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Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre, pictured from Halligan Bay Campground on the lake's south-western shore.(ABC News: Sarah Maunder)

Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre is filling for the first time since access to the lake was restricted by a new management plan.

An outback boating club has questioned authorities' capacity to enforce the new rules.

Parks and wildlife and traditional owners ask tourists heading to the lake to adhere to access regulations.

Visitors to Australia's largest salt lake are continuing to walk on the lake-bed months after new rules came into effect that limited recreational access.

The usually-dry Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre is flooding in what some locals expect to be themost substantial fill in decades.

It is also the first fill since anew management plan was adopted, which bans visitors from walking on the lake-bed and reinforces restrictions on driving and boating on the lake.

ABC News visited Halligan Bay Campground on Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre's south-western shore and witnessed several groups of visitors walking on the lake.

The ABC did not see any signage advising visitors of the changed rules.

An old sign that directed visitors to walk within 100 metres of the lake shore had been blacked out with tape by a local.

Parts of a safety sign on the lake's shore have been blacked out with tape by a local.(ABC News: Sarah Maunder)

A spokesperson for the Department For Environment and Water said signage would be installed at the site soon.

"New visitor infrastructure, including interpretive signage, will soon be installed at locations such as the Halligan Bay Point Campground to ensure visitors are aware of new restrictions to accessing the lake bed," the spokesperson said.

"Due to National Parks and Wildlife Service staff resources being required to assist the flood response at Innamincka and the re-opening of Witjira National Park, temporary signage advising visitors of the new restrictions has not been able to be installed to date."

Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre was declared a national park in 1985 — a development that ensured the site was subject to various protections under South Australian law.

According to the SA government, recreational activities "including swimming, driving off designated tracks, boating and landing aircraft" were restricted as a result of the national park declaration.

Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre is a sacred site for the Arabana people, who were granted native title over land covering most of the lake in 2012.

Colleen Strangways says the traditional owners want people to visit the lake, but to do so in a mindful way.(ABC News: Lincoln Rothall)

The Arabana people co-manage the Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre National Park with the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

"Lake Eyre or Kati Thanda is our home," Arabana Aboriginal Corporation director Colleen Raven Strangways said.

"This is where my ancestors walked for over 65,000 years, this is where my ancestors lived, camped, had families.

According to the current management plan for the national park, the 2012 native title determination gave "Arabana people certainty, and a major influence on what happens on their land".

"Native title rights enable Arabana people to hunt and camp on their lands. They also have the right to negotiate with companies regarding any mining activities on their Country," the plan states.

"It gives legal acknowledgement of what they have always known: this is Arabana Country."

Arabana say their ancestors and spiritual beings live on the lake and it is where they get their law and spiritual learnings from.

Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre is a sacred site for the Arabana people.(ABC News: Sarah Maunder)

They wanted to limit foot and vehicle traffic to protect the lake-bed and surrounding ecosystem.

"We don't want boating on there, we don't want people walking on there because when you walk on that lake, it stays there until the next big flood," Ms Strangways said.

"It stays there, it doesn't go away … the ecosystem is so fragile and so important to the health of that lake and to the health of its people, my people, the Arabana people.

"We want you to come, enjoy it, but show respect."

Travis Gotch says the National Parks and Wildlife Service will be monitoring activity on the lake ahead of the fill.(ABC News: Guido Salazar)

National Parks and Wildlife district ranger, Travis Gotch, said restricting boating on the lake during floods will also protect wildlife.

"We've got a number of birds obviously breeding on the islands, they're there because they don't want to be disturbed," Mr Gotch said.

"You've got birds that are flying all the way from Siberia to undertake a major breeding event that are listed as endangered globally … they don't want to be being bothered and we're trying to keep that sustained for them and protected as well."

Additionally, the Arabana and National Parks and Wildlife Service say walking, driving and boating on the lake is a safety issue.

A person fishing at, and a boat on, Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre during the flood of the mid-1970s.(Image courtesy of the National Archives of Australia/NAA: A6135, K11/7/75/6)

The vast size of the lake-bed and lack of mobile coverage means once visitors lose sight of land, there is no way to orient themselves.

"It's a safety issue and we're responsible as Arabana people, we are responsible for you when you're on our country," Ms Strangways said.

Lake Eyre Yacht Club members sail on usually-dry rivers and lakes in the outback during rare moments they are flooded with water.

The Lake Eyre Yacht Club is based in Marree.(ABC News: Sarah Maunder)

The club's commodore Bob Backway has been an outspoken critic of limiting walking and boating activities on Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre.

Mr Backway says members adhere to rules to protect the wildlife and environment.

"Lake Eyre is a sacred spot for all Australians, it's a very big bird breeding ground, we don't want it to be environmentally destroyed," he said.

Bob Backway has been an outspoken critic of limiting recreational activities on the lake.(ABC News: Sarah Maunder)

The Arabana Aboriginal Corporation says they want people to visit Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre, but to do so in a mindful way.

"We're not stopping people from coming, we invite people to come, we want you to," Ms Strangways said.

"We want people to enjoy it just as much as us, however, we are asking people not to go onto the lake.

Mr Backway would not be drawn on whether the yacht club had plans to sail on the lake once floodwaters had reached an appropriate level.

He did question the ability of National Parks and Wildlife Service to police the restrictions on the lake-bed.

"I can't imagine a ranger walking onto the beach at Halligan Point and ordering 100 people off a beach," Mr Backway said.

Mr Backway wouldn't be drawn on whether the yacht club has plans to sail on Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre.(ABC News: Sarah Maunder)

Mr Gotch said the service would be monitoring activity on the lake ahead of the fill.

"There are expiations for people on the lake, for boating on the lake, and where people are caught, it will be enforced and there's further penalties as well for further non-compliance," he said.

Outdoor Recreational Activities

The Rubin Observatory has been in construction since 2015.(Supplied: RubinObs/NSF/DOE/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/W. O'Mullane)

The Vera C Rubin Observatory is starting operations in Chile, and will survey the southern night sky in detail every few days for 10 years.

Astronomers are hoping to use the observatory to learn more about dark matter, the nature of the universe, and closer objects like asteroids and Solar System features.

The observatory's first images will be unveiled very early on Tuesday morning, Australian time.

The Vera C Rubin Observatory is about to open its eyes.

Perched on top of a Chilean mountain, the US-funded observatory promises to "revolutionise our view of the cosmos".

Using the world's largest digital camera, the observatory will take images of the Southern Hemisphere over the next 10 years.

After a decade under construction, which cost $US810 million ($1.2 billion) alone, it is about to release its first snapshots to the public early in the week.

Australia is one of many countries contributing to the telescope's development, and astronomers such as Tania Barone from Swinburne University of Technology are gearing up for the wealth of information the observatory is expected to generate.

The Rubin Observatory, or officially the NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, is built on the Chilean mountain of Cerro Pachón, 2,647 metres above sea level.

The high altitude and dry air gives it a view of the night sky with minimal interference.

The observatory is funded by the US, but located in northern Chile.(Supplied: Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

Inside, a telescope with an 8.4 metre-wide mirror will feed light into a camera the size of a car.

The 3,000-kilogram camera is the largest digital camera ever made, and each exposure will capture an area of the night sky about 45 times the area of the full moon.

The camera will use six different coloured filters to take images in different light spectra from ultraviolet beyond our vision, right through to infrared.

When combined, these filters will provide a spectacularly detailed view of the cosmos over time.

The camera will snap a picture every few seconds, and will be able to photograph the whole Southern Hemisphere sky every couple of days.

The 3,200-megapixel camera will be connected to the Simonyi Survey Telescope inside the observatory.(Supplied: Jacqueline Ramseyer Orrell/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

It is scheduled to do this for 10 years, building up a decade-long survey of space and how it changes.

But Dr Barone said that the observatory will also be able to provide astronomers with super-fast results.

"Every time it looks at the same patch of sky, it will immediately compare it to what it looked like before," Dr Barone said.

"If there's a change, it sends out alerts, and suddenly everyone can follow it up and see what's happening."

The observatory is named after the US astronomer Vera Rubin, who uncovered some of the first evidence for dark matter.

Vera Rubin, who lived from 1928-2016, did early work on the rotation of galaxies, which gave rise to the theory of dark matter.(Supplied: Carnegie Institution for Science)

The observatory was born out of a quest by astronomers to solve the mystery of dark matter.

Researchers started floating the idea for the observatory in the 1990s, discussing what type of telescope they would need to learn more about dark matter and how powerful it would need to be.

The observatory will be useful for understanding dark matter, but it will also be able to spot a number of other things.

Rachel Webster, an astrophysicist at the University of Melbourne, said that the telescope's ability to capture the whole night sky, several times a week, will allow researchers to view rare objects that were previously only captured by chance.

These include stars that explode as supernovas, or quasars that send out regular pulses of energy across the universe like clockwork.

"I've got experiments that I designed and thought about 30 years ago which I had never been able to do," Professor Webster said.

A particular area of interest is gravitational lensing: where the gravity of objects can warp and magnify light coming from more distant objects.

"We're going to be able to find a whole lot more of these incredible targets, which tell us a whole lot about, dark matter, the nature of the universe, and also the nature of these really distant galaxies because they are very brightly magnified," Dr Barone said.

The telescope's huge lens will also capture very faint light, allowing researchers to see distant large-scale objects.

"We haven't been able to really do that before, because telescopes tend to have fairly small scales," Professor Webster said.

Jonti Horner, an astrophysicist at the University of Southern Queensland, said the telescope would also be able to spot much closer objects.

The observatory will be able to spot many more asteroids, comets, and other close Solar System objects than any previous telescope.

Comets are not often bright or slow-moving enough for other telescopes to spot them, but the Rubin Observatory will notice them.(Wikimedia: Palonitor,NEOWISE,CC BY-SA 4.0)

Professor Horner said that the observatory will also give people a much better chance of seeing asteroids that could crash into the Earth.

"If we find something that's on a collision course, it gives us hugely more time to see that it's coming, giving us the option to do something about it — whether that's deflecting the object or evacuating the area," he said.

Earlier this year, NASAspotted an asteroid, dubbed 2024 YR4, that had a higher-than-usual chance of hitting the Earth within seven years. Experts now think it poses no significant risk.

"If Vera Rubin was operating 10 years ago, we would have found that object 10 years ago," Professor Horner said.

The observatory will also be useful for finding out if thethe elusive Planet Nine,a theoretical gigantic planet beyond Neptune, actually exists.

The Rubin Observatory's first pictures will be released early this week.

The official unveiling happens at 1am (AEST) this Tuesday, June 24.

If you are keen, you can watch the unveilinglive on the telescope's websiteor rug up and go to awatch party in Melbourne, Sydney or Perth.

The telescope's official mission will begin a little later this year, and researchers anticipate it will not be long before they see exciting information coming out of the observatory.

Australian researchers have arranged to get access to Rubin's information, by helping to process Rubin's information.

The observatory will be generating some 20 terabytes of data every night.

"The volume of data that will come off is beyond even the resources of the US," Professor Webster said.

Australian researchers have developed software that the observatory will run on, helping to process these vast torrents of data.

"We found that the most efficient or effective way that we contribute was to offer our brains," Professor Webster said.

"So we've had a number of IT people who've been working on the data processing."

In return, the Australian astronomy community has negotiated to get access to Rubin's information as soon as it is generated, allowing them to progress their research further.

"It was really impressive to see astronomers who come from totally different research fields with totally different research interests, all saying 'this is really important to us, we need to have access,'" Professor Horner said.

Dog 'Merida' has been at the RSPCA's ACT shelter for nearly 300 days.(ABC News: Jade Toomey)

A Canberra shelter is reporting it is caring for double the amount of animals than it was two years ago.

Dozens of deformed dogs have had to be euthanised after a rise in 'unplanned pregnancies'.

Three mothers delivered 26 puppies in just the last three weeks.

Backyard breeders and complacent pet owners are being put on notice after the RSPCA in Canberra was forced to euthanise puppies born with severe deformities.

The animal rescue group has reported a surge in heavily pregnant female dogs being surrendered to ACT facilities, with three mothers delivering 26 puppies between them in the last three weeks alone.

"I think the biggest challenge that we're seeing right now is the financial crisis," Rhiannon Kwateng from RSPCA ACT said.

"A lot of people just don't have the funds to do the things like de-sexing."

Rhiannon Kwateng, from the RSPCA ACT.(ABC News: Jade Toomey)

But unplanned pregnancies and backyard breeders are contributing to avoidable harmful outcomes among some newborn puppies, according to the RSPCA.

"We've seen unfortunately a little of puppies born where three of the puppies were born without the roof of their mouths and noses," Ms Kwateng said.

"Unfortunately, those puppies wouldn't be able to thrive, and they wouldn't be able to survive so we've had to kindly euthanise them."

Backyard breeders are only making the problem worse in the ACT, the RSPCA said.(ABC News: Jade Toomey)

That's on top of an unplanned litter of ten puppies surrendered to the facility in January who were diagnosed with parvo virus shortly after birth.

"That is such a deadly virus and very difficult to treat, especially for vulnerable newborn puppies," Ms Kwateng said.

"And we did have to make the decision to euthanise that litter of puppies."

Desexing costs start at a few hundred dollars but rise according to the size of the dog.

But without it, the burden can fall on rescue groups where resources are wearing thin.

The RSPCA ACT's Weston facility is currently caring for 280 animals — double the number at the same facility two years ago.

Ms Kwateng said it's a "massive stretch" on resources.

"When you have 40 puppies plus the existing adult dogs, it is constant work from the moment the team gets here to the moment they leave," she said.

The care for the puppies can be a 60-month job for an already waning service.(ABC News: Jade Toomey)

"It's 60-plus mouths to feed, to clean, to socialise, to love, to walk, it's a massive challenge."

The facility is also struggling with a portion of its kennels currently out of operation because of a broken underground heating system, which the RSPCA said was crucial for vulnerable pets living through Canberra climates that drop well below zero.

But among the warnings, there are some happy endings.

Two puppies were adopted from an unplanned litter of nine were adopted on Saturday.

One of them, Hippo, went home with Forde couple Kane Rattley and Emma Hanlin.

"[He'll go] straight home, warm cuddle, heater on, cuddle up on the couch probably watching some movies getting him used to the new house," Mr Rattley said.

"We've looked at so many previously and looked online, but he's the only one where we've gone 'he's the one!'" Ms Hanlin said.

The RSPCA said it was breaking the cycle of irresponsible pet ownership by desexing all of its puppies up for adoption.

Ian McLeod built a separator to purify waste vegetable oil for use to power his household and farm ute.(ABC South East SA: Liz Rymill)

The blue farm ute in Ian McLeod's shed costs a couple of dollars a week to run, and his farmhouse power bills are virtually non-existent.

In a world searching for sustainable and affordable energy, the 95-year-old farmer is quietly perfecting a personal power system, running on waste vegetable oil.

"Most of the farms around here have brand new utes, so when I bought a SsangYong for $1,800 online, people thought I was mad," Mr McLeod laughed.

"But when Rudolph Diesel first made the diesel engine, he used vegetable oil.

"I thought to myself, 'I could do that,' so I set about finding a ute with a pre-combustion diesel engine and converting it.

"Modern engines have to have the highest-grade fuel possible, whereas I deliberately went the other way.

"I went for an engine that would run on low-grade fuel."

Mr McLeod collects waste vegetable oil in 20-litre drums from local restaurants.(ABC South East SA: Liz Rymill)

Alongside the ute in Mr McLeod's shed at Glenroy in south-east South Australia are engines and mechanical inventions to purify the vegetable oil he collects from local restaurants.

"Nine times out of 10, when I go to a restaurant, they say, 'Just take the oil'. They don't want it. All I have to do is clean it."

For that job, Mr McLeod took an old electric separator and made a centrifuge out of the inner bowl, which purifies about 15 litres of oil an hour.

"It costs me peanuts because the engine driving the separator is running on the same oil anyway," he said.

"My main engine for generating power for the house runs on neat vegetable oil and starts from stone-cold on a freezing, cold morning.

"I'm gradually getting it better all the time."

Ian McLeod works on an engine that he built to supply power to his farmhouse.(ABC South East SA: Liz Rymill)

For the best part of nine decades, Mr McLeod's remarkable mind for mechanical ingenuity has been known only by close friends, family and his wife Shirley, 92, a retired nurse.

"Up until the past four or five years, people had virtually ignored Ian … now they realise he's worth knowing and a lot of people are pests now!" she laughed.

As a child, Mr McLeod recalls being awed when his father took him by the hand and showed him a huge steam engine on a thrasher on their outer Melbourne farm.

"That sowed a seed in me," he said.

By the time he was eight, he had built his first steam engine using a turbine he made inside a Malt Extract can from his mother's kitchen.

Mr McLeod also drew on his mechanical mind to overcome the trauma of his early school years.

"I was a happy little kid, but I used my left hand to write, and the teacher in charge had a mind to change that and belted me.

"It's a sad story; I stuttered then for 40 years and wet the bed until I was about 11 because I was just a bundle of nerves," he said.

"So making these little steam engines and fixing things around the farm used to help me; it gave me back a bit of confidence."

Shirley and Ian McLeod at their Glenroy farmhouse.(ABC South East SA: Liz Rymill)

The McLeods came to the black-soil plains of Glenroy via a converted scrub block at Dorodong in Western Victoria, and the family farm at Bulla near Melbourne.

The journey, marked by challenges met with determination, imagination and perseverance, is one which the pair look back upon fondly.

"We got away to a pretty rough start on the family farm when the Depression ripped the rug out from under my father and his brother," recalled Mr McLeod.

"Shirley was from Northern Queensland and her family pioneered the sugar industry up there.

"Times got so tough at one stage, she wanted to go back.

"I arranged with her early on — I told her she was free to leave with one condition: I'm coming too."

And while they've faced tough times, Mrs McLeod said they had "gone through them together".

"Some of our happiest years were when we first started on our own at Dorodong with a shed, two young children and second-hand tractors that Ian rebuilt," she said.

Later, at Glenroy, Mr McLeod set his sights on irrigated cropping.

"I hired a post-hole digger and, with the help of some local fellows, put five irrigation bores down in one day by hand.

"I had to put multiple bores down because I didn't have enough money to buy the piping to connect them."

Mr McLeod said he bought a stationary irrigator, which he converted to become self-propelled — one of the first in the country.

"It became a useful machine. Then a company from Corowa got wind of it, hopped in a plane, hired a car, came out to the farm and crawled all over it, took photos and said, 'Thanks very much Mac', and I have never heard from them since," he laughed.

Mr McLeod's machine purifies about 15L of oil per hour.(ABC South East SA: Liz Rymill)

Over his many years on the land, Mr McLeod has bought broken-down, second-hand and wrecked tractors and headers "for $25 or so" and rebuilt and redesigned them to create exactly the machinery he required for growing his crops.

"We harvested our first crop of sunflowers with a $25 header that I rebuilt," he recalled.

"I built a windrower, joined two old, wrecked tractors together; made a grain dryer for our maize crop, built weigh scales … I always looked for opportunities to mechanise and become more efficient."

As the seasons change in the south-east, and Glenroy's flood-plain past is met with a two-year drought, the McLeods reflect on a long life on the land.

"We just live quietly out here in our little nest. We're not part of the social set," Mrs McLeod said.

"We've faced some tough times and plenty of good times," Mr McLeod agreed.

"When things go wrong, that's an opportunity to find a way around it.

"When things go smoothly, I get bored."

Agricultural and Farming Practice

Sustainable and Alternative Farming

One expert is concerned the number of birds injured or killed by powerlines in Tasmania is under-reported.(Supplied: Dean Hohn)

A sanctuary in southern Tasmania receives a "high percentage" of birds of prey who are "succumbing to powerlines".

Researchers have released a new "risk-mapping tool" aimed at preventing powerline bird deaths.

It is hoped the data will help TasNetworks identify where mitigation technologies are most needed.

Craig Webb says he does not want to share images of dead eagles on his social media pages.

"But the fact is there are so many that I feel like everyone needs to know," the Raptor Refuge founder said.

"I wish there was none. I'm not trying to cause trouble. I'm just trying to put it out there … how many of these birds are succumbing to powerlines."

Craig Webb says "everyone needs to know" about the extent of the problem.(Facebook: Raptor Refuge)

Raptor Refuge is a not-for-profit sanctuary in southern Tasmania dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation and release of the state's birds of prey.

Mr Webb said a "high percentage" of the birds that came into the sanctuary were injured by powerlines.

There's no such thing as a normal day at Tasmania's Raptor Refuge for Craig Webb.

"There's a real threat to them out there, and we see countless birds brought in with damages, or they're dead," he said.

Technology that is used to mitigate against the risk of birds being electrocuted includes flappers — small reflective disks that hang from powerlines — perches, and covers.

TasNetworks said more than 600 kilometres of its distribution lines had flappers, perches or covers installed — up from 140 kilometres in 2023-24.

It has also used what is called the "delta design standard" that spreads lines further apart to reduce electrocution risk.

Tasmania's powerline network includes 20,310 kilometres of distribution lines.

Technology used to mitigate against the risk of birds being electrocuted includes flappers.(Supplied: TasNetworks)

University of Tasmania researchers, in partnership with TasNetworks, have released a new "risk-mapping tool" aimed at preventing powerline bird deaths.

By tracking 23 wedge-tailed eagles over six years, the research team built a model that predicts where eagles are most likely to cross powerlines, and where the risk of death is highest.

The research team built a model that predicts where eagles are most likely to cross powerlines.(Supplied: James Pay)

Dispersal tracks for wedge-tailed eagles in a UTAS study by James Pay.(Supplied: UTAS/James Pay)

Lead researcher James Pay said powerlines were among the leading causes of injury and death for large birds of prey in Tasmania, and globally.

It is hoped the data will help TasNetworks identify where mitigation technologies are most needed.

"There's some other models that [TasNetworks has] been working on as well," Dr Pay said.

"We're combining them all together to help guide where to put either the different designs of the powerlines or the bird flappers more proactively — rather than relying on where the birds have already been killed."

James Pay says powerlines are one of the leading causes of injury and death for large birds of prey.(Supplied: Simon Cherriman)

TasNetworks said it invested almost $1 million every year in bird protection.

In 2023-24, 11 threatened birds were "impacted" by powerlines, down from 26 reported incidents in 2022-23, according to TasNetworks.

Mr Webb is concerned the number of birds injured or killed by powerlines in Tasmania is under-reported.

"These birds are found under or near powerlines where there are people around," he said.

"So you can imagine how under-reported this is because there are so many powerlines that aren't near people and aren't near townships that are not going to be found."

More than 9,400 powerline crossings at "risky altitudes" were recorded during the project.

Mr Webb said it was "a significant number".

"If we can learn from that and do some more mitigation work in those areas, well, that's fantastic," he said.

Craig Webb said a "high percentage" of the birds that came into the sanctuary were injured by powerlines.(Facebook: Raptor Refuge)

However, he said more investment in implementing mitigation was needed.

"It's taken all this time to really realise what's happening and how these birds can see these powerlines.

"We've got to catch up to all those kilometres and kilometres of powerlines that have never had anything and, in fact, make it mandatory that all new powerlines have flappers on them."

Dr Pay said installing mitigation technologies could be costly.

"The only thing that really holds it back is the amount it costs to get these things put out and also to maintain them," he said.

"It'd never be feasible to put them everywhere, but [it is feasible] to target them where they're needed, using methods like the model that we've developed."

TasNetworks said mitigation technologies were installed "all the time, based on high-risk areas and new reporting".

"We're investing strongly in new technology like fibreglass cross-arms and the delta design standard to make the network itself more bird safe, in turn reducing the need for flappers and perches," a spokesperson said.

If you find an injured or dead raptor in Tasmania call 1800 RAPTOR (1800 727 867).

Topic:Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art

The Yolngu artworks, sharing history from remote parts of the Northern Territory, are on show exclusively in Sydney until October.(ABC News: Monish Nand)

Hundreds of traditional artworks, connecting generations of remote First Nations communities for almost a century, are now part of a public showcase in Sydney.

Yolŋu power: the art of Yirrkala opened at the Art Gallery of New South Wales this weekend, bringing together almost 300 pieces created by 98 Aboriginal artists over eight decades.

The pieces are from parts of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, and include an array of mediums such as bark painting, drawing, video, print, sculpture — both wooden and metal — and immersive installations.

The art serves as a form of cultural diplomacy, sharing the traditional understandings in hopes of forging a path forward together.(ABC News: Monish Nand)

Cara Pinchbeck, a senior curator at the gallery, said the artworks have helped explain the First Nations' worldview "as a form of cultural diplomacy" for more than 90 years, in hopes of bringing people together through shared understanding.

She explained Yirrkala art-making had centred on an "invitation to walk together" since creators first began sharing their work with non-Aboriginal people in the mid-1930s.

Cara Pinchbeck said the art documents the history of Yirrkala, including First Nations laws and familial ties.(ABC News: Ruby Ritchie)

"One particular individual, who I was interviewing one day, said 'they're amazing, beautiful works, but no one appreciates … how important they are in terms of documenting our law,'" she said.

"The main thing to take from all of these works is the generosity of the artists in constantly sharing with us their cultural knowledge [and] connection to Country.

Ms Pinchbeck said the way art styles have historically adapted in response to changing social, cultural, and political circumstances had formed a key part of the exhibition.

The artworks take many different forms, including paintings on tree bark.(ABC News: Monish Nand)

Bingyu Warripanda, chair of the Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre in Yirrkala, said storytelling through art dated back to Australia's colonisation, with bark paintings and designs drawn in sand used to communicate beyond language barriers.

"It is really important to share this, Australia."

Bingyu Warripanda said the creative designs and patterns described the Yirrkala way of life.(ABC News: Ruby Ritchie)

Maud Page, director of the gallery, described the showcase as "not only aesthetically breathtaking", but "incredibly powerful" in mapping history.

She said the exhibition was "a really significant landmark" that shared "Australia's most internationally acclaimed arts community" with the public.

"The exhibition is a testament to the strength and sovereignty of Yolŋu artists," Ms Page said.

The art of Yirrkala is tied to the region's cultural, political and social history.(Supplied: Art Gallery of NSW)

Wurrandan Marawili, from the Maḏarrpa clan, encouraged people from all walks of life to journey together "for a better future" and said his art was driven by a desire to help the world understand "Yolŋu power".

His sculpture was welded together over several months, repurposing materials collected from the rubbish and along the side of the road.

Wurrandan Marawili said the crocodile symbolism in his work also appears in First Nations songlines, as a totem.(ABC News: Ruby Ritchie)

Like many other artists in the showcase, he began creating at a young age with advice passed down from his father.

"Not just for this [medium], he taught me everything — dancing, singing," he said.

"When he was alive, I was always there beside him, watching and listening.

"We are following our old people, doing [art] in the same way."

Wurrandan Marawili's 'Gamata — flames beneath the sea' is a large metal sculpture, while Naminapu Maymuru-White's 'Milŋiyawuy' is a bark painting made with natural pigments.(Supplied: Art Gallery of NSW)

Naminapu Maymuru-White also began creating in her youth after watching others, developing a special interest in depicting the Milky Way.

Her artworks represent the "two rivers" her Maŋgalili clan believe to exist, one running along the earth and one flowing into the sky that guides spirits.

Like her ancestors, Naminapu Maymuru-White passed on the creative expertise to her own children.(ABC News: Ruby Ritchie)

The artist taught her children to continue the creative legacy, passing her skills on to the next generation the same way her father did.

"Dad said to us, 'you continue doing your art in my footsteps,'" she said.

She hoped that sharing Yirrkala art would help society understand her people and make them feel more equal, "so that we can work together".

The showcase is designed to enhance understandings of First Nations laws and culture through art.(Supplied: Art Gallery of NSW)

Inside the gallery, attendees are guided along a short journey through Yirrkala and into a room detailing sacred designs for the 16 clans of North-East Arnhem Land — which are painted on the body for traditional ceremonies and reflect familial ties — then taken through changing art styles and mediums over time, to the artists of today.

The exhibition will run until October 6.

Listen to the news in Warlpiri, Yolngu Matha and Kriol

Topic:Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art

Topic:Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art

Libraries, Museums and Galleries

Premier Jeremy Rockliff appeared alongside the Liberal candidate for Lyons, Steph Cameron, to make the announcement.(Supplied: Tasmanian Liberals)

The Tasmanian Liberals have outlined a re-election pitch that would allow Tasmanian GPs to diagnose and treat ADHD.

Currently, specialists are required to be involved in the assessment and prescription of medication.

Labor leader Dean Winter said his party supported the Liberal policy, so it is likely to be implemented regardless of who forms government after the election.

Tasmanian Liberals have pledged to make it easier for Tasmanians to access attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis and treatment by allowing GPs to undertake assessments.

On Saturday morning, Premier Jeremy Rockliff announced that if re-elected, the Liberals would expand Tasmanian GPs' scope of practice to enable them to diagnose, treat, and manage ADHD for both children and adults.

Appearing alongside Mr Rockliff, Liberal Lyons candidate Steph Cameron, whose six-year-old son Bruce has ADHD, became emotional when discussing the challenges it had presented. Ms Cameron also has ADHD.

"I look at kids who have ADHD … and often they're told that they're the naughty kids," she said.

Currently, in Tasmania, it can be time-consuming and expensive to seek a diagnosis and treatment for ADHD. The wait for paediatric assessments can be 18 months or more.

Last year, Tasmanian GP Kate Bendall told the ABCit could involve multiple medical practitioners and cost more than $800 to receive a diagnosis.

When the state parliament last year held an inquiry into how ADHD is assessed and treated in Tasmania, it received 60 submissions, many of which raised the lack of available medical professionals.

Under reforms to be announced by the state government, general practitioners will be able to diagnose and treat both children and adults with ADHD.

Mr Rockliff said the pledge would allow Tasmanian GPs to provide diagnosis and treatment options rather than referring adult and child patients to specialists.

"We need to ensure we move with that need and ensure we have more flexibility and opportunity."

He said the announcement would provide better, cheaper, and faster access for the families seeking help.

The announcement comes just one day afterthe South Australian Labor government made a similar pledge.

It also reflects changes that have been made in New South Wales and Queensland in recent years.

The Tasmanian chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Toby Gardner, said the peak body welcomed the announcement.

Toby Gardner (centre) said it could take more than 18 months for children to receive diagnoses and care.(Supplied: Tasmanian Liberals)

"This is something we've been advocating for for a long time nationally," he said.

Dr Gardner said the long wait times for children to be diagnosed could dramatically affect their educational outcomes.

We spoke with experts about how ADHD medicines work and how they can help patients.

He said if adults were unable to access care and treatment, it could cost the national economy in lost productivity in the workplace.

Ms Cameron, who has ADHD, said if she had been able to walk into a GP clinic and get the care her son needed, it would have been "life-changing".

"To get the support [parents] need when they ask for it, without question or putting any doubt in their minds … it's so important," she said.

Dean Winter said Labor supported the policy.(ABC News: Kate Nickels)

Labor leader Dean Winter on Saturday also said his party supported the policy.

Greens candidate for Bass, Cecily Rosol, said she was on the parliamentary inquiry into ADHD and supported the policy.

"Having GPs being able to make an ADHD diagnosis is a sensible move that will improve diagnosis, reduce waiting times and ensure people are able to get the treatment and support they need," Ms Rosol said.

Mr Rockliff said if his government was re-elected, it would also amend legislation to allow interstate prescriptions for ADHD medication to be dispensed in Tasmania.

Doctors and Medical Professionals

The Israeli Air Force says it has launched a fresh wave of fighter jet attacks on Iran.(Supplied: Israeli Air Force via X.)

The Israeli Air Force has confirmed that a fresh wave of air force fighter jet attacks was launched on Iranian "military infrastructure" in the country's south-west.

At least 430 people have died in Iran, according to state media reports, and at least 24 people have died in Israel as a result of the conflict between the two countries.

French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to accelerate nuclear negotiations with Iran in a bid to pursue peace.

Israel's air force has confirmed that a fresh wave of air force jet attacks has been launched towards Iran, as the conflict between the two countries enters into its second week.

The air force says the fighter jets were deployed on Saturday local time to target "military infrastructure" in south-western Iran.

Israel also says it has killed a veteran Iranian commander during attacks by both sides in the more than week-long air conflict, while Tehran said it would not negotiate over its nuclear programme while under threat.

Deep below a mountain in Iran sits a once-secret uranium enrichment facility which is threatening to drag the United States into the Israel-Iran conflict.

Saeed Izadi, who led the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' overseas arm, was killed in a strike on an apartment in the Iranian city of Qom, said Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz.

Calling his killing a "major achievement for Israeli intelligence and the Air Force",  Mr Katz said in a statement that Izadi had financed Hamas ahead of its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza.

The Revolutionary Guards said five of its members died in attacks on Khorramabad, according to Iranian media. They did not mention Izadi, who was on US and British sanctions lists.

Iranian media said earlier on Saturday that Israel had attacked a building in Qom, with initial reports of a 16-year-old killed and two people injured.

Thousands of people in Tehran have been injured as a result of the conflict.(West Asia News Agency: Majid Asgaripour via Reuters)

At least 430 people have been killed and 3,500 injured in Iran since Israel began its attacks on June 13, Iranian state-run Nour News said, citing the health ministry.

In Israel, 24 civilians have been killed by Iranian missile attacks, according to local authorities, in the worst conflict between the longtime enemies.

Israel says Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons, while Iran says its atomic programme is only for peaceful purposes.

An Israeli air defence system intercepts missiles over Tel Aviv during an Iranian attack.(AP: Leo Correa)

Israel is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons, which it neither confirms nor denies.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Israel's aggression, which he said had indications of US involvement, should stop so Iran can "come back to diplomacy".

With a few words, Donald Trump waves away the advice of the entire US spy infrastructure and its assessment that Iran was not trying to build a nuclear weapon.

"It is obvious that I can't go to negotiations with the US when our people are under bombardments under the support of the US," he told reporters in Istanbul where he was attending a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

On Friday in Geneva, Mr Araqchi met European foreign ministers who were seeking a path back to diplomacy.

US President Donald Trump said he would take up to two weeks to decide whether the United States should enter the conflict on Israel's side, enough time "to see whether or not people come to their senses", he said.

He said on Friday he thought Iran would be able to have a nuclear weapon "within a matter of weeks, or certainly within a matter of months", adding: "We can't let that happen."

On Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron said he had spoken with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian about the Iranian nuclear program.

Iran's Fars news agency said Israel had targeted the Isfahan nuclear facility, one of the nation's biggest, but there was no leakage of hazardous materials. Israel said it had launched a wave of attacks against missile storage and launch infrastructure sites.

The International Atomic Energy Agency )IAEA) later confirmed the strike at Isfahan, saying it hit a centrifuge manufacturing workshop.

“We know this facility well. There was no nuclear material at this site and therefore the attack on it will have no radiological consequences,” IAEA Director-General Grossi said in a statement.

Ali Shamkhani, a close ally of Iran's supreme leader, also said he had survived an Israeli attack.

"It was my fate to stay with a wounded body, so I stay to continue to be the reason for the enemy's hostility," he said in a message carried by state media.

Early on Saturday, the Israeli military warned of an incoming barrage from Iran, triggering air raid sirens across parts of central Israel and in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Interceptions were visible in the sky over Tel Aviv, with explosions echoing as Israel's air defence systems responded. There were no reports of casualties.

The Human Rights Activists News Agency, a US-based rights organisation that tracks Iran, gave a higher death toll than Tehran, saying Israeli attacks have killed 639 people there.

Those killed in Iran include the military's top echelon and nuclear scientists. Israel said it also killed a second commander of the Guards' overseas arm, whom it identified as Benham Shariyari, during an overnight strike.

Nour News on Saturday named 15 air defence officers and soldiers it said had been killed in the conflict with Israel.

Iran's health minister, Mohammadreza Zafarqandi, said Israel has attacked three hospitals during the conflict, killing two health workers and a child, and has targeted six ambulances, according to Fars.

When asked about the reports, an Israeli military official said that only military targets were being struck, though there may have been collateral damage in some incidents.

An Iranian missile hit a hospital in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba on Thursday.

At the OIC meeting, where the Israel-Iran conflict topped the agenda, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Israel's attacks on Iran right before a planned new round of nuclear talks with the US aimed to sabotage negotiations and showed Israel did not want to resolve issues through diplomacy.

The Geneva talks produced little signs of progress, and Mr Trump said he doubted negotiators would be able to secure a ceasefire because "Iran doesn't want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us."

Mr Trump said he was unlikely to press Israel, its close ally, to scale back its air strikes to allow negotiations to continue in part because it was "winning".

Iran has spent decades building its "Axis of Resistance" across the Middle East, but its allies have been largely silent since Israel launched a series of attacks last week.

"But we're ready, willing and able, and we've been speaking to Iran, and we'll see what happens," he said.

Israel has said it will not stop attacks until it dismantles Iran's nuclear programme and ballistic missile capabilities, which it views as an existential threat.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran was ready to discuss limitations on uranium enrichment but that it would reject any proposal that barred it from enriching uranium completely, "especially now under Israel's strikes".

Topic:Doctors and Medical Professionals

The moral injury of The Pitt is clear, and it is what grabs your heart throughout the show.(HBO Max: Warrick Page)

It's sickening to watch a healthcare worker trying to help someone, to save a life even, whilst lacking the right tools, or resources to do so. Not enough blood, donor organs, equipment, beds, staff.

There are some moments in The Pitt, a 15-part Max series spanning a single 12-hour workday (with three extra hours of overtime following a mass shooting event) in an emergency room in a Pittsburgh hospital, which are gruelling to watch. Patients, shot in the heart, losing blood too quickly to replace, a young girl dying because she fished her sister out of a pool but couldn't save herself, the crimson underpants of a miscarriage. Bellies bulging, skulls slicing, flesh oozing, veins spurting.

The hospital staff are peed on, punched in the head, splattered in blood, startled by rats that escape from a patient's clothing, blamed for unavoidable deaths. It's brutal.

Taylor Dearden plays Dr Melissa King in The Pitt.(HBO Max: Warrick Page)

In a closing scene, the lead character, Dr Michael "Robby" Robinavitch, played superbly by Noah Wyle, says to the assembled staff, who are wired, exhausted, relieved and devastated: "This place will break your heart." He tells them to be proud of what they did, of the lives they saved, but that it's also okay to cry: "It's just grief leaving the body."

The social problems blaze like flares through the episodes: fentanyl, homelessness, gun violence, custody battles, lost young men, junior doctors struggling to pay their own rent, a crowded emergency room that never empties.

Underpinning it all is the trauma of the most senior doctor, Dr Robby. This day is the fifth anniversary of the death of the former head doctor, Dr Adamson, from COVID-19 complications, one that has weighed on Dr Robby ever since, as he was forced to eventually divert sparse resources from Adamson to a younger patient in need. Both died.

They didn't have enough resources then, and are understaffed now.

The moral injury is clear, and it is what grabs your heart throughout the show.

Moral injury is generallydefinedas "the psychological, social and spiritual impact of events involving betrayal or transgression of one's own deeply held moral beliefs and values occurring in high stakes situations."

The term was first used to described soldiers returning from war, who felt their moral code had been burned in some way. These were "transgressions that involve[d] people doing or failing to do things themselves (deliberately or unwittingly); and being exposed directly or indirectly to transgressions on the part of someone else (betrayal, bearing witness to grave inhumanity)."

This can lead to a grief, shame, and a range of mental consequences, including depression, anxiety, lack of belief in people, justice, or particular moral causes.

It was during the overwhelm of COVID that many first began to become aware of moral injury, and the literature on it has mounted rapidly in the past five years.

When qualified, experienced people leave the medical system, we all suffer.(Reuters: Shannon Stapleton)

Aguideto moral stress among healthcare workers during COVID-19 was produced in 2020 by Phoenix Australia, Centre for Post Traumatic Mental Health. It describes moral stress as a spectrum: "In the context of COVID-19 a severe moral stressor would be, for example, a healthcare worker having to, due to lack of resources, deny treatment to a patient they know will die without that treatment."

More common and less severe moral stressors would include "being unable to provide optimal care to non-COVID-19 patients, and concern about passing the virus on to loved ones."

When there are systemic problems, shortages of staff, lack of money, insufficient organ donors, delays in treatment, and over-burdened medical systems with long wait times in or out of emergency systems, doctors and nurses can feel it deeply.

Sometimes they are unable to help in the way they have been trained, and sometimes, they are tooexhausted. It's the difference betweensaying: "We did all we could" to a patient's relatives, and saying "We did our best with the resources available, but it wasn't enough."

This is why it is recommended that in ICU settings, triage staff, who assess priority of need, are separated from clinical staff.

Studies have shownnursesalso experienced post traumatic growth after COVID-19, with greater gratitude, a sense of their own competence and insight.

But burnout of health care workers even before the pandemic has been well documented, and it is only recently that moral injury is being factored in.

Around the country, doctors, nurses, midwives and specialists like psychiatrists have been resigning, signing group letters and protesting in the streets in recent years. This is often portrayed simply as a bid for more pay. This is part of it. But it's also a cry for recognition of the pressures they and the medical system are under.

In January, 200 psychiatrists resigned from NSW's public health system, arguing that they were unable to care properly for their patients due to systemic decline.

Doctors and nurses see people in crisis being turned away, patients discharged before it is safe, and interminable wait times boil over into life-threatening violence.

Professor of psychiatry Pat McGorry told theABC: "It's like working in a third world sort of environment, to be honest — the moral injury of turning away seriously ill people every day and not being able to provide the care that people need and could benefit from." What is needed, he said, is for the NSW government to "commit to a plan to rebuild".

ADecember 2023 surveyby the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists found 94 per cent Australian psychiatrists said the workforce shortage negatively impacted patient care, and 82 per cent said these shortages were the main factor contributing to burnout (which seven in ten reported experiencing symptoms of).

In April, NSW hospital doctors walked off the job for three days,citingchronic understaffing, low pay and impossible workloads. Nurses and midwives have protested for better staffing, as have Victorian mental health workers.

Let's remember, too, that doctors in war zones and third world countries wrestle with this in far more extreme, horrific circumstances. Imagine being a doctor in Gaza now, struggling to care for kids with blasted limbs and dead parents, lacking basic equipment and supplies.

An MSFsurveyfound 40 per cent of those who died of injuries there were under 10. We read reports of medical teamsfaintingfromfatigue, heat and lack of food, ofmobilehospitals waiting to gain entry. Theaccountsof Gaza's most senior doctors are hellish.

When The Pitt's charge nurse, Dana, says she wants to leave, you gasp at the thought that her skill and expertise might be lost.(HBO Max: John Johnson)

When qualified, experienced people leave the medical system, we all suffer.

Even watching The Pitt, when the long serving charge nurse of the ER, Dana, says she wants to leave after an angry patient gives her a black eye, you gasp at the thought that her obvious skill and expertise might be lost.

If you snuggle under blankets with a cup of tea at night to watch compelling dramas like The Pitt, to worry about the pain on doctor's faces, the tears in nurse's eyes, the broken people slumped in emergency room chairs, just know that this is no fictional tale and the people who sign up to serve us deserve to be heard.

Juila Baird is an author, broadcaster, journalist and co-host of theABC podcast, Not Stupid.

Doctors and Medical Professionals

Stan Grant walked away from daily journalism two years ago and has spent more time on Wiradjuri land, the country of his ancestors.(Supplied: ABC Compass)

The leaves have turned from green to yellow and red and some have fallen already. Soon the branches will be bare, that is when the smoke from the early morning fires will settle over the village that sits beside a stream, all nestled in the valley.

My valley. Here is the land of my ancestors — Wiradjuri land, Wiradjuri Ngurumbang.

Protected, we are. Held. Yes, nature holds us all here and time turns on the seasons not the hands of a clock.

There is an ancient rhythm in this place. Everyone says the same thing, whenever they come here, they say "I feel like time has stopped".

It hasn't, time still works its way into us. Entropy will hasten us to our end. Physicists may debate whether time is real but life is finite. Or rather our lives are finite.

Each of us allotted a number of years, for some tragically so few. For others maybe too long; long enough to grow lonely, left with too many memories.

Time turns on the seasons not the hands of a clock.(Supplied: ABC Compass)

Every morning I wake in the cold before dawn to walk the hill past the shedding trees, from my house to the graveyard to sit with all the stories of all the people buried here.

All my people because that's what we are. So many stories. One headstone marks the lives of three children, their deaths each separated by a few years and each gone before their first birthday.

They've been dead now for more than a century. I wonder, what pain their parents must have endured. What took their lives?

There are headstones under which wives and husbands rest together for all-time.

There are some plots so old that no marker remains. And others forgotten. No one visits any more.

Here at the graveyard I watch the sun rise every morning. I close my eyes and I feel it warm my body. In the quiet — and there is nothing as quiet as a graveyard — I say a prayer.

Every morning I walk the hill to the graveyard to sit with all the stories of all the people buried here.(Supplied: ABC Compass)

This is so far from the world of noise in which I have spent too many years. It istwo years now since I walked away from daily journalism. In truth, I stayed too long.

Journalism stopped answering my questions a long time ago. I don't know if it ever did answer them.

It is not that I am ungrateful, or regretful. My career was audacious and unimaginable. A boy like me was not meant to have this life.

My journey took me from Aboriginal missions, to small towns in outback New South Wales, long dark nights in a cramped cold car looking out a foggy window as my family wandered from town to town looking for somewhere we might settle.

Stan Grant, aged seven, second from the right in the middle row.(Supplied: Stan Grant)

I kept moving. Journalism led me to more than 70 countries as I watched the world turn reporting on coups, wars, calamity, disasters of nature and humans.

News doesn't like triumph. It feasts on suffering.

It took its toll on my mind and my soul. There are friends I shared this journey with who are no longer here. The road took them.

There are others I may no longer see but we are bonded forever.

In the end, I don't know that I served journalism as well as it served me and that's probably true of all of us, whatever we do. We are never the equal of our calling.

Maybe I never respected the craft. There is something shallow, ultimately un-serious about it all. Journalists think events determine our world, yet events tell us nothing.

If we follow events we miss what the French callquestions d'existence. We miss the meaning of it all.

Journalism took Stan Grant to more than 70 countries but wonders if he ever respected the craft.(Supplied: ABC Compass)

My yearning has led me to physics, philosophy, theology, accumulating a library of books, completing a PhD, writing books of my own and all of it maybe amounts to less than a falling leaf.

Saint Thomas Aquinas after experiencing the presence of God late in life, said that all he had written was straw.

We do not derive the truth from knowledge or news, we feel it. We participate in God — what Aquinas calledipsum esse, the act of existence — in our repose, in the quiet, in nature and in our mortality, the finality of our existence.

No one reads yesterday's headlines. But we return to the poets. A line of poetry is greater than a mountain of newsprint.

Stan Grant's yearning led him to physics, philosophy, theology and the awarding of a PhD.(Supplied: ABC Compass)

In the period since I have disappeared from our television screens, I have spent more time back here in this valley, in the land of my ancestors.

I still read a newspaper occasionally, quickly and distractedly and sometimes I tune into the television but I don't pay it a lot of mind.

We are only undefeated because we have continued to try.(Supplied: ABC Compass)

I want to be closer toipsum esse. I want to wonder at the turning seasons and be attentive to the souls of those with whom I share a breath, the water, the stars and this land.

When I sit in the graveyard I laugh quietly at the silliness of making claims on nature. This land of my people is a land I share with all people.

The souls buried here lived, laughed, cried and loved. Their battles now fought, won or lost. Their trails all at an end.

This is their place. Our place. One day I will rest here with them.

"the point of intersection of the timeless with time, is the occupation of the saint."

For all the distractions of life, the noise of news, for most of us, "there is only the unattended moment, the moment in and out of time."

We are only undefeated because we have gone on trying. We find our rest, our truth, in the ultimate journey of our passing.

if our temporal reversion nourish

(not too far from the yew-tree)

Stan Grant is a former ABC journalist and global affairs analyst. Compass visited him at his property on Wiradjuri country in the Snowy Mountains. Watch Compass tonight at 6.30pm on ABC TV or ABC iview.