Hannah Walsh

1 week ago | abc.net.au | Grace Nakamura |Hannah Walsh

Wool goes flying on stage at the Thargomindah Shearers Shindig as two people race to see who can shear a sheep the fastest. The atmosphere is electric, but behind the thrill of the challenge there's another factor drawing the outback Queensland community together. Two months ago the Thargomindah township, nearly 1,000 kilometres west of Brisbane, was almost entirely inundated by a record-breaking flood.

2 weeks ago | abc.net.au | Hannah Walsh

It's a conversation starter among other travellers on the road: Peter and Rita Luck's floating caravan. The West Australians, in their 70s, are undertaking a 12-month adventure of the rivers and lakes of Australia's east coast. They call themselves the amphibious nomads, driving their houseboat from waterway to waterway with their dog Moet. "I've never really liked caravanning … you're pretty limited in where you can go," Mr Luck said.

3 weeks ago | abc.net.au | Hannah Walsh

Adam Ballard is somewhat of a local celebrity in his small outback Queensland town. The Longreach local goes everywhere with a smile, helps the local footy and race clubs, and is a rodeo fanatic. "People know Adam and we have no idea who they are, but we are Adam's mum and dad," Paula Ballard said. Adam was born with Williams Syndrome, an intellectual disability that requires consistent care.

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Hannah Walsh |Grace Nakamura

There are two genres of music people love to hate — opera and country. Under a kaleidoscope of stars in outback Queensland the two styles have merged and found a surprising audience. "Slim Dusty and Puccini, who would have thought," Melbourne opera fanatic Rosey Boyd said. Country songs are said to be made up of "loving, drinking, fighting and cussing" — similarly inspired themes that feature in opera, according to Opera Queensland.

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Hannah Walsh

In the land of boom and bust, an ancient landscape of sand dunes and river channels is transforming. Record-breaking floods has parts of the Channel Country in south-west Queensland springing to life, a haven for flora and fauna across thousands of kilometres of inland waterways. It's a silver lining of devastating flooding across the outback where it's estimated 13 million hectares of country went underwater.