Geoff Hutchison reviews the most talked about film of the year - 12 Years a Slave.

Swimming in icy water is not something everyone aspires to do but it should be, according to an outdoor swimming enthusiast.

About a year ago, my partner and I learned of a revolution in Australia's paddocks. We want to farm in a more natural way, but the stakes are high making the shift could send us broke.

Residents in the regional city of Armidale are using their own water to save trees in their heritage-listed park, as the drought continues to deplete the district's water supply.

As Tasmania brings in tough new controls to limit coronavirus infections, tourism and hospitality industries are "hanging on by a thread" and operators are urging locals to support them.

Small businesses are struggling across Australia as the coronavirus outbreak unfolds. But there are ways you can help keep them going — and stick to social isolation guidelines.

As coronavirus restrictions tighten and public venues close around the country, egg producers turn to other avenues of income to get by.

All non-essential travellers who arrive in Tasmania after midnight on Sunday will be placed into a Government-operated facility, Premier Peter Gutwein announces.

A former shearer tells how he turned away from life as a wealthy businessman to find happiness.

Tasmania records its first coronavirus death after a woman in her 80s dies in hospital in the state's north-west, with the state's case tally rising by three to 69.

Many parts of Australia have worked hard to attract migrants to help boost the population and ageing workforces, but many like Rosan Bhattarai are now without a source of income because they are on temporary visas and can't get access to the JobKeeper program.

A day after the Prime Minister announced a moratorium on evictions, this doctor was given an ultimatum by her landlord — either she stop working at a hospital or move out.

The Ruby Princess leaves Australian waters today over a month after docking in Sydney. About one in 10 cases of coronavirus in Australia is linked to the cruise ship.

Lavender farms are seeing a spike in online traffic as consumers stock up on essential oils and pillow sprays, even their own plants.

Rachel and Daniel Weeks are living on a national park in the middle of Bass Strait, embracing their isolation. But they feel like they are missing out on nothing during the COVID-19 crisis thanks to the crowds now on popular apps.

A Catholic college principal tells parents children missing their friends and parents needing time are not valid reasons to send children to school, as Tasmania records its third consecutive day without new coronavirus cases.

Ambulance paramedics left a woman with a history of mental illness alone in her home without electricity, hot water or lighting before she was found dead months later, in a move a coroner said was "difficult to understand."

Lawyers for two teenagers who threatened to carry out a school massacre tell South Australia's Supreme Court they should be immediately released.

The trauma of premature birth has additional complications for parents who live hundreds of kilometres from their baby's neonatal hospital.

A CSIRO reconstruction of the Federation drought of 1891 to 1903 finds that if it were to occur again today, its effects would likely be even more devastating.

Laura Sullivan spent 32 years in an Australian group she now believes is a cult, because of its controlling nature. But she didn't choose that path she was born into it.

An irrigation channel used to release water into a forest along the Murray River in NSW is filled with earth and rocks, with an irrigator saying it's a sign of frustration boiling over in the area.

Spectators and football players in northern Victoria call for a change to the culture of violence on the field.

A group of southern New South Wales irrigators have pledged to give millions of litres of their own water to those who need it most, but they need help to deliver it.

New Zealander Dave Rennie is appointed new coach of the Wallabies, signing a deal that will take him up to the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

Dave Rennie, Chiefs Head Coach before the Round 14 Super Rugby match between the Blues and the Chiefs at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand, Friday, May 26, 2017.

Israel Folau claims he could have one day skippered a "trophy-winning Wallabies team", as he seeks $14 million in damages following his Rugby Australia sacking.

Most Australians are vaccinated against the mumps virus, but the highly infectious disease has affected an unknown number of Brumbies players, despite the fact that they were vaccinated in childhood.

Brazilian football icon Ronaldinho and his brother are arrested in Paraguay, with authorities saying the pair entered the country with falsified documents.

New Zealand man Cody Frost is sentenced to 10-and-a-half years in jail for manslaughter after he gave a stranger his last cigarette, called him mate and then stabbed him outside a Melbourne train station in 2017.

Jemma Burns survived being run over by a truck thanks to the blood donations of others. Now, as the Red Cross Blood Service marks its 90th anniversary, it is planning to expand into other interesting and unusual areas.

Victoria's one-stop shop for all things to do with fines has been crippled by serious IT issues. So what's behind the multi-million-dollar problem, and what does it mean for people facing a payment deadline?

Liberal backbencher Dave Sharma and Labor MP Josh Burns join forces with alleged victims to seek Malka Leifer's extradition to Australia to face child sexual abuse charges.

Airport authorities are calling for a crackdown on drivers touting their services at the the terminal but one driver says it is the only way he can earn enough money to pay his bills.

Hakeem al-Araibi's story is testament to the adage "the power of one". This is how former Socceroos captain Craig Foster led a global campaign to free the fellow footballer who was wrongfully imprisoned overseas and exposed bureaucratic slip-ups that landed him there.

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.

When 40,000 seedlings propagated by prisoners at Loddon Prison were not going to be planted, locals stepped in to make sure the trees would find a home.

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.

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.

Moss Vale photographer Ashley Mackevicius couldn't compete with his school friend Nick Cave for music or poetry skills, so he switched to photography. Cave went on to become one of Australia's greatest ever musicians, and Mackevicius did the same for photography.

Graffiti artists in Tamworth are now able to legally paint on two walls at the skate park after talks with Tamworth Regional Council deliver 6 month trial.

Pauline Milich brought her 14th child into the world while helping another woman deliver a baby life was different in the early 1900s.

As heated debate about water policy continues, native fish are continuing to die in the lower Darling River in shrinking residual pools.

Over the course of his life, Maurice Cole, a legend of the surfing world, has absorbed damage, inflicted it and come face-to-face with death more than once. Now he is helping his son try and reverse the damage his generation has done.

Lawyers warn child sexual abuse victims to be mindful of legal reforms before signing away their right to sue, as redress scheme marks its first anniversary.