Bill Ormonde

Jan 13, 2025 | abc.net.au | Bill Ormonde |Sarah McConnell

An underground fire at a Chinese-owned mine in Broken Hill has re-ignited and spread to multiple levels. The initial blaze at Perilya's southern zinc, lead and silver mine began at about 11:30pm on Sunday night and was extinguished by 7:30am this morning. However, the blaze re-ignited at about 11am. Broken Hill's Mayor Tom Kennedy said the fire, believed to be at least 500 meters underground, "self-combusted" due to the heat and restarted on its own.

Jan 4, 2025 | abc.net.au | Bill Ormonde |Josh Mercer

While Broken Hill residents are accustomed to the clockwork daily rumblings underfoot of mine blasts, this was different. In less than 30 hours, three separate earthquakes were recorded within 100 kilometres of the outback mining city in far west New South Wales. A 2.6 magnitude earthquake struck the region just before midnight on Friday, followed by a 4.1 magnitude quake at 2.50pm on Saturday and a 3.3 magnitude tremor at 5.30am today.

Dec 15, 2024 | abc.net.au | Bill Ormonde

As the scorching summer sun bears down on Wilcannia, the Darling River has a distinct and sickly green tinge to it. With temperatures expected to reach 47 degrees Celsius today and remain in the high 30Cs, and low 40Cs for the foreseeable future in western New South Wales, there's no respite for this part of one of Australia's largest waterways. Multiple times each week, Barkindji rangers like Vincent Quayle head up and down the river in a dingy testing oxygen levels.

Nov 29, 2024 | abc.net.au | Bill Ormonde

As Jinda Holland sorts through hundreds of eggs on a farm south of Adelaide, AC/DC can be heard blasting from his large oversized black headphones. Bon Scott, Michael Jackson and "anything that's fast" is often also heard echoing out of the chicken caravans on site. "You know what the chickens love it, the chickens love singing along … I sing along," he says. It is one of only a handful of jobs the 39-year-old has ever had, and it is his favourite by far.

Nov 29, 2024 | abc.net.au | Bill Ormonde

For many rural Australians with disabilities, employment opportunities can be hard to come by.  But a brother-sister duo in South Australia are doing something about it. They've recently started an egg farm that's providing meaningful jobs and financial independence to their employees with disabilities. Featured: Jinda Holland, worker at Rise and Shine Eggs Gabi Kinsley, worker at Rise and Shine Eggs Heather Pearce, owner of Rise and Shine EggsAlistair Pearce, owner of Rise and Shine Eggs