Water is fast running out across the Macquarie Valley, with one town preparing for the possibility of closing the hospital

Hugh Bowman is one of the world's best jockeys and now he is set to be immortalised in art, in his home town of Dunedoo, alongside champion mare Winx.

Uncle Dick and Aunty Ruth Carney share how they built their own 'piece of heaven'.

Graham Morrison, 55, is given a three-and-a-half-year jail sentence after hitting a family car on the Newell Highway near the end of an 11-hour trip.

MORNING BRIEFING: Western Sydney residents concerned about the new 24/7 airport will have years to wait before they know proposed flight paths, while the enduring drought pushes Dubbo to cut water use even more.

MORNING BRIEFING: Firefighters say it could take weeks, potentially months, to contain about five fires burning around Armidale and Tenterfield, while a woman is injured and a firearm stolen during a break and enter in Orana.

The largest local council in New South Wales, whose patch includes the Darling River town that experienced mass fish kills, will spend another four years in administration.

Regional Express threatens to scrap flights or reduce their frequency on its popular route from Sydney to Dubbo due to a dispute over increased airport fees.

John Bowie is arrested in Brisbane over the suspected murder of his wife Roxlyn, who disappeared from their home in Walgett in northern New South Wales in 1982.

NSW Police have extradited John Bowie to Sydney to face court over the murder of his wife Roxlyn, after an investigation into her disappearance in 1982.

Deputy Premier John Barilaro watches the chopper in action alongside Dr John Greenfield.

The New South Wales Government is funding an aerial survey for water in the state's central west.

At the end of the bitumen road and surrounded by parched grazing land, Ivanhoe, like many outback towns, is fighting for survival.

A Dubbo man is handed a community correction order and community service after pleading guilty to animal cruelty following his appearance in a video of an emu being plucked.

The Yetta Dhinnakkal Centre, meaning "right pathway" in traditional language, was established as Australia's first prison exclusively for young Aboriginal men but next year it will close and locals are warning the impact will be disastrous.

Indigenous dancers from three states gather on the banks of the Darling River to honour a waterway that's underpinned their cultures for millennia.

There are fears the intense fire destroyed the root system of the marshes reed species.

Fire tears through Macquarie Marshes

The Bureau of Meteorology says almost 30 millimetres has fallen at Bourke in the state's upper-west but the widespread, heavy rain needed to end the drought is unlikely in the near future.

Parched parts of NSW received a welcome dump of rain over the weekend.

Heavy rainfall has filled up dams in the drought-stricken region of Coolabah in New South Wales.(credit: Anthony Hyde)

75mm of rain has fallen in the drought-affected town of Girilambone in NSW, filling up dams in the region and bringing relief to farmers.