A teenage boy was watching television on his iPad when a cattle truck slammed into his parents' caravan, killing both of them, on a Western Australian outback highway two years ago, a court is told.

Two of the world's biggest gold mining companies have merged in a $14 billion deal. What does it mean for the Kalgoorlie Super Pit and other Aussie gold mines?

An increase in the production of the trendy grains overseas forces a number of pioneering Australian growers to scale down production. What is the future for Australian farmers in the multi-billion-dollar superfood industry?

An Australian region larger than Texas has lost its only commercial television news reporter, sparking an outcry from former employees, community leaders and viewers.

Concerns have been raised in Australia over the online sale of accessories that turn handguns into automatic weapons.

Fire is "absolutely the number-one risk" to the city of Hobart, authorities say. But has the island state learnt from the 1967 fires that destroyed hundreds of homes and claimed 62 lives?

Scientists hope a drill that can plunge 3 kilometres down into an Antarctic ice cap and withstand temperatures of -55 degrees Celsius will help solve one of the last great puzzles in climate science.

Scuba divers can reach depths of 40 metres, but there's a small group of hardcore divers who venture more than twice as deep. You just need a sense of adventure and the right gear.

A water scientist is backing Hamilton farmers' concerns about threats to a local lake from a proposed fish hatchery, including the threat of algal blooms.

Before moving to Tasmania, Malak Abdou was a veterinarian in Egypt. Now working on a farm, he's one of the lucky ones.

The daughter of a Tasmanian man shot dead in the Philippines says the family is shattered by the loss and having trouble repatriating his body due to "language barriers".

Bertrand Cadart says facing death makes him feel positive, which is why he keeps his Ferrari-red coffin in his loungeroom.

Volunteer whale spotters believe they've photographed more than 50 whales at South Australia's Sleaford Bay this year, raising questions about how the marine mammals might be affected by a desalination plant proposed for the area.

For residents living in the New South Wales village of Murrurundi in the Upper Hunter Valley, three minute showers and a limit of two loads of laundry a week have become the norm.

Industry experts say consumers are often misguided about what is healthier between alternative and dairy milks, and some say branding is the issue.

A regional Victorian city that nearly lost its tram network in the 1970s is set to become a national hub for historic tram restoration.

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

With more than 8,200 islands sprawled around Australia, there's a good chance you can't name them all so we've listed some of them to inspire your next getaway.

A group of researchers from the Harvard University Wyss Institute and the Massachusets Institute of Technology Computer Science Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, or MIT CSAIL have developed a robot gripper that uses a 3D printed origami structure to lift up to 100 times its own weight.

The University of South Australia is using a blend of icing sugar, chicken stock and flexible resin to create realistic foot ulcers as part of a world-first podiatric training initiative.

Mental illnesses don't switch off after business hours, and a new program in outback New South Wales aims to cater for just that. 'Connections' is the name of a new initiative at Broken Hill in far west New South Wales where people who have experience of a mental illness socialise and support others struggling with mental health problems.

Alice Foulcher and Gregory Erdstein on their comedy about the insecurities of the acting life, That's Not Me.

Temperatures in parts of NSW are expected to exceed 40 degrees including the outskirts of Sydney.

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.

Farmers Stephen Black and Melissa Portingale were so desperate for water they put a rare ooshie up for sale. That's when the trouble started.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will investigate who actually owns Australia's water, in particular the Murray-Darling Basin's $2 billion water market.

A father who was on his L-plates drank "up to 40 cans of alcohol" before getting behind the wheel pleads guilty to causing the death of his son.

DNA testing has confirmed that a "seriously cute" little dog that crash-landed into a Victorian backyard is an endangered breed of dingo.

The Victorian Government's historic treaty negotiations with the state's Aboriginal communities are one step closer this week, with the election of the First Peoples' Assembly. But the toughest yards to meaningful treaties still lie ahead.

A mother of three, alleged to have been behind the wheel of a car when it crashed, killing her young son and friend, tells Darwin Local Court she's yet to seek legal advice to face a string of "serious charges".

In the early 1970s a company spent millions of dollars developing a cattle and cropping empire near Katherine in the NT. What went wrong?

It would end in the High Court, but it began as an agreement between two friends. Robert donated his sperm to conceive a child with his friend Susan, but when she and her wife decided to move overseas, everything changed.

An inquest into the death of murdered child Bradyn Dillon hears his father lied to school authorities in a deliberate attempt to hide his son from the public.

A second man pleads guilty to the manslaughter of Bobby Allan, who died on a neighbour's doorstep after being beaten and robbed in the Canberra suburb of Rivett.