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

Betting on horse races has taken a dive amid a slew of scandals that hit the industry this year, but racing experts say a combination of factors are coming together at the wrong time for Racing Victoria.

A court hears Harold Mitchell was "pushing" for Tennis Australia to sign a contract for the broadcast rights of the Australian Open with Channel 7 when he was the sports body's director in 2013.

Whips will likely be banned from horseracing in the next 10 to 15 years, the CEO of Racing Victoria says, as rain and animal activists dampen the annual Melbourne Cup parade.

An 11-year-old boy who was missing since Sunday night on a 150-acre farm north-west of Melbourne returns home safe and well. Police say he was checked out by ambulance officers and was given the all clear.

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.

Pastels and bold patterns are in this year, but is racing out? As the industry deals with issues around the treatment of horses, punters continue to embrace the Cup in dazzling style.

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.

Vow and Declare became the first Australian bred and trained winner of the Melbourne Cup in a decade.

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.

A senior Victorian Liberal Party figure admits in court that signs used in May's federal election in Josh Frydenberg and Gladys Liu's electorates were designed to "convey" the appearance of official electoral commission material.

Over four years, Bobby Singh made more than $2 million in subsidies for students enrolled at this Melbourne training college. It never taught a single class. But it all came undone in one phone call.

Spring and summer are the busiest times of year for dog attacks, so what should you do to avoid your pup becoming a victim, and who's to blame if it's attacked?

Throughout Kalgoorlie-Boulder during NAIDOC week, people came together in an effort to build better understanding and appreciation of Aboriginal history and culture.

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.

A much anticipated cold snap has brought widespread snow to the New South Wales central tablelands and the regional city of Orange has received some the biggest falls and the most its had for years.

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.

Welding splatter as barnacles and human hearts made of steel; inside the world of blacksmith art

At Scotch Oakburn College in Launceston a group of young netballers have set a new world record or the longest continuous game of netball. But they couldn't have done it without their support team.

Gippsland residents are enjoying conceptual and abstract art from Melbourne and revelling in local artist contributions along the way, in the exhibition Synthetica.

Not much gets in the way of Tami Willey achieving her goals: after all she is a professional basketball player. What fans don't always see is what Tami's life is like off the court, juggling a career, a family and type 1 diabetes.

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.

The Bureau of Meteorology forecast the coldest morning of the year today, but that didn't stop Toowoomba exercisers from rugging up and getting on with it.

From its humble beginnings in the late 19th century, the Cairns Show has grown into a three day event that is one of the highlights on the social calendar for Cairns. The ABC Far North team ventured into the thick of the show this year to hear from the people who make it such an occasion.

It was a bright crisp Queensland winter's day when Costa Georgiadis, host of ABC's Gardening Australia program, visited Tin Can Bay to celebrate 12 months of hard work by the local school in building, maintaining, and expanding their very own veggie plot.

When the temperatures drop in southern Queensland yarn bombers descend on Warwick for the annual Jumpers and Jazz festival. This year the centrepiece is a work created by 80 knitters dubbed the 'woollow tree'.

If you were in the Albury Wodonga area and felt extra cold on Wednesday, you would have been right. The Bureau of Meteorology has confirmed it was the coldest day on record in twenty years.

Meredith Ireland has spent the last six years studying and working in the finance sector, but recently she has decided to put more time into her passion, textiles and weaving.

Meagan Kite overcame a drug addiction and devastating house fire. Cheryl Norris struggled to find the truth about her ancestor, an Aboriginal woman called No Name. Their stories form part of a unique art project called Women's Stories on display in the Riverland.

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.

Despite battling cool wintery winds and the rushing splashes of waves, workers have begun the process of giving Newcastle's Ocean Baths their annual 'spring' clean.

More overnight falls across the New England North West

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

How are the regions dogs and cats keeping warm this winter?

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.

Milk bottles, plastic bags and electrical wire bound for the rubbish tip have been given a second life as part of Warwick's Jumpers and Jazz in July festival.

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

South coast photographer, Nic Duncan, has been named Western Australia's 2015 Portrait Photographer of the Year by industry body, the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP). Her environmental portraits offer a glimpse into the lives of diverse individuals, centred around a unique Great Southern town.

The coast's best musical talent has been celebrated at the inaugural Gold Coast Music Awards night.

The idea was simple; find a spot in Australia with some of the best weather in the world, move there, and start brewing German beer.

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.

Locals have captured the unique beauty and brilliance of the Gold Coast for ABC Open's Snapped project.

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.

Sale College science students swapped the indoors for the outdoors to take part in the Bug Blitz program and create an art installation for Lake Guyatt.

Landscape, memory and Monet