Grant 'Scooter' Patterson may be half as tall as most people but he does not do things by halves. He works hard, plays hard and pushes himself in the pool, chasing his dream of winning a Paralympic medal.

Queensland's Royal Flying Doctor Service trades training for loyalty in a new program to bring in more pilots.

Two teenagers who have recently sought help to stop chroming are speaking out about their addictions, which have led to the loss of friends and family members, in the hope of deterring others from heading down the same path.

A research trip to far north Queensland was supposed to find dozens of Australia's endangered sawfish but they didn't find a single one.

Robyn Hausler continued paying her mortgage and rates for six years, not realising the house she'd lived in for 20 years wasn't hers anymore. Now a court has ruled she can have her property back.

Four crocodiles one nicknamed Pugly by locals are killed in abandoned fishing nets in Queensland's Cape York, infuriating locals.

The deaths of Evan Fielder, 19, and his girlfriend Lauren Quabba, 16, in a head-on crash sends shockwaves through a Far North Queensland community.

A fast-moving bushfire is contained after burning down a property and threatening several more in a rural area west of Cooktown in Cape York.

Dani Larkin knows the struggles of a young Indigenous woman in a "nation of divisiveness", and insists that constitutional recognition is the key to unlocking meaningful change.

A cold dry air mass moving through the state is causing cool mornings in Queensland, with temperatures dropping as low as -4.8 degrees Celsius, and it's forecast to continue throughout the week.

A Queensland couple have climbed the biggest sand dune in the Simpson Desert to get married at the world's most remote music festival.

Footage shows a whale struggling to free itself from shark nets off Currumbin, hours before being untangled by rescuers, in the third incident off the Gold Coast in a month.

Former Commonwealth Games competitor Matthew Levings trained for years alongside Sun Yang. Now the Gold Coast tradie says China's Australian coach, Denis Cotterell, would never train swimmers he knew to be doping.

An elderly Australian war veteran remembers helping to clean up in Japan after the atomic bombs.

Police say the 18-year-old man lost control of the vehicle at Southport after an alleged crime spree, causing it to roll several times.

The pair continued south on the M1 before again confronting a driver of a vehicle near the Palm Beach exit.

Massive wins for Geelong and Brisbane over North Melbourne and Gold Coast respectively have them closing in on a top two finish, while the Bombers are completely dismantled by the Bulldogs.

Security vision reveals the moment a Gold Coast service station attendant is taken hostage by a man with a gun in what became a four-hour stand-off with police.

Richmond edges West Coast by a goal in a game for the ages, while the Bulldogs closed in on finals by thumping the Giants and Jarryd Roughead kicked six on his special night.

Melbourne Storm claim the minor premiership and bragging rights over Manly Sea Eagles, while the Sydney Roosters tune up with victory over Penrith and the Knights get a feel-good win over the Titans.

The Queensland Rural Fire Service says weather conditions indicate there will be an extreme to locally catastrophic fire danger in the Darling Downs, Granite Belt, Maranoa and Warrego today, as thick smoke hangs over the Gold Coast hinterland.

A research team is deployed in response to persistent smoke from a bushfire that has been burning for nearly two months in underground peat on the NSW Mid North Coast.

More than 50 bushfires are burning in Queensland amid potentially catastrophic, hot and windy conditions. Emergency warnings are in place for fires near Stanthorpe in the state's south.

They may look clean and pristine at first glance, however one beachcomber says trash is littered along our treasured beaches as cigarette butts, dog poo, used tampons and straws clog our summer playgrounds.

Rubbish collected by a beach walker

An incredible show of community spirit brings locals together in the Gold Coast Hinterland with dozens of Canungra residents rescuing animals from the fire front at nearby Binna Burra.

Crews are battling 57 fires across Queensland including one that is out of control on the Gold Coast hinterland, with the QFES declaring the "unprecedented" blazes are just the start of a very severe fire season.

Queenslanders recall the nights in the 60s spent dancing in the hall of the Binna Burra Lodge the same place where hundreds of others have married the love of their life after fire guts the heritage-listed resort.

Authorities and families are on high alert as homes are lost across the state with dozens of fires burning in places including the Gold Coast hinterland at Binna Burra, and Stanthorpe and Applethorpe on the Granite Belt.

A singed and injured koala and her joey, who have become a symbol of hope and resilience amid Queensland's bushfire emergency, are slowly recovering in a Brisbane wildlife hospital.

Alarming footage shows high winds driving a large bushfire overnight on the Sunshine Coast, where 10 homes have been lost at Peregian Springs and Peregian Beach.

Police are speaking to a number of teenagers over a fire that damaged homes at Peregian Beach overnight, as authorities continue to battle a blaze threatening large areas of the Sunshine Coast. See how events unfolded in our live blog.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is returning early from a trip to Switzerland because of the ongoing bushfire threat, with more than 80 fires burning across the state and a blaze at Peregian on the Sunshine Coast that is still out of control.

Images from the scene of Queensland's recent bushfires capture the devastation as scores of fires sweep across the Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast hinterland and the Granite Belt.

As bushfires continue across south-east Queensland, doubt is cast over this year's Riverfire event in Brisbane and whether fireworks have a place in today's society.

The high temperatures and winds that have fanned severe bushfires in southern Queensland ease on Wednesday, but some communities need to stay alert with about 70 blazes still burning. Despite the reprieve, conditions are expected to worsen again on Friday.

After fires tore through parts of Queensland in an earlier-than-expected bushfire season, emergency services are warning of the growing threat to suburban backyards as the weather gets hotter and drier.

A man is taken into police custody in relation to a car that crashed through the front of a house on the Gold Coast early on Sunday morning, leaving a teenage girl trapped inside.

A large bushfire that has claimed 11 properties in the Gold Coast hinterland as well as historic Binna Burra Lodge could have been deliberately lit, Queensland's Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll says.

An investigation is underway after two police officers fired their weapons during the dramatic arrest of a 53-year-old man suspected of lighting up to four fires in north Queensland.

Family and friends post tributes to Jeffrey and Matthew Hills, whose bodies were found in the wreckage of a plane which crashed in northern NSW on Friday.

Visitor numbers plummet on the Gold Coast hinterland and Scenic Rim after devastating bushfires razed parts of the regions earlier this month a double tragedy for local businesses.

It was all over quickly, but a short, sharp storm has brought hail and a little bit of rain to parts of Brisbane, Toowoomba and the Gold Coast.

A jockey who rode War Ends for a year and made numerous attempts to rehome him says she recognised the horse being slaughtered in an abattoir on the ABC's 7.30 program and laments she "failed" him.

Police believe a body found in a Gold Coast park is that of missing man Shane Ross, with detectives saying the death is suspicious and possibly related to the death of another man on Friday night.

Police say 47-year-old Cameron Martin died from a gunshot wound to the chest before he crashed a white Mercedes in a Gold Coast suburb on Friday night. His business partner and alleged bikie Shane Ross was also shot and found nearby almost three days later.