surrounded by about 50 loved ones, unveiled a seat dedicated to their son on June 11.

The chair is on Pacific Boulevard in Buddina, and the event was organised by Rachael Bermingham.

Near one of Balin’s favourite surfing spots, the seat that was donated by Rapid Equipment Hire is nestled atop a dune.

Jacob, Michael and Kerri-Lyn Stewart sit on a chair dedicated to Balin.

It overlooks the coastline that brought Balin a great amount of peace when he was alive.

The brown arms and legs of the chair are a nod to Balin’s brown beanie.

Mr Stewart said that although the family still had Balin’s ashes at home, and they still often talked to him, the beach was where Balin was happy.

“He was more comfortable at access 215 than anywhere else on the Sunshine Coast,” he said.

Mr Stewart said he would visit the chair often, and encouraged others to do the same.

The father said Balin’s network of friends had continued to support the family.

“We have a tradition at home, we used to make every second Wednesday night family night,” Mr Stewart said.

“Shortly after Balin’s passing a number of his friends said ‘we want to keep that tradition alive, can we come to family night’ and on that first night we had 150 kids turn up.”

Mr Stewart said the children sometimes still just showed up, said hi to him and his wife and then went to hang out in Balin’s room.

The Balin Stewart Foundation is also getting legs.

Mr Stewart said he had been invited to several schools later this year to talk about the incident and that the merchandise they had created was to keep the message to #bintheblade top of mind.

“Later on we’ve got the Balin Forever Festival at NightQuarter,” he said.

“A line-up of bands will play in Balin’s honour, in the style of music that he liked.”

He said there were also plans to mark the anniversary of his son’ death with a walk from the seat to the tree.

“We’d love for as many people as possible to join us for support,” Mr Stewart said.