You might expect to see wheelchairs and walking frames in the corridors of an aged care facility, but you might not expect to see a 850-kilogram horse.

The North Queensland Cowboys has ended the Canterbury Bulldogs' finals hopes with a 15-8 victory in the final NRL match at Townsville Stadium.

For the first time, the long-term outlook for the Great Barrier Reef is downgraded to "very poor", with the impacts of climate change, including coral bleaching and record-breaking warm water, deteriorating its overall health.

It was one of Australia's worst maritime disasters and now, half a century later, the families of those who were lost have gathered to remember them and honour their bravery.

There are fewer than 1,000 black-throated finches in the wild, but one north Queensland primary school has bred 120 as part of a science class.

Minor premiers Melbourne finish on a high as they beat the Cowboys at AAMI Park, after the Eels down Manly to claim fifth.

Houses intended to keep eligible Queensland teenagers out of the youth detention system are not cost-effective and may not have the desired results, a damning report finds.

The departure of some of north Queensland's best and brightest students is worrying the region's leaders and prompting them to devise a retention solution.

The case against Queensland man Ronald John Toft, who was accused of trying to kidnap a six-year-old girl at an Adelaide caravan park earlier this year, is dropped.

A north Queensland man is sentenced to life behind bars after he was found guilty of murdering 25-year-old Michael McCabe over an alleged drug debt in 2015.

Australian-owned investment group Mayfair 101 has bought Queensland's Dunk Island for $31.5 million.

Time has run out for the owners of 14 holiday shacks near Ingham in north Queensland with the State Government ordering their removal by the end of the month.

Six staff members within Queensland's Youth Justice Department are sacked amid dozens of substantiated cases of corruption that include criminal behaviour, inappropriate conduct and using excessive force.

Farmers in Western Australia's far north have carved a spot in the niche Halloween pumpkin market growing in popularity around the country.

A five-year-old boy has died in North Queensland after he was hit by a car overnight while riding his bicycle along the footpath with his father.

A man is airlifted to Townsville Hospital with wounds to his hand and abdomen after being shot by officers while trying to break into Bowen Police Station in north Queensland.

Thousands of Townsville locals have gathered to break the world record for 'the most people wearing high-visibility vests at a single venue'.

An award-winning barramundi farmer says the product can be the equal of wild-catch with careful water management, smashing the stigma around freshwater fish.

One of the original mining towns in the famous Bowen Basin, Collinsville, marks 100 years of coal dominating the local economy.

When Magnetic Island resident George Hirst saw piles of household items left on the side of the kerb for collection, he believed they were telling a story. So he turned it into art.

Leaks from one of Adani's most significant contractors for its Carmichael coal mine, engineering firm GHD, show it has been rocked by internal dissent and management has been bombarded with complaints and questions about its work on the mine.

A Townsville boy, whose mother was murdered by his father, and who has been in court over 26 matters in just five months is denied bail after being linked to a crime spree involving recklessly driven stolen cars.

A female teacher is in hospital with a shoulder injury after being stabbed at a Townsville primary school by an 11-year-old female student, Queensland police say. The student was tasered by police and detained.

The father of an 11-year-old Townsville girl, who was tasered by police, after allegedly stabbing a teacher, apologises saying he has "no idea" what was going through his daughter's mind.

Two holidaying nurses want to have a beer with two "cool" English tourists who managed to keep positive minutes after being attacked by a shark. The nurses provided first aid which is credited with saving the men's lives.

In the north-west Queensland town of Ravenswood, two heritage-listed buildings at a school have been moved due to an expansion of the local gold mine.

Witness AAA tells the disability royal commission her daughter was "screamed at" by teachers in Year 1, not given access to the curriculum and did not receive permission forms for excursions and other activities.

Witness AAC says five of her children with disability have had negative experiences with the education system, with problems ranging from verbal abuse to denial of access to bathroom facilities and other restrictive practices.

Children sleeping at home have been woken and arrested in Alice Springs, according to lawyers dismayed at a potential government back down on the use of arrest as a last resort.

A self-funded engineer was 12 kilometres short of his goal of reaching space at a recent attempt in the middle of Australia's Outback.

Eric Ebatarintja escaped from the prison for the second time after removing his electronic monitoring bracelet. Although his sentence had expired, he was being held on an ongoing basis under the Serious Sex Offenders Act because the court deemed him to be at high risk of reoffending.

David and Suzanne Bassingthwaighte have struck a deal to buy the NT's Epenarra Station, owned by a Filipino businessman.

The Northern Territory cattle industry calls for freight subsidies as "emergency" destocking continues across the drought-stricken Barkly region.