For inmates in a maximum security prison in WA, socialising unwanted dogs is "like a day away" from jail and the effects of the program are being described as "win-win".

A master wine producer whose riesling is the reigning Australian wine of the year bows out of the industry, citing age and the desire to hand over to a new generation for the decision.

A ship left Melbourne in January 1954 to set up Australia's first Antarctic base. Facing harsh conditions and the unknown, the pioneers built Mawson Station.

This wild and rugged corner of north-west Tasmania is bursting with ancient history and dotted with artefacts, but you've probably never heard of it.

DAILY BRIEFING: A woman is in police custody after a house is in Lauderdale on Hobart's eastern shore is destroyed by fire and concerns raised over planned cuts to distance education teacher levels.

DAILY BRIEFING: The father of Graham Enniss, who escaped from Hobart's Risdon Prison this morning, urges his son to hand himself in, as police caution the public to stay away from the man.

Residents in the Hobart suburb of Risdon Vale say they are double checking their doors are locked as the search for a prison escapee enters its second day.

Tasmanian police release photos of a number of household items and non-perishable foods found in bushland near where a prison escapee was found.

DAILY BRIEFING: A promised lost-cost abortion service for southern Tasmania is on hold indefinitely, and the union says more immediate solutions are needed to address prison overcrowding.

A Tasmanian councillor announces her resignation live on radio, saying ongoing "personal attacks" and negative comments on social media have taken "too much" of a toll.

An archaeological excavation is approved at the site where one of Tasmania's most divisive colonial figures once lived, sparking concerns Aboriginal "spirits" will be disturbed by the dig.

Despite a bid to move Tasmania's time zone 30 minutes earlier than eastern standard time failing to win support, Prime Minister Scott Morrison tells Liberal Party faithful their future remains bright thanks to the revived fortunes for the island state.

As Tasmania heads towards its busy summer tourist season, residents in popular locations are bracing themselves to share the road with tourists.

Jorgen Jorgenson visited Van Diemen's Land when it was first settled 20 years later he would return as a convict and former self-proclaimed king of Iceland.

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".

Residents of a heritage town in northern Tasmania accuse the Government of not consulting them over plans for a new prison nearby, and demand to know the location of other potential sites.

DAILY BRIEFING: The prisons watchdog says he was pressured to redact a report on the Ashley youth detention centre and he will strongly resist requests to do so in the future.

Inmates at four South Australian prisons will be confronted with the faces of cold case murder victims in what authorities hope will be a "conscious jogger" for people to come forward with information.

SA senator Sarah Hanson-Young says a crude Facebook post shared by a business owned by the Ceduna Mayor is "degrading" to women, but he says his Facebook account was hacked.

The Flinders Ranges in South Australia are known for their rich Aboriginal history and now two women are trying to preserve it.

A woman has been arrested and a man is on the run after a customer was stabbed during an attempted robbery at an Adelaide pub last night.

Violent standover man Hizir Ferman may have "progressively suffocated" to death when Victorian prison officers used their body weight to pin him to the ground after forcibly removing him from his cell, an inquest has been told.

A man has been found not guilty of killing his 13-week-old son in regional Victoria, eight years after the baby died.

Amateur photographer Kristan Emerson is legally blind and is helping other people with visual impairments to experience travel and foreign cultures through his eyes.

Prison officers and nurses could have done more to prevent the death of underworld figure Hizir Ferman, who suffocated to death inside a Victorian prison after a stand-off with guards, a coroner finds.

The daughters of Kerry Robertson, 61, the first Victorian to use the state's Voluntary Assisted Dying Act, say their mother's death was "beautiful and peaceful".

Diana Gibson has been her husband's "eyes" for many years, but now her own health is failing with Parkinson's disease. But despite everything, Harry still tends the cows.

Three men accused of attacking staff at a youth justice centre in central Victoria with a plastic cricket bat will be sent to adult prison. It follows another incident earlier this week when an inmate allegedly attacked a worker with a makeshift knife.

A judge indicates a woman who pleaded guilty to dangerous driving over the death of cyclist Jason Lowndes, who was killed when he was struck from behind while on a training run in 2017, is unlikely to go to jail.

Trent Anderson

Researchers at Virginia Tech are integrating electronic sensors into personalized 3D printed prosthetics, a development that could lead to more affordable electric-powered prosthetics.