When the local RSL in Coonamble in central west New South Wales found itself in debt to the tune of $500,000, it was feared nothing could be done.

This state-of-the-art shearing shed hopes to attract and retain good shearers in a safe environment.

Thousands head to the tiny New South Wales town of Louth for a dusty race weekend amid the ongoing dry.

Uschi Rowlands grows gourmet mushrooms in Mudgee, NSW, August 2019.

City woman Uschi Rowlands did not expect to become a mushroom farmer, let alone discover that the fungi have a preference for rock music over classical.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Regional airline Rex is threatening to cut services on its Sydney-to-Dubbo and has sent a scathing letter to Dubbo households criticising their local council.

PM Morrison says post pandemic it won't be "business as usual " but what should a reform agenda entail? Meanwhile restrictions in some states ease and the population downloads the COVID 19 tracing app. Laura Tingle assesses another viral week in national politics.

Who are the Christian nationalists? What do they stand for and how influential are they in American politics?

Academic and former Singaporean diplomat Kishore Mahbubani argues that the coronavirus pandemic will accelerate a power-shift, from west to east.

France has experienced one of the strictest lockdowns in Europe since mid-March. As the country moves towards ‘deconfinement’, we explore how President Macron has handled the political and economic fall-out from Covid-19 and ask what next for the EU?

It was not only the spice trade, science, commerce and the arts that flourished in the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century. Publishing also exploded and an innovation called advertising sustains it and ushers in the modern world.

Crosswords are a daily devotion, an obsession even, for millions. But where did the crossword start, and how did it become a staple of any newspaper worth its salt?

The Federal Writers' Project, established by President Roosevelt in July 1935 as part of the New Deal, provided jobs for out-of-work writers during the Great Depression. Australian authors Jeff Sparrow and James Bradley discuss whether a similar literary stimulus package could work today.

Conservationists are hoping the coronavirus pandemic will force governments to take action against the wildlife trade. But will stricter legislation push wildlife traffickers deeper underground?

Why might the court intervene when a devout Jehovah Witness parent refuses a life-saving blood transfer to their child? What about cultural and traditional beliefs that clash with new ‘norms’ of society? More specific descriptions of what make a family of defines gender for example. Has the law has kept up with the changing society it regulates?

Jan Fran campaigns for the power of girls. Why is it that girls are still less likely to work and learn than boys? Why are girls still expected to adapt and keep the peace instead of speaking out? A major factor that empowers girls, is it to give them self-confidence at an early age and to tell them that the world is theirs to conquer.

Writing about 'place' is more than parachuting into an unfamiliar location, meeting a few people, rehashing well-worn clichés, then flying out again. Three writers discuss the places they written about, and how to capture the essence of people and place.