When Lily Yan first walked into an Australian pub, locals stopped and stared. But she hasn't let a few odd looks deter her.

The sister of murdered exchange student Aiia Maasarwe says she does not feel safe in Melbourne, as she returns to the city of her sister's death to help launch a fellowship in her honour.

Shooting to kill, commandeering trucks and spike strips are just some powers of intervention police officers have been told they must use if necessary to stop a hostile vehicle attack.

A man responsible for an "atrocious attack" on an off-duty paramedic during a crime spree on the Mornington Peninsula last year is sentenced to five years and nine months in jail.

Saeed Maasarwe said his family is not motivated by revenge over the rape and murder of his daughter Aiia Maasarwe, as he remembered her as a positive woman who wanted to help everybody.

Chloe Myors died suddenly, but based on a candid discussion with their 11-year-old daughter before her death her parents decided to donate her organs.

A lewd sticker on a police body camera lands a Victoria Police officer in hot water, with the force launching an investigation into the "extremely disappointing" incident.

Some parent visas cost up to $40,000 while others have a 30-year waitlist, making them completely out of reach for many migrant families. But advocates say rather than being a drag on the system, elderly family members could actually boost the economy.

For the second time in two days, Victoria Police expresses "extreme disappointment" in one of its officers, this time after alt-right material shared on social media was connected to an officer accused of using a hand gesture associated with white power.

High-density developments are cropping up in almost every Melbourne suburb and local resident groups have had enough.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The threat of rain didn't stop hundreds joining the activities at the NAIDOC week Family Fun Day.

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.

Photographs exploring Rockhampton's long relationship with the Fitzroy River have been unveiled in a new exhibition at the Rockhampton Art Gallery.

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.

If Heinz Eichhorn's greenhouse was a canvas, you would usually find it splashed with a sea of colour. But following the recent cold snap in the region a number of Heinz's 6,000 orchids have lost their flowers.

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

The car that carried aviation pioneer Bert Hinkler through the streets of Brisbane in front of thousands of people almost 90 years ago will be restored to its former glory in Bundaberg.

On any given day in the small rural New South Wales town of Trundle, up to a dozen men can be found in an historic garage, tinkering on cars, passing on skills to younger men and taking turns pumping fuel. It's an interesting set up, but it works.

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.

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.

The plight of thousands of "blackbirds" is being highlighted in a short film and helping younger generations to understand the sacrifices of their relatives.

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.

Researchers from the University of Western Australia (UWA) are spending their mornings chasing down the tiny marsupials to study their sugary diets.

Doug Mackay's Rolls Royce Silver Cloud is fit for a King. It was once driven by Australia's King of Comedy, Graham Kennedy.

For the first time in 190 years the 16 pews inside St John's Anglican church in Launceston will be removed and replaced with long tables for a charity dinner for the St Giles organisation.

What do you when you come across something that has been lost? The natural instinct would be to return it to its home, but what if that lost thing made no sense at all?

Flowers are more than just pretty objects to place in a vase. They are a medium with which to create innovative, contemporary art.

Duneira is a late Nineteenth Century country house in Mt Macedon - but it has a curious history.

From fast paced horses to tracking the blood moon, the skills of Tasmanian Photographic Federation members from around the state are now on display in an exhibition for the next few months.

Memories of sporting glory, last-minute comebacks, old friendships and rivalries are hidden in plain sight behind a few coats of paint.

Teams from Nambour hip hop school House of Sole have competed in the Hip Hop Internationals in San Diego, known as the Olympics of hip hop.

In 1955 Derby celebrated the launch of the Royal Flying Doctor Service in the Kimberley. For the Diamond Jubilee, ABC Kimberley joined the celebrations in Derby's RFDS hangar and looked at some of its amazing history.

New species of spider orchids have been discovered near Busselton by the WA Herbarium. They add to the already spectacular array of wildflowers which thrive in the biodiversity hot spot of the South West.

A sea of children wearing decorated socks rippled through the school gates at Mackay Central State School to witness the launch of a new statewide road safety campaign.

An unsealed road leading to a family farm between Albany and Denmark reveals an unexpected treasure trove of military artefacts.

After more than four decades, one Gold Coast fashion designer is closing her doors for good, leaving a lasting mark on the city.

Lyndhurst is a tiny village set amid rolling green hills in central west New South Wales but it's just produced a world champion who is the latest in a long and proud tradition of country rifle shooting.

Bells have rung out across Australia to mark the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Pacific Day, including at a church in Orange, NSW where the ancient art of bellringing is alive and well.

What does the future hold for regional towns? To some, it's about change. For others, it's about things staying much the same.

A quirky, German-styled house at Orange in central west New South Wales tells of the city's heritage of migrants and their close ties with the Electrolux refrigeration factory.