Two men are rescued after being stranded when their six-metre yacht crashed on the shore of a remote island off the Central Queensland coast.

The story of a rare sapphire found in Queensland's Gemfields more than 80 years ago captures the hearts of enthusiasts at a nationally renowned gem festival.

With sales rising and participation in regional Queensland gel ball leagues doubling in some areas, advocates are campaigning to ensure newcomers participate safely.

He grew up behind the famously wonky Ettamogah Pub on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. Now at just 31, Samuel Dale Johnson is a principal singer with one of the world's biggest opera houses.

Before the ambulance existed, if outback Queensland locals had an emergency, they had to drive to themselves to hospital.

The lawyer for a Tamil family facing deportation from Australia says she is deeply concerned about access to her clients now they have been relocated to Christmas Island.

The Tamil family facing deportation from Australia has been relocated to the Christmas Island detention centre, their lawyer says.

The mother from the Tamil family at the centre of an immigration row says her children are constantly crying and pleading to leave a Christmas Island facility, as hundreds of people rally around the country to urge the Government to let them stay in Australia.

Some regional areas of Queensland see unemployment rates skyrocket above 14 per cent with experts warning it will get worse if the Government doesn't step in.

Controversial changes enforcing quotas on Queensland fisheries have led to a critical breakdown in the relationship between industry and government.

Fire conditions are forecast to worsen again on Friday and Saturday when a dry wind is expected to blow across parts of southern Queensland, raising the fire danger rating from "high" to "very high".

Fire-weary residents at Sarabah in Queensland's Scenic Rim get a reprieve as authorities downgrade the bushfire warning level in the area, but conditions are expected to worsen in southern Queensland on Saturday.

A 39-year-old man from Emerald and a 59-year-old man from the Mackay area are found dead inside a twin-hulled power boat thought to have crashed at high speed off Central Queensland.

The Queensland Government is expected to pass a bill today to introduce new mandatory farm run-off regulations to protect the reef, despite opposition from agricultural groups.

Drum lines used to kill sharks in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park will be removed after the Queensland Government lost a challenge in the Federal Court to continue its culling program in the protectedarea.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee asks Australia to end the "existing situation of detention" for the Sri Lankan Tamil family from Biloela being held on Christmas Island.

Farmers and local politicians voice their objections to plans to reduce the size of a proposed central Queensland weir as state and federal governments argue over how to deal with a cost blowout.

A wave of dangerous severe fire weather is about to hit southern Queensland with the Bureau of Meteorology forecasting heatwave conditions as temperatures soar up to 40 degrees Celsius in parts of the state.

A drenching is on its way for Queensland, with parts of the state set to receive their best rainfall in months today and on Saturday, with the potential for severe thunderstorms and damaging hail in some areas.

Fewer cyclones are forecast but the Bureau of Meteorology warns a "pretty dangerous cocktail" is brewing for the remainder of Queensland's fire season.

Far north Queensland's largest and oldest piggery is closing after 49 years, impacted by drought, cheap imports, and rising costs as the agricultural profile of the area changes.

A new species of rockcod, or grouper, is confirmed by the Queensland Museum after two years of testing its DNA, following the discovery of several specimens at a fish market in 2017.

The clean-up is underway after severe thunderstorms left a trail of damage but little precious rain in parts of South-East Queensland and the Darling Downs.

Despite a fortnight of hot, dry weather, Jack Walker's property in Theodore still has hailstones covered by a thin layer of dirt and debris.

A leading science institute finds Queensland must move more quickly towards renewable energy and away from coal-fired power by 2030 to meet its share of the nation's emissions reduction targets.

An abandoned southern Great Barrier Reef island off the coast of central Queensland, has seen guests visit for the first time in five years.

The mayor of Woorabinda, a small Indigenous community in central Queensland, says until their land is converted from a government lease to freehold, it is still like living on a mission.

She hits the water at speeds of up to 80km/h and it scares her every single time she does it, but fear hasn't stopped cliff diver Rhiannan Iffland making an impact on the world stage.