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Lionel Rose, the first Australian Aborigine to win a world boxing title, has died. He was 62.

The first humans to arrive in Australia destroyed the pristine landscape, probably by lighting huge fires, the latest research suggests.The evidence, published in Science magazine, comes from ancient eggshells. These show birds changed their diets drastically when humans came on the scene, switching from grass to the type of plants that thrive on scrubland. The study supports others that have blamed humans for mass extinctions across the world 10-50,000 years ago. Many scientists believe the causes are actually more complex and relate to climate changes during that period, but, according to Dr Marilyn Fogel, of the Carnegie Institution in Washington,...

A 15-YEAR-OLD Aboriginal boy has been in custody for the past 12 days after being sent more than 1500km from his home in the nation's remote northwest - for attempting to steal a $2 ice cream. West Australian authorities spent about $10,000 escorting the teenager on a flight to Perth, where he faced the Children's Court yesterday. The cold hazelnut roll was stuffed down the back of his shorts as "Joshua" initially denied he had taken the ice cream when confronted by a staff member - the wife of a local policeman - at the supermarket in Onslow, a tiny...

The sound of Australia in Joshua Tree's outback By Sara Munro / Hi-Desert Star Bet you didn't know that the International Didgeridoo Festival is happening right here in your own backyard. It's true, but "What's a didgeridoo?" you ask? Not only is it really a word, it's a unique wind instrument with an eerie, hypnotic sound that conjures up the myth and legend of Australia's ancient history and people. Its mysterious, droning tones are weird and wonderful. "It was the coolest thing I had ever heard," says event organizer Grahm Doe of the time he happened upon the didgeridoo...

Aborigine insists tribal law gives right to underage sex By Kathy Marks in Sydney 22 February 2003 The place of tribal law in Australia's legal system will be reviewed after a 50-year-old Aboriginal man argued that tradition gave him the right to have sex with a 15-year-old girl. Jackie Pascoe Jamilmira, who lives in an isolated community in the Northern Territory, was given a 13-month jail sentence for having unlawful sexual intercourse with the girl, but had the sentence reduced to one day after an appeal. The girl, who had been "promised" to him in marriage by her family, initially...