Inspiring individuals talk about a pivotal moment in their personal histories. This week, children's book author, broadcaster and film maker, Tony Wilson.

After months of uncertainty for canegrowers, German-owned Nordzucker acquires a 70 per cent stake in Mackay Sugar.

Australian cricket great Nicole Bolton didn't know if she would ever play cricket again when she walked away from the sport last year after a crippling bout of depression and anxiety.

A six-year-old boy dies after being struck by a car in the carpark of a popular sporting ground in Perth's south.

Low-cost airline Jetstar announces it will start running three flights a week between Melbourne and Busselton in the south-west of WA.

A residential development proposed by the Satterley Property Group on Anglican Church land in the Perth Hills suburb of Stoneville is branded a planning "disaster" by concerned locals.

Two years ago, he was playing for Australia and could have been forgiven for thinking he had the cricket world at his feet. Then Hilton Cartwright's form fell off a cliff and he's still trying to recover.

WA's biggest native hardwood processor is facing accusations it sold thousands of tonnes of jarrah sawlogs to be burnt as low-value charcoal.

A Rotary Club in WA has been trialling a form of cheap and simple therapy for people living with dementia. Having seen some remarkable results, the plan is now to push the program further.

Member for Geraldton Ian Blayney quits the Liberal Party and will sit as an independent while his application to join the Nationals is being considered.

Two men are charged with trying to smuggle more than a tonne of cocaine and ecstasy into WA, after their yacht hit a reef and they were found on an island in the Houtman Abrolhos allegedly hiding the drugs with seaweed.

Three more men from different countries are arrested as part of an international investigation into an attempted billion-dollar drug smuggling operation uncovered when a yacht ran aground off the WA coast.

Friends and relatives of a woman who died in hospital after being shot by police on a suburban street in Geraldton question why police did not employ pepper spray or a Taser instead, as a protest erupts outside the local police station over what they say was excessive force.

As family and friends of Joyce Clarke demand to know why the young woman was shot dead by police, a tragic picture of her early life blighted by drugs and mental illness is beginning to emerge.

Missing Adelaide boy Thomas Alexander Bakyrey has been found in Tasmania and his mother has been arrested by authorities after a nationwide search.

A routine car search by Limestone Coast police has led to an investigation into whether south-east drug users are using Australia Post as a courier service to send and receive illegal drugs.

A Queensland medieval festival has marked a milestone anniversary with huge crowds gathering to be immersed in 1,000 years of history, from the battleground to the bedroom.

Professor Quentin Grafton says government should halt subsidies for irrigation efficiency projects

A farmer at the centre of the Menindee fish kill story has lodged a complaint with police, alleging he felt "intimidated" by a staff member of lobby group Cotton Australia.

Irrigator Anthony Barlow is fined well below the maximum for pumping water from the Barwon River during an extreme water shortage in Broken Hill.

A 36-year-old man is arrested and charged for illegally taking and selling 12 tonnes of golden perch from the Darling River over a 20-month period.

A commercial fisher has been fined $15,000 and had his boat confiscated after pleading guilty to seven charges of illegal fishing in the Darling River.

About 1,500 Adelaide residents and businesses are being told not to use groundwater because of contamination from uranium from a former mining laboratory and degreasing chemicals from nearby factories.

Western Australia's bulk grain handler says it has already received about 12.5 million tonnes of grain during this year's harvest and there is still more to come from southern areas.

Pat O'Sullivan took over the Hillston Spectator from his dad more than 60 years ago. But now, with his garden calling, the publication could be at risk of folding.

MORNING BRIEFING: Firefighters say it could take weeks, potentially months, to contain about five fires burning around Armidale and Tenterfield, while a woman is injured and a firearm stolen during a break and enter in Orana.

Police have charged a NSW man with murder after what witnesses described as a furious chase during which shots were fired before one of the cars rolled and burst into flames.

Four children who took a family member's car from Gracemere near Rockhampton on Saturday night have been found safe in Grafton in northern NSW.

On the day Grafton's water fluoridation fight reached fever pitch, one man was stabbed with a tomato stake; another struck by a stock whip. At some point, a pistol was drawn. But how did it get to this point?

Queensland Cotton regional manager Rick Jones opens gin doors to explain how cotton is processed and what it means to the Emerald community.

A water awareness video produced for children encourages them to turn off the tap when washing their hands.

Director Oliver Stone turns Don Winslow's tale of drugs, deception and decapitation into his latest gift for the big screen, Savages.

This comedy about battling magicians may not be incredible or magicial, but its grab bag of stupid jokes is enough to create some decent chuckles.

It is fair to say that any new Tim Winton book, play, film or short story is welcomed with open arms by Western Australians.

The Tweed River Art Gallery features a swag of interesting exhibitions just now, and there's nothing like a gallery hiatus to encourage you to get along to them. The Gallery closes for the first half of October to allow major works on the Margaret Olley Art Centre, which will open as an extension of the gallery in early 2014.