The Territory Families Department finalised half the number of child-protection investigations it planned to last financial year, but child welfare advocates say the figure is a result of longer-term reforms.

Residents have been left vulnerable and fearing for their future water security as underground aquifers run critically low in rural Darwin and communities fear what a second poor wet season could mean for their future.

Hundreds of visitors have ascended Uluru today and there is now less than an hour before the iconic landmark is closed to climbers permanently, at the request of local traditional owners.

Nearly 34 years to the day since Uluru was handed back to the Anangu traditional owners, their wishes will now be enforced by law, and anyone caught ascending the culturally significant site will face thousands in fines.

The 91-year-old cattle station pioneer who laid the chain up the rock says he is not expecting visitor numbers to dive now the climb has officially been closed.

Uluru custodian Sammy Wilson says the closure of the climb has been a long time coming and wants to honour the Anangu who did not live to see it.

You'll need a week's worth of supplies, plenty of spare tyres, and a sturdy four-wheel drive would you take on this epic, ancient journey?

Each year, psychics, mediums, clairvoyants, those with similar "sensitivities" roll in from all corners to host the event in a string of rural and outback towns across Queensland and the NT. But that could all come to a close.

The 64-year-old man who died in a light plane crash south-east of the Northern Territory capital on Sunday morning is identified as John Gotts.

It's an unlikely setting for the final chapter of an international diplomatic scandal, but Darwin's waste dump holds an extraordinary secret beneath the surface.

In the early 1970s a company spent millions of dollars developing a cattle and cropping empire near Katherine in the NT. What went wrong?

A politician opposed to the decriminalisation of sex work in the Northern Territory claims he has been "censored" by a parliamentary scrutiny committee which agreed to accept evidence from sex workers behind closed doors because of concerns about stigma and discrimination.

Online scammers operating through social media and at least one crowdfunding site trick friends of a pilot who died in a Darwin plane crash into donating money for his funeral.

Arnhem Land's Malcolm Rosas becomes the first Northern Territory player picked up by an AFL club for next season but he says the remote community of Bulman will always be home.

Manal Aqrawe is a doctor with more than 20 years of experience, but she can't get a job in Australia even outside medicine. Her story is sobering, but far from isolated.

The Northern Territory's incoming police commissioner, Jamie Chalker, wants more officers to work in remote communities and develop respectful relationships with elders.

African swine fever is believed to have first emerged early last century, but due to a lack of commercial interest no vaccine was developed. Now the world is racing to find a way to stop the spread of the disease.

A tourist dies after being bitten by a venomous snake while camping in the Northern Territory's Garig Gunak Barlu National Park.

This floodplain is a hotbed for ecology - but big floods may have drowned too many rats

Professor Thomas Madsen with a dead water python

The 66-year-old man is the latest person to die at a worksite in the Northern Territory, which has the highest rates of workplace deaths per capita.

The Coalition's cashless welfare card is compared to the intervention and "mission" times by Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory

A Northern Territory man who "continuously" sexually abused his two young stepdaughters will spend at least 12 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of nine child sex offences.

With 11 voyages and 300,000 recorded observations under his belt, population ecologist Eric Woehler has dedicated his life to building a dataset to help monitor and track bird populations in a changing world.

Emma Sharp had already used up 14 weeks of leave before her newborn son was healthy enough to come home. Now, she's calling on the Commonwealth to allow mums with premature babies to delay when their leave starts.

Four-time Hawthorn premiership player Cyril Rioli kicks the last goal of the game to steer the Tiwi Bombers to a one-point victory in his return to the football field after retiring from the AFL.

Dozens of horse carcasses, car bodies and dangerous substances are being illegally dumped in a catchment area for Darwin's water supply, prompting concerns about potential contamination.

Dozens of horse carcasses have been found in Darwin's rural area, sparking an investigation into contamination.

From Crocodile Dundee to Baz Luhrmann's Australia, Northern Territory landscapes have featured on the international stage, but it has been mainly 'outsiders' who have had the resources to produce films in the Territory.

The first Territory patient to ever fill a script for medical cannabis in the NT has now been approved, NT Health has confirmed.

One week after the end of the Uluru climb, Parks Australia has flagged the first fee increase at the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in more than a decade and tourism operators could be the big losers.

Northern Territory Police send in reinforcements after a woman is shot with a crossbow during a violent outbreak in a remote Arnhem Land community

There had been hopes of recovery at the site of Australia's worst recorded mangrove dieback in the Gulf of Carpentaria. But during a recent visit to the area, traditional owner Patsy Evans said she was devastated by the scene.

Edible insects are praised as a sustainable form of snack, but that is not their only drawcard, with some Territorians reporting that they are 'crunchy and full of flavour'.