With no photographic evidence of the Victoria Theatre from when it first opened, a university team has scoured archival eyewitness accounts and architectural floor plans to recreate the theatre in the virtual world.

Newcastle Knights coach Nathan Brown to leave the NRL club after four seasons.

MORNING BRIEFING: NSW Police arrest a man in Guildford over the shooting murder of Parramatta FC soccer player John Odisho, while Barnaby Joyce leads an anti-abortion rally in Martin Place.

A rugby league player is handed a jail term for a "ferocious" on-field assault that left an opponent with major facial injuries, but immediately appeals against the severity of the sentence.

Homicide detectives say 29-year-old Danielle Easey, whose body was discovered wrapped in plastic in a creek near Lake Macquarie at the weekend, had become involved in drugs and was likely killed in mid-August.

Danielle Easey's relatives share tributes on social media after her body was found wrapped in plastic and dumped in a creek in the NSW Hunter Region, as police search for clues about when and why she was killed.

The search for four men and a woman missing feared dead after a helicopter vanished from radar north of Newcastle will continue after earlier bad weather halted the operation.

While the search continues for five missing people who are feared dead off the NSW coast, one male has been confirmed by the Australian Defence Force as Warrant Officer Gregory Miller.

What would you do if you were told you had 16 months to live? That was the harsh reality for Jill Emberson when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. With the survival rate of the disease half that of the breast cancer survival rate, she's using her last moments to make a change.

A man pleads guilty to burning another man alive after dousing him with petrol on a deserted road south of Newcastle last year.

A NSW firefighter who hatched a plan to start bushfires "so he could fight them" will serve more time in jail than the man who lit them his younger brother.

Australian Jock Palfreeman is a step closer to returning home after being granted parole by a panel of three judges at the Sofia Appellate Court in Bulgaria.

Michelle is calling for ADVOs to be enforced amid fears she will be killed by her ex-partner.

It was a piece of rope in the middle of the ocean that ultimately led to their boat filling with water and sinking. But the three men, who all have 40 years of boating experience, say it hasn't stopped them from wanting to get back on the water.

If you suffer from trypophobia, or an aversion to the sight of clusters of small holes, you might want to take a deep breath before laying your eyes on a Suriname toad.

The Independent Planning Commission will be reviewed after a 21-year mining lease near Singleton was approved before public submissions closed a blunder the Opposition says will call the system's integrity into question.

A leading surgeon fears a gravely-ill convicted murderer could die within a year if he is deported to Papua New Guinea.

MORNING BRIEFING: Police have arrested 38 people following a climate change protest on Monday, and there have been more than 240 major crashes on the roads over the long weekend.

A man who previously admitted to the kidnap and sexual abuse of an 11-year-old girl in Newcastle has pleaded guilty to three further offences.

The former Anglican Dean of Newcastle Graeme Lawrence is sentenced to a maximum of eight years over the rape of a 15-year-old boy in 1991.

A man who raised a sawn-off shotgun to his victim's head and pulled the trigger during a violent home invasion has been sentenced to a maximum of 11 years' jail.

For residents in the Upper Hunter, keeping an eye on air quality alerts from the Office of Environment and Heritage is a daily ritual.

The NSW Education Department investigates after a video emerges online of a teacher telling her class that if a woman is raped, her clothing should be held partly accountable.

The Aboriginal language Gathang largely disappeared when its last fluent speaker died in the 1960s, and now the task of revitalising it has begun.

A monitoring program to survey bleaching is underway at Lord Howe Island Marine Park with researchers performing underwater assessments and aerial mapping.

A dairying heritage in northern NSW, dating back to 1863, is coming to an end as farmer Bert Bradford hangs up the cups.

Bush schools which harness outdoor exploration and play are increasing, and teachers say they are improving engagement, reducing anxiety and building resilience.

beach instruction

beach training

Port Macquarie resident Kim Dahler was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in her 40s and wants others to know life can still be fulfilling.

Scientists have spent two years carrying out tests using decomposing whale flesh to test the common perception that buried carcasses attract sharks to beaches.

Have you ever wondered what happens to lost and stolen items when the police can't find the owner?

Greg Inglis's rugby league retirement brings down the curtain on a remarkable NRL and State of Origin career that will see him remembered as a legend of the game, writes Zane Bojack.

An estimated eight million tonnes of plastic rubbish enters the world's oceans each year and an Australian invention called a Seabin is doing something about it.

Ian Rowland finds nearly sinking the triumphant Australia II on a 1980s advertising shoot is a far cry from marketing organically grown garlic.

Snakes have been known to wrap their jaws around crocodiles, kangaroos and goats so why would one give up on a bird?

Early figures from Surf Life Saving Australia show that 53 people drowned on Australian beaches over summer.

A food technology company has patented a process it claims can keep 100 per cent natural milk fresh for at least 60 days without additives or preservatives.

A joyride along a NSW beach in a stolen vehicle has ended in irreparable damage to a century-old shipwreck. As police search for the culprits, locals are fuming over the wanton destruction of the iconic relic.

Brenda Marney, 73, is charged with animal cruelty offences after a mutilated magpie is found at her home on the NSW mid-north coast police believe she lures animals with food before capturing and torturing them.

The company proposing a coal mine for NSW's Manning Valley, refused by an environment court on the grounds of its contribution to climate change, will not appeal the decision.