Australia Letter

Many isolated Indigenous communities are dependent on fragile supply chains. This year, floods made that dramatically clear.

Amid early tidbits of misinformation came lessons about dodging falsities and allowing facts to build a story.

A university program seeks to improve cross-cultural understanding in Australia’s publishing industry.

“We’ll make the best of it here. And they can call it a pork roll.”

After a stunning week of rain, the Todd River in Alice Springs flows once again, bringing a beleaguered community together.

The country's domestic airlines play a crucial role in connectivity. But for the casual flier, even the journey is captivating.

Experts say that since the overpopulation of both affects native wildlife similarly, the country should use the same strategies in managing them.

“There was no single trigger that caused this,” James Gibbons, a regional executive at Warner Bros Discovery, said.

Stories about distinctive wildlife, Aboriginal mythology and idyllic Australian childhoods.

Immigrants can fill roles that are too often quickly vacated by Australians, but immigration roadblocks make becoming permanent employees impossible.

The Paris End seeks to celebrate a recovering Australian city.

Many countries are trying to figure out what to do about a more insecure, more nuclear-driven world. Australia has an idea.

A celebration of (at least occasional) shoelessness.

“Invasion Day is the reason why we’re all here today, but we must go beyond that,” one activist said.

Twelve months of counterprogramming from the Australia bureau.

A farewell, of sorts.

An online reseller has skirted the country’s restrictions on ticket sales, allowing Swifties elsewhere to buy admission to the star’s Eras Tour.

How sports can dissolve boundaries.

An endorsement from the comedian John Oliver led to a spike in votes for the eventual winner, the pūteketeke.

A surprising tale of Northern Territory chutzpah.

Australians are grumbling about a recent invasion of American-style giant pickup trucks. But even before that, vehicle sizes were increasing.

As El Niño arrives, heralding dry weather, it feels like the whole country is on edge. We’d like to hear from readers in Australia.

Hotels hold secrets, and some of them are a little stranger than others.

The relatively uncommon name of Jacinta or Jacinda is shared among many famous people in New Zealand and Australia, with most of them born in the 1970s.

The author of a new book on the diplomatic switch says that ending recognition of Taiwan affected life in unexpected ways across the island nation.

And a glimmer of high-speed hope.

An inquiry will try to draw lessons from the government response, but some question whether it will go far enough.

Offerings in art, culture, design, music and theater across the country.

Feral cats have long been recognized as a major threat to the continent’s native wildlife. But now the government is also exploring ways to rein in domestic cats.

A New Zealand lawmaker talked about the idea last week, though a union is unlikely ever to take place.

Longtime racial tensions are hindering a push to add an advisory body for Indigenous people’s issues to the Constitution, an Aboriginal activist says.

Australia’s national women’s soccer team have walked away with the nation’s hearts clasped firmly in their hands.

The author of a new book exploring that possibility says it would raise existential questions about the current alliance with America, with huge implications for Australia’s regional and global standing.

Proposed changes to the E-3 visa have worried some expatriates.

The largest-ever Women’s World Cup tournament highlights the growing professionalization of the sport. A sportswriter shares his thoughts.

To the average voter, ScoMo might sound more comfortable than “Prime Minister Morrison.”

More than 150 years ago, an Australian tour to England captured the attention of Britons.

Tipping is not unheard-of in Australia, but an increasing number of apps and payment platforms are actively asking for an extra dollar, or five, on bills.

Shipping sunshine? Alan Finkel’s take on the nation’s possible future as a leader in clean energy.

Love stories, survival reality and stop motion animation: What we’re enjoying.

Trips across Australia are often necessarily trips at a striking scale.

The departure of the TV host Stan Grant has set off a conversation about race and racism in the country’s media industry.

What should we be covering? Are there stories that the rest of the world should know about? Let us know.

Australia has been one of the event’s biggest markets outside Europe. Since 2015, it has been a contestant, but that may end after this year’s final.

The newest A.F.L. team will be in Tasmania. Can the club can be named after the island’s resident marsupial, the Tasmanian devil?

As the country’s oldest power station closed, experts warn that the country needs a clearer strategy to manage its exit from coal power.

Looking for darkness in Australia’s biggest state.

It’s surprising how hard it is for New Zealanders to make themselves understood in America.

As told in her first and farewell speeches.

The Marshall Islands Soccer Federation aims to draw interest in the sport — and to growing global warming events in the Pacific.

Two exhibitions in Melbourne — “Radical Utopia” and “Melbourne Now” — trace the city’s art and design from the 1980s to the present.

The agreement has raised concerns about the need for the costly plan and whether it could tether Australia to the United States.

The country’s grueling detention programs have ensnared thousands — and appear to flout international law.

Users had mixed feelings about the new subscription service, which bestows exclusive features and a verification check mark.

Great reads you might have missed.

The number of drownings nationwide last summer exceeded the 10-year average by 44 percent, while New South Wales is presently having “one of our worst summers on record.”

How Jordan Mailata and Arryn Siposs made it to the N.F.L.

A new government policy, called Revive, will prioritize Indigenous arts and culture, and also provide funding for commercial arts forms, like popular music.

After the surprise had sunk in, speculation about her next move quickly began. The answer may lie in the priorities she professed before becoming prime minister.

“Whether it’s a technical recession or not, we certainly are going to be in for difficult times,” one economist said.

Young New Zealanders are once again venturing back out into the world.

Why Aotearoa is spectacularly situated to offer some of the world’s most interesting, varied, delicious food.

As today’s teenagers will bear the brunt of tomorrow’s problems, especially climate woes, some lawmakers think 16-year-olds deserve a say at the polls.

People born in American Samoa, which has been held by the United States for more than 120 years, are not automatically citizens of the United States.

The unexpected revival of “Neighbours,” the long-running drama that offered a sweet, uncontroversial vision of Australia, comes via Amazon. Will streaming change its nature?

Elly Smith competes in a sport called strongman, where participants attempt to lift, hold, pull or carry everything from dumbbells to airplanes.

The country is popularly viewed as a place where you can get away from it all, but that doesn’t mean it is without its own entrenched problems.

“It’s been one of the toughest few weeks of my life,” one player said.

A recent spate of cyberattacks have highlighted the nation’s relatively lax approach to safeguarding personal data. But change may be on the way.

It might make more economic sense for all English-language programming to be made in Los Angeles, but that would come at a different cost.

The first week of the high profile trial in Australia has highlighted some of the difficulties of prosecuting sexual assault cases.

Despite its deadly history, visitors continue to travel to the ghost town of Wittenoom.

Peregrine falcons nesting in the city’s financial district offer riveting theater every day with their daily life, including sex, death and high-speed chases.

A new documentary goes some way to explaining why the city looks the way it does.

“I don’t think we’ll ever have the security again that we had with her,” said one Australian about the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

The story of a keeper and her teammates, as they fled and found new lives.

Almost all of Australia and New Zealand’s pandemic restrictions have been lifted. Yet the protests continue.

A petition before Parliament asks that the country be called “Aotearoa,” which loosely translates from Maori as the “land of the long white cloud.”

Australia’s labor and skills shortage has affected almost every sector. Signs of it are everywhere.

After years of inaction, the world’s third largest exporter of fossil fuels decides to get serious about global warming

John Oliver is willing to make a deal for a piece of (formerly) public art in Fitzroy. That doesn’t mean negotiations have been easy.

Omicron subvariants are driving a winter surge in Australia, but officials’ health advice has been confusing, to put it mildly.

Australia, which has been accused of taking a dismissive stance in the past toward island nations, spent the week trying to “show respect” and build its influence.

The toll of recurring disasters is starting to show among the residents of New South Wales, with many desperate for a break from overflowing rivers and wildfires.

The demand for repurposed clothes is rising in Australia, store owners say, as shoppers look for sustainability and history over fast fashion.

A journalist’s comments prompt the delay of a high-profile criminal trial, and everyone gets a reminder in how careful they need to be in discussing ongoing cases.

Over many years and locations, we had come to almost worship the World Cup, something that let us bond with almost anyone, anywhere.

Refugees who’d spent years in detention had a lot of questions about their new lives in Australia. Some were easier to answer than others.

The United States and Australia are in a contest for influence with China across the region. And it’s intensifying.

Election Day has arrived. Here’s what to watch.

To some analysts, a spat over transition surgery looks like something from an overseas culture war.

I went to the Parkes Elvis Festival thinking I’d learn something about what America used to be. I left thinking more about Australia.

With a federal election just a few weeks away, it’s time to put Australia’s system and political flaws into context.

Several “gotcha” questions for candidates, including one that Anthony Albanese got wrong, raise deeper questions about the quality of the nation’s political discourse.

Soaring fuel prices and climate change concerns are driving demand for the vehicles in Australia, as elsewhere. But they are particularly hard to find here.

Besieged communities bond through adversity.

The virus found us, and we’re doing just fine. I think.

In 1936, foresters planted California redwoods in Victoria. How long will they grow in peace?

Our reporters have been covering the crisis, from documenting military movement and the refugee exodus on the ground to analyzing global geopolitical developments.

As restrictions ease, will the appeal of fewer people, a lower risk of transmission and more personal space prove to be enduring?