Another international raider grabs the last automatic spot in the Melbourne Cup, with the Joseph O'Brien-trained Downdraft earning his spot with a win in the Hotham Handicap on Derby Day.

Japanese Caulfield Cup winner Mer De Glace is the new favourite for Tuesday's Melbourne Cup after the barrier draw is completed at Flemington.

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

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.

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.

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.

The long-term boyfriend of a Dutch woman who died in Melbourne last year after a hit-and-run tells her killer's court hearing that he feels completely alone and mourns the children they would have had.

The Australian Electoral Commission's solicitor tells a court it's "hard to imagine any adult citizen being so naive and gullible" to be influenced by Chinese-language signs telling people to vote Liberal, simply because they used AEC colours.

Every fortnight, dozens on Indigenous students of all ages arrive at Noorla Heritage Resort in Ingham in north Queensland. They spend the week running the resort and working towards qualifications in small business, hospitality, management and tourism.

Around two dozen Koorie art unit students have compiled their own art exhibition in Bairnsdale and have been reaping the awards from their hard work.

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

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.

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.

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

Quambone, Gulargambone and Armatree residents witnessed a rare event on Saturday when a tornado blasted its way through the area.

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.

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.

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.

A Mid West conservation and land management program is skilling up prisoners in Greenough and reducing the rate of re-offending.

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.

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.

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

Artist Daniel Fisher has swapped the rollercoaster life of drugs and depression for a smooth highway of parenthood and happy creativity.

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.

If you were at Albion Park on March 8 this year, you'll never forget the sight of the enormous Qantas 747 flying over the crowds and landing on the small regional airstrip. Now it's comfortably retired and on display, what does having a 747 jumbo jet do for tourism?

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.

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.

The Norfolk Pines along Albany's Ellen Cove are looking snug this winter, thanks to the antics of local yarn bombers, the Purly Queens. The fuzzy activists are encouraging locals to hug a pine for the 20th anniversary of National Tree Day.

Splendour in the Grass was unofficially rebranded 'Splendour in the Mud' this year as thousands of music lovers donned gumboots for the festival in the Byron Shire's Yelgun.

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.

Only a couple of weeks remain of minor round football. Find out who won what around Eyre Peninsula at the weekend.

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.

Working nine to five in a stable job as an information technology consultant would be enough to make some people very happy. For Vincent Brouillet it was not enough, he craved freedom, fresh air and the chance to fulfil a dream.

From the outside, the Mackay Senior Citizen's Hall may not look like an overly exciting place. Step inside on a Wednesday night and the flashing lights, twirling bodies and loud music might just prove that wrong. For the past two decades, people of all ages have gathered to learn a thing or two about rock and roll dancing.

Once a lavish home to a mining magnate in the 19th century then a covert map-making location during WWII, Bendigo's Fortuna Villa is filled with tales. Six people who have a long association with its history talk of the mysteries and celebrations surrounding the place.

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

Being a mum for the first time can be scary and overwhelming, but local mums and bubs groups can help ease the process. And being an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander mother, getting culturally sensitive support is even more important, which is why Orbost's Koori mums and bubs program has been growing in popularity since it started in 2008.

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.