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1 week ago | 
abc.net.au | Tamara Clark |Else Kennedy
The future of troubled Esoteric Festival in country Victoria is uncertain unless someone volunteers to buy its parent business, along with millions of dollars of debt. The multi-day electronic music, arts and lifestyle event, outside tiny Wimmera town Donald, about 290 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, was cancelled in March this year the day before it was to start.
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3 weeks ago | 
abc.net.au | Tamara Clark |Andrew Kelso
While many rural football clubs are dealing with dwindling players and members in the Wimmera, the demand for women's football has resulted in the launch of a new league. The resulting growth in club memberships and supporter numbers has shown league administrators that women's football in regional areas could help revitalise the sport. It may even finally provide a pathway for Wimmera women to play at the highest level.
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3 weeks ago | 
abc.net.au | Tamara Clark |Andrew Kelso |Rebekah Lowe
On a still autumn day in Victoria's Wimmera region, two groups of women walk from a football field, exhausted and a little bruised, but with big smiles on their faces. Their footy boots and jerseys are splattered with mud. And even though just 11 points decided the game, every player felt like a winner because they knew they had just made history. These women and girls know they are part of something big and new, bringing a women's Aussie rules football league to town for the first time.
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1 month ago | 
abc.net.au | Andrew Kelso |Tamara Clark
The By Five Early Years Initiative has connected hundreds of rural children to health specialists since 2017. A 2021 funding package ends on June 30, with no further money allocated in the recent state budget. By Five executive officer Jo Martin says the service is appealing to private partners and other sources for future funding. An award-winning health program reducing wait times for rural children to access health specialists has lost its Victorian government funding.
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1 month ago | 
abc.net.au | Andrew Kelso |Tamara Clark |Rebekah Lowe
If you spot a small orange butterfly fluttering around St Arnaud there is a good chance it was raised by Ellen Reid. The 82-year-old retired pharmacist has been breeding butterflies from her verdant green garden in western Victoria for more than 50 years. It is a passion that took flight in the early 1970s sparked by a chance encounter with famed TV naturalist Harry Butler. "I just think they're wonderful little creatures," Ms Reid said with a laugh.
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1 month ago | 
abc.net.au | Tamara Clark |Ashlee Aldridge |Tyrone Dalton
Former Carlton and Port Adelaide player Nick Stevens has been accused of deceptively charging families tens of thousands of dollars for pools they never received. The 45-year-old is facing 18 fraud-related charges, including obtaining a financial advantage through deception, after allegedly accepting $170,000 from six families to deliver and install swimming pools at properties in the Mildura region.
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Jan 14, 2025 | 
abc.net.au | Tamara Clark |Julia Bergin
A man is missing at a popular inland swimming spot in north-west Victoria. New South Wales police said a man, believed to be 54 years old, was reported missing at the Murray River Apex River Beach Holiday Park in Mildura just after 4pm on Tuesday. Mildura local Brodie Provan, who was on scene at the time, told the ABC he saw the man calling out for help from the water. "I probably spent about 10 minutes in the water trying to find him, and then the police showed up," Mr Provan said.
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Jan 12, 2025 | 
abc.net.au | Tamara Clark
A new report shows the cost of GP visits is rising and the number of practices offering bulk billing is declining. The average out-of-pocket cost for a GP visit has risen by 4.1 per cent nationally over the past year. Grattan Institute health program director Peter Breadon says GP funding must change in order to allow more flexibility when charging patients. Retired helicopter pilot and cattle station worker Allan Wembridge is no stranger to hard yakka, and the injuries that come with it.
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Dec 18, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Tamara Clark
A "pandemic of misinformation" since the outbreak of COVID-19 has led to unfounded hesitations about vaccines for pets, one expert says. Sydney School of Veterinary Science senior lecturer Anne Quain said there had been "a rise in misinformation" on social media platforms regarding vaccination of animals, including "spurious claims about adverse effects of vaccines". "I think the rise in misinformation is part of an infodemic or pandemic of misinformation," she said.
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Dec 11, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Tamara Clark
A Victorian coroner has called for the creation of a child protection taskforce in the wake of a damning report into four family violence deaths across the state between 2016 and 2017. The deaths of four children aged between six months and 15 years old exposed fatal shortcomings in the state’s child protection services, a coronial inquest has found. Readers are advised this article contains content some may find distressing.
