The Tasmanian Fire Service downgrades the threat from a bushfire in the Derwent Valley where a lack of fresh water had earlier made firefighting "a challenge".

A bushfire burning north of Hobart could pose a threat to the city's suburbs and critical infrastructure if uncontrolled, a fire officer warns, as Tasmania prepares for hot weather and strong winds over the next few days.

DAILY BRIEFING: Firefighters downgrade the alerts for four bushfires which are burning out of control north of Hobart and in a shack area of the Central Highlands.

As bushfire conditions ease around Tasmania this weekend, the firefighter's union wants laws to back volunteers leaving work in an emergency as the bushfire season extends to as long as six months.

Using cameras and wind disturbance, a Tasmanian wind farm will be the first in Australia to deter wedge-tailed eagles from flying into the turbine blades.

Garry Seidel became so frustrated with the durability of his oyster baskets, he set out to create a more robust design capable of lasting years longer than those that had failed and were stacking up in his shed.

South Australia's fishing industry is "banding together" to make sure the WA Government's plan to take control of a portion of the rock lobster catch does not also happen in its state.

A severe heatwave threatens to break all-time records in South Australia and Victoria today including the maximum of 46.1C in Adelaide set in 1939 as experts warn that "nowhere is going to escape the heat".

Proposed new powers for South Australia's Country Fire Service volunteers to be able to stop members of the public from operating due to fire dangers has put them at odds with farmers.

Port Lincoln, on South Australia's west coast, celebrates four decades of a tuna-tossing competition that commemorates the city's fishing history and is proving popular with hammer throwers.

Hot temperatures and low rainfall take their toll on South Australian wine grape growers, but many are happy with the quality of the wines in spite of, or perhaps even because of, the tough conditions.

Power is being restored to Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia as authorities consider shutting off power to the Mount Lofty Ranges in response to extreme fire danger conditions in the area.

The search for two people missing off the coast of South Australia's Eyre Peninsula ends tragically as the bodies of a 35-year-old man and his five-year-old daughter are spotted in waters after they were swept from rocks at Cape Carnot.

Australian wool totals are forecast to be down by 12.7 per cent on last year a drop of 43 million kilograms, and the lowest yield since 1924, when the industry was much smaller.

More money has been pledged for more than 70 protected areas across the country, almost entirely in regional and remote Australia.

An ambitious plan to power every property on SA's Eyre Peninsula with solar has been labelled an Australian first but is it too good to be true?

South Australia's Treasurer announces the Government will lower the land tax rate by more than planned but will continue with its controversial plan to raise more money from large property owners.

A Federal Court ruling in the United States in favour of a man suffering from cancer has turned the spotlight again to one of the most commonly used global chemicals.

A GPS clock rollover, which experts predicted would have little impact because of years of advance notice, causes the grounding of the Bureau of Meteorology's weather balloons.

Some people collect cars, mugs or sports memorabilia. Hayden Peters collects jewellery made from the hair of dead people.

After 25 years without a hairdressing salon the locals of Wedderburn in central Victoria finally open their own community enterprise.

A mother-daughter duo from Central Victoria documents the wide variety of flowers in Australian artwork in a new book.

Days before she was due to give birth, Krystal Fraser discharged herself from a country Victorian hospital and has not been seen since. Police believe a call she received from a public phone box is the key to finding her suspected killer.

A police officer who arrested Yorta Yorta woman Tanya Day for being drunk in public tells a coronial inquest police were just trying to help her when she was taken into custody.

A new willingness to open up about personal struggles and finding a rural sanctuary is empowering Richmond defender Dylan Grimes and his teammates.

Their average age is 75, but that's not stopping this group of retirees powerlifting their way to good health.

Talks between the union and justice department officials produce new "zero tolerance" rules on the behaviour of offenders and more powers for staff in violent situations, after alleged attacks on workers sent the centre into lockdown.

Energy Australia finds a unit controller at the Yallourn power station, Graeme Edwards, 54, was doing nothing wrong when he was fatally injured performing a routine task in November last year.

From sky-high water costs to prohibitively expensive livestock feed, new forecasts show how drought will impact Australia's exports and agricultural production.

Costs are eroding Australian dairy farmers profit and hitting confidence, with the number of farmers positive about the industry the lowest in 15 years. Poor seasonal conditions are mostly to blame, with high feed and irrigation water costs.

The Victorian Opposition says the Government needs to release reports into how Steelvision got a grant to set up in the Latrobe Valley months before it went into administration, leaving millions in debt.

Electricity giant AGL holds off plans to mothball parts of the gas-fired Torrens Island Power Station in Adelaide in a bid to prevent outages over summer caused by an ongoing outage at Victoria's Loy Yang Power Station.

At least two workers have been exposed to asbestos at the Jeeralang power station in the Latrobe Valley, east of Melbourne.

Traditional custodian at the Aboriginal Trust in Lake Tyers Victoria, Wayne Thorpe, is learning as much about the traditional science and stories of the stars as he can.

Aviation authorities ground an Australian-made aircraft that Swedish investigators believe may have broken up mid-flight in Sweden, leading to the deaths of nine people.

The Victorian Government has announced it will protect 4,000 hectares of farm land from mining exploration in the state's east in an area near a controversial mining proposal.

Lado Alphonse says he was a "reject in society" before being recruited by the Cora Lynn Cobras. Now, he is among several players bringing new life to the regional Victorian football community.

A Victorian vet believes he has found a solution to one of the wool industry's biggest hurdles: surgical mulesing.

Emergency services are continuing to search for a young man and woman who went missing in eastern Victoria almost a week ago.

Gippsland police say they are investigating what led to a young Melbourne couple being found dead in their car near Thompson Dam in west Gippsland.

Police find the bodies of Caleb Forbes and Shannon Lowden in their car, almost a week after they went missing near the Baw Baw National Park in eastern Victoria.

Storms and erosion at Inverloch reveal never-before-seen parts of a 155-year-old shipwreck, the Amazon.