It has been described by many as the greatest day in Australian women’s sporting history. Australians woke up on Monday to a cascade of achievements from the nation’s female athletes in tennis, golf, surfing and rowing. First, surfer Sally Fitzgibbons cut a monster wave at the Rio Pro to cruise to the world number one […]

The Australia Letter is a weekly newsletter from our Australia bureau. Sign up to get it by email. This week’s issue is written by Isabella Kwai, a reporter with the Australia bureau. ______ I was lying down at my parents’ house in Sydney last week in a room with the shades drawn, recovering from eye […]

Australia will go to the polls on 18 May at a time when many Australians have big questions about their country and who leads it. Here’s a visual look at some key issues and themes which could shape the outcome. Who’s in charge? It’s only a mild overstatement to suggest that Australia has adopted a […]

A powerful earthquake has jolted north-western Japan, causing minor injuries to 21 people and a brief evacuation of coastal areas before the risk of a tsunami passed. Business were returning to normal on Wednesday morning following the 6.7 magnitude quake, with trains mostly running as usual and electricity restored to thousands of homes after they […]

An Australian sperm donor is the father of an 11-year-old girl because it was understood he would be involved in her life, the nation’s top court has ruled. The man had fought to stop the girl’s biological mother and her wife from moving to New Zealand with the child. It overturns a lower court’s ruling […]

The comedy Australia exports to the global stage is evolving. And, as Gary Nunn reports from Sydney, experts say it’s moving Australia away from past stereotypes and into thoroughly modern, woke humour. The nation’s comedy has long punched above its weight overseas, basking in the success of cult classics and “ocker” humour – brash, endearing […]

A cascade of Australian fashion brands have shut up shop in recent times. The BBC’s Frances Mao looks at why the nation’s retailers are struggling. At first they would blame the weather for keeping customers away. It was just one of the excuses staff would fall back on at the Roger David menswear store in […]

Cartoonist Ali Dorani fled Iran at the age of 21 before becoming trapped in Australia’s controversial Manus Island detention camp for four years – but things changed after his artwork was posted online. Here’s his story – in his own words and drawings. In 2013, I left Iran. I can’t tell you why because it […]

Australia has given the final approval for construction to begin on a controversial coal mine to be built by Indian company Adani. The mine, in Queensland’s Galilee Basin, has been the subject of years of hold-ups over environmental approvals. But it was given the go-ahead by the state government on Thursday, after earlier receiving federal […]

On Friday, Australians will honour beloved former leader Bob Hawke in a memorial service at the Sydney Opera House. Among them will be many Chinese Australians – including my parents – whose lives changed forever when Mr Hawke offered them asylum after the Tiananmen Square massacre. In June 1989, Chinese troops used guns and tanks […]