High-density developments are cropping up in almost every Melbourne suburb and local resident groups have had enough.

Benalla man Joseph McDonald is charged with one count of murder after handing himself into police on Saturday evening.

Are you feeling torn about celebrating the Melbourne Cup today? We asked our ABC Messenger audience how they felt about the race that stops the nation and what they loved (and hated) about it.

In the closest of finishes, jockey Craig Williams rides the winner but an upheld protest sees a change to the final placings in the race that stops a nation. Look back on how it unfolded at Flemington Racecourse.

The 2019 Melbourne Cup has been won by Australian-owned, trained and bred horse Vow And Declare in a dramatic finish at Flemington, but last-placed Rostropovich is taken to Werribee with a pelvis injury.

Vow and Declare co-owner Bob Leitch said his "emotions flowed over" as a horse part-owned by a novice syndicate from Queensland stormed to Melbourne Cup victory.

As Vow and Declare stormed to his thrilling Melbourne Cup victory, a group of novice part-owners in the Queensland town of Gympie were celebrating a dream come true.

When 40,000 seedlings propagated by prisoners at Loddon Prison were not going to be planted, locals stepped in to make sure the trees would find a home.

The threat of rain didn't stop hundreds joining the activities at the NAIDOC week Family Fun Day.

As part of the NAIDOC Week celebrations in Mackay, locals gathered in Queens Park to take part in a NAIDOC fun day event. While some people were admiring the food and information stalls, and live entertainment, others were asked what NAIDOC Week means to them.

Comic superheroes and villainous characters put their differences aside over the weekend, uniting for far north Queensland's first ever pop culture and comic convention, Tropicon.

An array of Pacific Island communities converged on the Mackay Botanical Gardens last weekend to take part in the region's first Pasifika Festival. The event highlighted Mackay's diverse cultures by showcasing traditional artwork, food and performances.

The cold winds from the Antarctic vortex had southern Queensland rugged up, and the crane crews in the city's CBD staying on the ground.

After a trip to Venice, West Gippsland artist Anita George was inspired to turn off her computer and write and draw with brush, pen and paper once again. Her passion has resulted in the exhibition Ink Talks, dissecting words, language and intent.

Photographs exploring Rockhampton's long relationship with the Fitzroy River have been unveiled in a new exhibition at the Rockhampton Art Gallery.

One year ago, Jai Balmer was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. With help from Make-A-Wish Australia, Jai's dream of becoming an aviation photographer is more determined than ever.

Natalie Holt has built a 'she shed' in the backyard of her Bangalow home.

About 300 people took part in Saturday's Reclaim the Night rally, where women and girls marched through the town to Victory Park, sang and carried banners.

Wine flowed and cuisine was sampled at Queens Park when close to 30,000 people attended Mackay's Wine and Food Day. The annual event has been ongoing in Mackay for the past 28 years and this year event manager said it attracted bigger numbers than ever before.

While clothing manufacturing has declined in Australia, one factory in Dimboola is still going strong after 38 years.

The car that carried aviation pioneer Bert Hinkler through the streets of Brisbane in front of thousands of people almost 90 years ago will be restored to its former glory in Bundaberg.

Family and friends have gathered in a Toowoomba park to unveil 'Roger Guard Lane' named after the avid runner and popular doctor who was killed along with his wife Jill twelve months ago in the MH17 disaster.

It was bitterly cold at Anzac Cove on the 25th April. In order to attend the Dawn Service marking 100 years since the landing at Gallipoli, Jeff Peirce went 34 hours without sleep.

Each Thursday in a back-alley warehouse, a group of volunteers come together to meticulously clean, repair and catalogue artefacts collected from the remnants of a Chinese temple that once stood proud in the Cairns CBD.

Celebrities like Pink and touring shows like Cirque du Soleil are motivating people to take up the art of aerial acrobatics. Kayleigh McMullen has opened up her own school in Coolum on the Sunshine Coast and says it is attracting people of all ages.

CEO of a Bunbury freight company, Mark Mazza wants to see a nationally accredited training scheme for truck drivers.

A Toowoomba-based environmental scientist says finding a small population of a threatened grass in the middle of the city was exciting, as is the process of conserving it in another park.

For the first time in 10 years, the annual Queensland Variety Bash has departed from Cairns.

For the first time in 190 years the 16 pews inside St John's Anglican church in Launceston will be removed and replaced with long tables for a charity dinner for the St Giles organisation.

The sound of chatter and wind instruments being blown at different times fills the room at the Launceston College music centre as the band members warm up for rehearsals.

For more than 30 years over 45,000 refugees have lived behind barbed wire in an overcrowded camp near Thailand's border with Myanmar. Dr Patty Salisbury, a county doctor from the NSW town of Bega, has been just returned from a year in the Mae La Refugee Camp.

In the early hours of Friday morning when most people were waking and getting ready for work or school, 200 military personnel in north Queensland were close to finishing 24 hours of hard work.

A gallery of some of the best winter ocean-themed photos submitted by locals to ABC Open's Pic of the Week project.

Tulips, daffodils, tulips and more tulips. You know you're at the Nannup Flower and Garden Festival in August when there are tulips everywhere

Peter Aspinall fought in the battle of Long Tan. He is now President of the Albany RSL but for many years, he would not even attend an Anzac Day commemoration

More than 40 years after the conclusion of the Vietnam War many of those who served still bear physical and psychological scars as a result of the conflict. On Vietnam Veterans' Day members of the far north Queensland community paused to pay tribute to those who fought in the name of their country.

Students from Launceston's Newstead College have been given the opportunity to rehearse and perform in the historic Princess Theatre for their production of Pippin.

Following the knock on effect from the mining downturn, Linda Palmer decided it was time to diversify from her family's construction business. Today Linda keeps herself busy with a different kind of construction - one that involves developing beer and cider instead.

Young actors made up to look like accident victims experience the life-changing process of getting into character as they aim to reduce the youth road toll. Warning: This story contains graphic imagery and content that may upset some people.

The saddlery and produce business is a fixture of Bunbury. It has sat opposite the old railway station for 120 years and hardly seems to have changed at all.

New species of spider orchids have been discovered near Busselton by the WA Herbarium. They add to the already spectacular array of wildflowers which thrive in the biodiversity hot spot of the South West.

It's hoped that a fossil hunting expedition to Lightning Ridge will lead to the discovery of new Australian dinosaurs.

The shooting of Nambour director Chris Sun's fourth horror epic is underway in the small country town of Kandanga in the Mary Valley. If you are lucky enough to pass through the one street hamlet in the next month you will see some of Australia's finest actors. ABC Sunshine Coast spoke to a few of them about the experience.

Batemans Bay was once an isolated coastal frontier settlement that grew on the back of oyster farming, timber cutting, and as a port servicing nearby goldfields. As the closest coastal town to Canberra it's now dominated by large shopping malls servicing surrounding suburbs of retirees and holiday homes. The architecture of its heritage has been lost, but two of its earliest and most significant buildings remain hidden and unknown behind 1960s shopfront facades. Will they be saved and restored?

Colourful artwork, vibrant food and a dazzling array of traditional dress are on display in Cairns as far north Queensland's Indonesian community celebrates Multicultural Week.

The Tweed Valley Banana Festival will crown its 60th queen this year.

Comic book characters were brought to life when cosplayer's converged on Mackay's annual pop-culture convention. Witnessing the event was like entering a portal into a different dimension - a world where super heroes and villains get along.

What does the future hold for regional towns? To some, it's about change. For others, it's about things staying much the same.

Spring is in the air in Newcastle, with the season's racing carnival officially launched.