National Archive

For some people Australia Day is about fireworks, Aussie flags, Australian of the Year awards or a day off work with barbecues and  entertainment. For others it is Invasion Day, Sovereignty Day or Survival Day.  Not a day to celebrate. In fact, …

While tens of thousands of people headed to Cairns to chase the total solar eclipse on November 14, the Yolngu communities around Gurruwiling, East Arnhem Land, hosted a smaller but magnificent event. Gurruwiling, better known as the Arafura Swamp, is where the …

Medical experts are warning the Australian mainland is at risk of being invaded by a deadly strain of tuberculosis (TB) from Papua New Guinea (PNG), report Matt Garrick and Mark Roy in the Torres Strait. An outbreak in PNG’s Western Province of an …

Today, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month 2012, we pay tribute to ANZACs who died or suffered to serve our nation in wars, conflicts and peace keeping operations around the world.  ANZAC veteran William “Bully Hayes” Saylor, 82, served in …

Celebrating global achievements, the University of Sydney yesterday honoured actress Cate Blanchett, double platinum musician Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, Astronomer Royal Lord Martin Rees, Nobel Prize-winning pathologist Robin Warren, and author Kate Grenville with honorary degrees for their outstanding contribution to society. They …

My driver’s licence was suspended last November 2011 and my property seized in September 2012, all because I refused to pay into the Victims Compensation Levy for the Australian crime of riding a bicycle without a helmet. Two weeks ago, after a …

It is the stuff of legend. In the red dust and heat of Western Australia’s Pilbara region, on the other side of the continent to their homelands and seas, a gang of Torres Strait Islanders didn’t just break the record time for …

The local Islander name for a small bird seen as a symbol of impending good weather has been chosen as the name of the first vessel in a planned fleet of seven ranger boats to be deployed across the Torres Strait. The …

A forty minute drive to work to the city tires most of us; imagine if you had to drive for twelve hours every day in Sydney traffic writes Perin Sairs. In these hours of driving I assure you that you would be …

A couple of yachties anchored in Escape River, near the tip of Cape York in far north Queensland, had a close encounter of the crocodile kind when they were woken by a large crashing sound in the middle of the night. Canadians Marian and David Paul woke …