Heat records for September set at many places in NSW and VIC

Last weekend was dominated by the breaking of record high maximum temperatures for September. 61 recording stations in NSW and 35 recording stations in Victoria had their hottest September day on record; some places have had over 120 years of records and few other places had their coldest September morning on record only a week beforehand.

Temperature records tumbled throughout
 Victoria and New South Wales last weekend.

Quite a few other stations broke their previous September record by two degrees. In Victoria Mildura took the prize with a reading of 37.7 as the highest ever September temperature recorded in the State, followed closely by Echuca, 36.0, Swan Hill also 36.0.

In NSW Wilcannia took the State's prize with a reading of 40.5 as the highest ever September temperature, followed by White Cliffs, 40.3 , and then Bourke with 40.0 degrees . No place in NSW has ever recorded 40 degrees during any September in the last 140 years. Walgett's 39.2 broke a September record which had stood since 1882.

Read Peter Nelson’s story on Country News - “Heat records for September set at many places in NSW and VIC.”

Drought-stricken Queenslanders cultivating big business ideas

Julie Brown photographs family and friends
 dressed in her swimwear designs.

In western Queensland, where drought has dominated most lives during the past five years, the small seeds of big business ideas have started to grow.

A dusty sheep station in the grip of drought is not the most obvious place to start an online swimwear business, but Julie Brown from Ilfracombe in western Queensland did just that.

At the height of the drought in 2015, with no formal business experience behind her, Ms Brown put her life savings and every second of spare time she had into developing an online, sun-safe swimwear business.

"We had no control over the weather but I felt that if I worked really hard on Coola Cozzies, I could have an element of control on that, I could make a difference," Ms Brown said.

Her husband, Adrian Brown, said he was proud of his wife's hard work.

Read the ABC story - “Drought-stricken Queenslanders cultivating big business ideas.”