Jane Cowan
Jane Cowan is a photojournalist based in Melbourne, where she works on digital storytelling for ABC News. From 2010 to 2015 she was one of the ABC's North America correspondents, stationed in Washington DC. In 2015, she was part of the Foreign Correspondent team that exposed an unscrupulous surrogacy operator exploiting women in Mexico and defrauding American couples — an award-winning investigative report which was subsequently followed by the New York Times on its front page. But it was in country New South Wales, on Queensland's Gold Coast and in the Northern Territory that Jane cut her journalistic teeth. On Black Saturday in 2009, she was the first television reporter into the destroyed town of Marysville where many of the bushfire's 173 victims perished. Her coverage of the devastation and the resultant inquiry won multiple rewards, including for sensitive reporting of traumatic events. Over her 15-year career, Jane has reported for the ABC from India, Argentina and Mexico as well as across the United States. With a degree in social work and undertaking a masters degree in photography, Jane was recognised as a 2016 finalist in the documentary/photojournalism category of Australia's Top Emerging Photographer awards. She spent the summer of 2016 photographing and telling multimedia stories at newspaper The Virginian-Pilot. Her interest is in the power of photography to move audiences and get beneath the surface of stories.
'Straight out of the womb, just rocking': Guns N' Roses fans fire up at MCG
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Hardcore Guns N' Roses fans come out in droves to see the rock 'n' roll heroes of their youth together on stage again.
Topics: music, community-and-society, melbourne-3000, vic
Life after Black Saturday: Inquiry head 'certainly couldn't say it won't happen again'
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Former Supreme Court judge Bernard Teague, who chaired the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, reflects on how he coped with being confronted with devastating evidence about the disaster.
Topics: bushfire, royal-commissions, community-and-society, royal-commission-victoria-2009-bushfires, vic
Life after Black Saturday: 'I'd never go back'
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Gary Hughes had a distinct experience of Black Saturday, as both a reporter and a victim. The journalist won awards for his coverage of the disaster, but struggled with the way the media treated people who had lost everything.
Topics: bushfire, community-and-society, st-andrews-3761, vic
Life after Black Saturday: Christine Nixon reflects on leadership and criticism
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As Victoria's Police Commissioner during Black Saturday, Christine Nixon says she never tried to avoid the public scrutiny that came her way after a scathing assessment of her leadership on that fateful day.
Topics: bushfire, police, community-and-society, vic
Life after Black Saturday: Fire chief Ewan Waller feared losing his mind
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As one of the fire chiefs in charge on Black Saturday, Ewan Waller was hit hard by the tragic events that unfolded and says he is yet to fully recover from the emotional toll.
Topics: bushfire, community-and-society, vic
Life after Black Saturday: 'How quickly we forget the terror of that day'
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The accounts of loss and bravery that lawyer Jack Rush uncovered during the Black Saturday royal commission are no less heart wrenching with the passage of time.
Topics: bushfire, community-and-society, royal-commissions, vic
Not just for the boys anymore: The girls who love Aussie Rules
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Meet the under-12 girls from the Flemington Junior Football club, who are following in the footsteps of their AFL Women's heroes and say they're "probably a little bit better" than the boys.
Topics: australian-football-league, sport, women, melbourne-3000, vic
Life after Black Saturday: 'Victoria's never been in a more dangerous situation'
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Veteran bushfire scientist David Packham fears Victoria is more vulnerable to a bushfire tragedy than ever before, despite what the state learnt in the years following Black Saturday.
Life after Black Saturday: 'A wound that never heals'
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Eight years after Australia's worst natural disaster, bush has reclaimed the bare hills and the collective memory is fading. But what about the healing? In part one of a seven-part series, the ABC speaks to Joan and Leon Davey, who lost four loved ones in Victoria's Black Saturday fires.
Topics: bushfire, fires, disasters-and-accidents, kinglake-3763, vic
It's about me: Terminally ill woman fights for right to choose
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As the Victorian Government prepares for a conscience vote on assisted dying, one woman fights for her right to have a choice.
Topics: euthanasia, health-policy, ethics, death, melbourne-3000
Dairy farmers persevere for sheer love of milk industry
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Amid a downturn in milk prices and upheaval across the industry, hard-working, dairy-farming families are still eking out an existence, making an essential product in what's increasingly a labour of sheer love.
Topics: dairy-production, livestock, rural, farm-labour, girgarre-3624
Worawa College empowering young Aboriginal women with skills and confidence
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Imagine leaving behind your family, your country, your way of life. All at the age of 12. That is what it takes for young women to pursue an education at Worawa Aboriginal College — Victoria's only independent Aboriginal school and the first of only two Aboriginal-controlled boarding schools in Australia.
Topics: indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, community-and-society, indigenous-culture, education, women, healesville-3777
Behind the scenes of Victoria's deer cull
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As a Victorian parliamentary committee prepares its report into the management of invasive animals on public land, the ABC goes bush with some of the hunters helping control deer numbers.
Topics: rural, pest-management, conservation, parliament, state-parliament, national-parks, vic, healesville-3777, yellingbo-3139
True grit: Meet Linda Meech, arguably Australia's best female jockey
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Michelle Payne made all the headlines last year when she became the first female jockey to win a Melbourne Cup. But arguably the best woman jockey over a long period has been Linda Meech.
Topics: horse-racing, sport, stawell-3380, vic, australia
'My struggle remains': Homeless man reluctant to accept financial support
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A visual and intimate depiction of 12 hours in the life of a Melbourne homeless man prompts an outpouring of support from the public, but the man at the heart of the story, Matte Dunn, says he is ambivalent about accepting financial help.
Topics: homelessness, community-and-society, housing, melbourne-3000
12 hours in the life of a homeless man
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Melbourne man Matte Dunn is not drug addicted, not an alcoholic, not a gambler and has no diagnosed mental illness, but he is homeless.
Topics: homelessness, melbourne-3000
Baltimore declares state of emergency as violence erupts after funeral
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A state of emergency is declared in the US city of Baltimore as protesters clash with police after the funeral of a 25-year-old black man who died a week ago from a spinal injury suffered in police custody.
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, law-crime-and-justice, crime, police, race-relations, united-states
Ex-NFL player Aaron Hernandez jailed for life for murder
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Ex-NFL player Aaron Hernandez is convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, sealing the downfall of a 25-year-old who once had a $40 million contract and a soaring football career ahead of him.
Topics: murder-and-manslaughter, crime, law-crime-and-justice, courts-and-trials, american-football, other-sports, sport, united-states
Hillary Clinton begins White House campaign in Iowa
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White House hopeful Hillary Clinton officially launches her presidential campaign with a stop at a small town in the early-voting state of Iowa.
Topics: us-elections, federal-election, world-politics, united-states
Three-year-old boy shoots baby brother in head, killing him
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Police are investigating how a three-year-old boy in the United States shot his one-year-old brother in the head, killing him.
Topics: death, accidents---other, accidents, united-states
Hillary Clinton to confirm her 2016 US presidential campaign
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Hillary Clinton is set to confirm Washington's worst-kept secret on Monday, when she is expected to announce her 2016 presidential campaign.
Topics: world-politics, government-and-politics, united-states
US Army sergeant Bowe Bergdahl charged with desertion
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US Army sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who abandoned his post in Afghanistan and was held captive by the Taliban for five years before his release last year under a controversial deal, is charged with desertion.
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, army, defence-forces, crime, law-crime-and-justice, united-states
A journey down the Ganges River to Varanasi
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Correspondent Jane Cowan describes her journey down India's "intoxicating, exhausting, confounding" Ganges River to the holy city of Varanasi.
Topics: community-and-society, india
Vaccination row stirs up US presidential race
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As a measles outbreak that began at Disneyland spreads, Republican presidential candidates Chris Christie and Rand Paul draw criticism for fanning fears about the safety of vaccines.
Topics: vaccines-and-immunity, health, medical-ethics, world-politics, united-states
US-Cuba discuss 'profound differences' at historic talks
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The US and Cuba end two days of high-level talks in Havana, admitting "profound differences" remain and much needs to be done before diplomatic relations can be re-established.
Topics: government-and-politics, world-politics, cuba, united-states
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