Rural and Remote Communities

Australia's longest-running radio show is celebrating 80 years on air, and while so much has changed in farming and broadcasting, the core of The Country Hour remains the same.

With the ABC's Country Hour celebrating eight decades on air, a 91-year-old Tasmanian farmer and his successor reflect on why they've been tuning in most days.

Victorian farmers are stopping workers from entering their properties to construct the transmission towers needed to link electricity from Victoria to NSW.

As approvals for multi-billion-dollar projects land on agendas at country local government meetings, staff and elected representatives battle to ensure their communities are prepared to benefit.

Dogs were banned some years ago to protect the unique wildlife of Christmas Island, but one very special chocolate Labrador remains, and she is shared by the whole community.

Google's plans for a data hub could drag this remote island from a digitally starved past into an AI-powered future. But are the locals ready? 

The ruins of the Alma and Victoria gold mine at Waukaringa north of Yunta in outback South Australia.

The ABC's Landline crew discovers extreme kindness with a can-do attitude after a mechanical breakdown in South Australia's outback.

A storm that hit a tiny rural NSW town, damaging one in 10 homes, is psychologically draining for residents.

The wine grape industry has written to the SA government pleading for help as it reaches breaking point after indicative pricing for the next vintage is released showing growers could face losses of up to $270 per tonne.

Regional and remote students are being encouraged to learn old-school ways to stay in contact as social media bans for those under 16 come into effect over the summer holidays. 

Staff have been evacuated from a remote boarding school on the Tiwi Islands, and students may not be able to return to classrooms this year, after Ex-Tropical Cyclone Fina tore through the region with devastating force on Saturday night.

The combined value of land in NSW passes $3 trillion for the first time, as the affordability crisis sees property prices skyrocket in remote towns.

For months, people in remote Indigenous communities have been reporting skin rashes after going in the water, and a report confirms something is wrong with the river.

Dozens of Aboriginal Territorians from remote communities travelled to Darwin where they stand alongside Environment Centre NT in a bid to axe a controversial water allocation plan.

While Darwin experienced the outer edge of Severe Tropical Cyclone Fina this weekend, the eye of the storm came much closer to the Tiwi Islands. Locals in Wurrumiyanga share their experiences with the ABC.

Excerpt from an ABC story aired in 1971, when Kalgoorlie-Boulder was home to about 600 dairy cows, abattoirs producing fresh meat, market gardens and poultry farms.

Over 25 years the Rural Woman of the Year Awards have propelled hundreds of important rural projects and celebrated women who get things done.

The Country Hour was first broadcast on ABC Radio on 3 December 1945, making it the longest continuously running program in the country.  

Rural and regional issues making the news.