Samuel O'Brien is a reporter at ABC Coffs Coast. He joined the ABC in 2024 as a breakfast radio producer and reporter based in Mount Gambier. Samuel previously was a journalist at the Mansfield Courier in Victoria and worked as the Zedlines editor at 4ZZZ Radio in Brisbane.
Spanning from Coffs Harbour to Kempsey, New South Wales's second-largest national park has been created after years of campaigning to protect koalas and their habitat.
An outback town has had a glow-up, transforming into "Dollymine" for the day to celebrate country music star Dolly Parton's legacy.
Passing the Big Banana in Coffs Harbour will be a memory come Christmas when the Pacific Highway's loop around the city opens at the end of the year.
Businesses in Coffs Harbour are preparing for life without 35,000 vehicles driving daily through the city.
Experts, conservationists and politicians are divided on using carbon credits to help fund the Great Koala National Park.
Coffs Coast banana farmers struggle to make sense of a decision that will remove their produce from the shelves of a major local supermarket.
The NSW Land and Environment Court fines two Mid North Coast blueberry farmers $100,000 for building an illegal dam, but they will not have to demolish it.
A NSW parliamentary inquiry into modern slavery in regional areas found evidence of migrant workers living in near-uninhabitable conditions, forced to work demanding hours and threatened if they spoke up.
Fire broke out twice in one night at a $16-million mansion on the NSW Mid North Coast. It was approved for demolition just weeks ago, and police are treating the blazes as suspicious.
Concerns about the sustainability of the New South Wales timber industry are growing as work continues to establish the Great Koala National Park.
Topic: Forestry, Logging and Timber Industry
The township of Naracoorte, nestled in South Australia's rural heartland, has put out the welcome mat for migrants, who have helped enrich its social fabric and boost the economy.
A South Australian couple is barred from owning pets after mistreating more than 100 animals, including cats, a dog, chickens and other birds.
Ben Whitehead was given just months to live after being diagnosed with a rare cancer that doctors had not seen before. A second clinical trial has delivered hope.
A man who was charged after a fire near Mount Gambier will still have to appear in court to face harm, theft and offensive language charges.
South Australia's State Emergency Service warns people not to risk their safety as abnormally high tides are set to lash the state's coastline.
In the face of protests, the remnants of a historic flour mill in Mount Gambier are now a pile of crumbled stone. The site will be developed into a multi-storey hotel complex and townhouses.
Topic: Regional Development and Planning
Another National of Trust South Australia branch goes public about its financial dispute with the high-profile heritage group, as the state opposition announces it will refer members' concerns to a parliamentary committee.
A Mount Gambier man is granted bail after he was allegedly nude while in businesses and on a busy main road three times in the past week.
Penny the donkey, adorned in bright purple poppies, is spreading the Anzac Day legacy not just in Australia, but also in Cheshire in England.
Trains stopped coming to Mount Gambier decades ago, but with fewer flights, locals want them back.
Qantas's decision to cut one regional South Australian route and suspend four others came as a shock to workers at regional airports.
Suppliers are charging more to deliver groceries to supermarkets as fuel prices increase, putting pressure on smaller retailers.
Cast in Blue has been the subject of criticism, ridicule and even vandalism over the past 10 months, but Mount Gambier's community has begun to embrace it.
A 20-year-old woman who made headlines by putting googly eyes on a controversial sculpture in the middle of Mount Gambier is ordered to pay $2,000 to the city's council.
The remnants of a 140-year-old historic flour mill will be demolished to make way for a housing development despite a regional community calling for the city's history to be preserved.
Topic: Regional Development and Planning
