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

Zohara and Celia wanted to give back to their community, but they found it hard to find the time around their studies. Until they found pop-in volunteering.

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

With a rapidly ageing population, few Australians have been left untouched from navigating the vast and often complicated aged-care system be it for a parent, partner or themselves.

The Nationals are hoping to cling on to their seats, including a few held on very slim margins, and add to their tally by winning a three-cornered contest. But the country-based party has problems, and some say they're at risk of losing a handful of seats.

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

Musician and mother Rose Wilson has created a mum's choir where children are welcome too. It's proving popular, as mums enjoy connecting and singing with others without having to worry about childcare.

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 free cuppa and bikkie offered at the once-popular Driver Reviver sites on the nation's major highways have been slowly losing their appeal to tired motorists.

Jigna Chauhan offers free henna crowns to women who have lost their hair during chemotherapy treatments, helping them feel more positive and confident.

Patrick Conaghan

Michael McCormack with Patrick Conaghan

Patrick Conaghan and Scott Morrison

The reliability of roadside drug testing for cannabis is in question after new research reveals a "concerning" proportion of the tests are inaccurate, while a driver argues the 'passive smoking' defence and has charges dismissed.

He established some of Australia's best-known national parks and fought for World Heritage listings across the globe. But for the late Peter Hitchcock, conservation was no walk in the park.

More than 20 Pixie O'Harris artworks are being restored for an exhibition after the final paintings, which had been missing since the 1950s, mysteriously turn up without note or explanation.

Port Macquarie magistrate Dominique Burns, who was suspended in 2017 after being accused of misusing her powers, quits before facing a parliamentary conduct hearing that could have seen her sacked.

Barrington Tops is receiving its first winter dusting as cold conditions hit the east coast of New South Wales.

Researchers monitoring the impact of climate change say golden bowerbirds and other highland rainforest species are being pushed to higher altitudes by temperature rises and fear they'll eventually have nowhere left to go.

Stories of struggle, the Stolen Generations, mission communities and the death of a traditional language: how would you vocalise three generations of Indigenous history?

It is an endangered 'living fossil' and foxes and wild pigs love to eat it, but there is a glimmer of hope for one of Australia's most striking and mysterious creatures.

What drives people to spend their weekends suffering as they attempt to run 50, 100, or even 200 kilometres through the bush and over mountains?

Recent whale entanglements on the NSW coast highlight the man-made threats marine life face at an increasing rate, and experts say we can expect to see more.

Chief the bison was killed with a high-powered rifle on a rural NSW property and it is believed the culprits can sell the animal's hide for thousands of dollars.

New legal advice suggests Australia's water suppliers may have no legal basis to add fluoride.

Boutique dairies may be tiny, but there is nothing small about their thinking. Farms across New South Wales are choosing on-site processing in an effort to create more sustainable farming practices.

Residents at a retirement village in New South Wales say life is becoming more like science fiction as an automated vehicle changes the way they stay connected.

MORNING BRIEFING: Police investigate what is believed to be a human bone discovered by passers-by at a Port Macquarie beach, while a Sydney northern beach road is closed after a pedestrian was killed by a car overnight.

A failure to look upward when parking by the river at a favourite roost for local pelicans has left a Port Macquarie man red-faced and his car disgraced.

A NSW Mid North Council apologies for the grief it caused the community for knocking over headstones.

A wooden cross marked "2014" the same year that William Tyrrell went missing was among several false leads found during a large police search for the toddler around Kendall on the NSW mid-north coast, an inquest hears.

Early morning walkers in Port Macquarie received a surprise when a koala came walking down the middle of a popular breakwall path. The sighting has sparked renewed concerns about habitat loss and declining koala numbers.

Emergency services are keeping a close watch on large blazes at Middle Creek Road, Kangaroo Creek north of Coffs Harbour, and at Verges Creek north of Crescent Head in northern NSW, after residents were warned to seek shelter.

A woman whose house burnt down in bushfires affecting the NSW North Coast said that she and her husband now plan on leaving the bush due to the hazard.

MORNING BRIEFING: A guest is taken to hospital after fire guts a backpacker hostel in Coogee, while Mert Ney is due back in court over the alleged murder of Michaela Dunn and stabbing of Linda Bo.

People in a packed gallery sit up when inconsistencies begin to appear in the testimony of "person of interest" Paul Savage, a neighbour who claimed he joined in the search for the missing three-year-old.

Police recapture prisoner Matthew Furner, who escaped from custody at Port Macquarie Base Hospital on the NSW Mid North Coast and fled into nearby bushland.

A prisoner recaptured after being on the run for nearly 12 hours on Sunday has been too injured to front court on the NSW mid-north coast.

What started as a school project to make art from drink bottle lids has ended up with 3D-printed prosthetic limbs made from recycled plastic.