Parents create 'university of life' for non-verbal daughter
When Lillian Rowsell was in her final year of school and unable to continue formal education, her parents found a creative solution.
Topic:People With Disability
Sat 13 Jun 2026 at 9:46am
Wiriya Sati is a features reporter in Port Macquarie. Before joining ABC in 2011 as an Open producer, Sati was a freelance documentary film maker and directed, co-wrote and co-shot a half-hour film called The Buddha's Forgotten Nuns. During and before this she was shooting and editing documentaries in the central Australian desert and working with Aboriginal media organisations such as CAAMA and PY Media in a training role. Her interest in Indigenous media took her to the Amazon in Brazil, Venezuela, Peru and Chile. She now calls the Mid North Coast of NSW home. Follow on twitter @wiriyaSati
When Lillian Rowsell was in her final year of school and unable to continue formal education, her parents found a creative solution.
Topic:People With Disability
Sat 13 Jun 2026 at 9:46am
It was six months before Ed Trotter could return home after record floods on the NSW Mid North Coast. A year on from the disaster, others are still without working kitchens and bathrooms.
Topic:Floods
Thu 21 May 2026 at 11:49am
When we think of Australia's early penal colonies, the images that come to mind are grim.
Topic:Early Music
Thu 30 Apr 2026 at 10:30am
Jess Messina is an Australian champion but she has dropped a weight class to find a fight and struggles to find promoters prepared to back her financially.
Topic:Boxing
Sat 18 Apr 2026 at 2:01pm
From the outside, Luke Everingham's house looks pretty ordinary.
But, this house can chase the sun - and can change the views out the window.
Story by Wiriya Sati with additional production by Josie Sargent.
Sat 14 Mar 2026 at 11:48am
They may be costly to build, but rotating homes are loved for the way they can move with the sun, capture breezes from any direction and make the most of the scenery around them.
Topic:Architecture
Sat 14 Mar 2026 at 11:48am
As a little girl growing up in the jungle of Cambodia, Phatsa Thort hoped to find her way out of poverty and explore the world.
Topic:Women
Mon 9 Mar 2026 at 12:36pm
After hearing harrowing stories of abuse against young Nepalese women and girls, Port Macquarie man Ross Nancarrow wanted to help.
Topic:Human Trafficking
Sun 21 Dec 2025 at 11:00am
A search has been called off for the day amid rough surf conditions with no signs of a Sydney teenager who was swept out to sea on the NSW mid north coast.
Topic:Drownings
Mon 1 Dec 2025 at 5:38pm
Women are embracing modern pin-up culture as a way to express confidence and joy in their own skin.
Topic:Fashion
Sun 21 Sep 2025 at 8:53am
Six joeys have been born in a wild koala breeding program that boasts a 100 per cent success rate. The babies are cute, but a hands-off approach is vital if they are to survive in the wild.
Topic:Endangered and Protected Species
Sat 23 Aug 2025 at 10:58am
The record-breaking floods that drenched the Mid North Coast of NSW in May are just the latest natural disaster to hit the region, with floods deeply woven into the fabric of the region's colonial and Indigenous past.
Topic:History
Thu 24 Jul 2025 at 9:10am
A rescue crew uses Hansel-and-Gretel-style tree markings, a makeshift bamboo raft and a lot of resourcefulness to save two people and six working dogs stranded by floodwaters in New South Wales.
Topic:Floods
Mon 26 May 2025 at 6:18pm
Growing up in a regional town, April McLennan felt she needed to move to the city to find love and pursue a career in the arts as a queer young person, but she found love and authenticity where she least expected it.
Topic:LGBTQIA+
Fri 23 May 2025 at 8:58am
Vision-impaired athlete Timothy Green will race in Sunday's Ironman Australia triathlon. He says Ironman has been "life-changing" and he wants to inspire his young, vision-impaired son.
Topic:Human Interest
Sat 3 May 2025 at 9:43am
Crime and policing are state issues, but with recent polling showing it's top of mind for some voters, could it sway federal election votes?
Topic:Elections
Tue 29 Apr 2025 at 10:13am
For Stacey Donchi, a shared love of Dungeons and Dragons, Star Wars and board games with Steve Lyons far outweighed her family and friends' concerns about her dating a man with no legs and one arm.
Topic:Human Interest
Tue 1 Apr 2025 at 12:20pm
A senior member of the NSW Homicide Squad confirmed police tasered a man armed with a revolver before he was fatally shot by officers outside of Manning Base Hospital on Thursday.
Topic:Police
Fri 3 Jan 2025 at 1:25pm
Having a dementia village open in his home town means artist Henry Field can transition into care without compromising his feeling of independence.
Topic:Alzheimer's and Dementia
Thu 2 Jan 2025 at 10:48am
Dana Stewart has her Christmas meal ready and in the freezer by November. As a neurodivergent person, she says being prepared is key to avoid the stress and chaos of Christmas.
Topic:Christmas
Sun 1 Dec 2024 at 6:45am
When Mikeasha Duncan is in a loud classroom, she struggles to hear individual voices clearly.
Topic:Indigenous Culture
Wed 16 Oct 2024 at 7:51am
When Nelson Smyles was a little boy living in Port Macquarie he never imagined he would be one of the main characters on the Cirque du Soleil stage.
Topic:Arts, Culture and Entertainment
Mon 30 Sep 2024 at 7:06am
Indigenous sign languages will be taught alongside Auslan in NSW schools by 2026 as statistics show 43 per cent of First Nations Australians older than seven have some form of hearing loss.
Topic:Language
Sun 18 Aug 2024 at 10:18am
This three-month circus program brings out everyone's "inner child" and shows you're never too old to learn new tricks — like hula-hooping and plate-spinning.
Topic:Mental Health
Sun 30 Jun 2024 at 12:05pm
Across Australia, huge numbers of consumers are slowly waking up to the presence of mysterious new power charges on their bills.
Topic:Energy Industry
Fri 16 Aug 2024 at 5:30pm