Sarah Moss
Sarah Moss is a senior features reporter at ABC Illawarra. She covers the South Coast and Tablelands of NSW as well as the Illawarra.
Would you want to know if you had inherited a fatal gene from your parents?
Posted | Updated
Members of this support group all carry the same fatal gene and are using it as a jumping off point to help others.
Topics: health, genetic-disorders, diseases-and-disorders, motor-neurone-disease, community-and-society, medical-procedures, medical-research, wollongong-2500, university-of-wollongong-2522
'Testing your limits in a safe way': The influencers taking parkour across the country
Posted
The Dauntless Movement Crew met on the streets of western Sydney and now they're touring Australia inspiring teenagers to get fit and express themselves through dance.
Topics: arts-and-entertainment, extreme-sports, community-and-society, sport---leisure, dance-music, children, theatre, nowra-2541, fairfield-2165, melbourne-3000, sydney-2000
All-women rockers Which Witch celebrate 30 years of just wanting to have fun
Posted
Fame has not interested this band across their three decades as much as encouraging women to play music, dance and have fun.
Topics: arts-and-entertainment, music, community-and-society, women, wollongong-2500, port-kembla-2505, sydney-2000, brisbane-4000
Cafe's Pooch Gallery raises more than $10k for charity
Posted
A photo gallery in a New South Wales cafe which showcases the portraits of about 500 dogs from around the world has raised more than $10,000 for one of the world's poorest countries.
Topics: education, charities-and-community-organisations, animals, photography, lifestyle-and-leisure, marulan-2579, wollongong-2500, burundi, sydney-2000, canberra-2600
Why Tania Daykin is putting old chickens before the eggs
Posted | Updated
A one-woman campaign to rehome egg-laying chickens at the end of their lay cycle gains momentum.
Topics: food-processing, food-safety, sustainable-and-alternative-farming, community-and-society, poultry-and-egg-production, animal-diseases-and-disorders---equine-influenza, avian-influenza, volunteers, pests-diseases-and-control-methods, veterinary-medicine, wollongong-2500, berry-2535, nowra-2541, indonesia, erina-2250, erina-heights-2260, jamberoo-2533, tamworth-2340, helensburgh-2508, sydney-2000, gosford-2250
The Rumseys feel 'very lucky' their disabled son has someone to grow old with
Posted | Updated
Parents who are the carers of children with disabilities have a lingering question, 'what will happen when I'm gone?', but for John and Sue Rumsey they can finally put some of their fears to rest.
Topics: disabilities, carers, marriage, parenting, children, genetic-disorders, work, regional, relationships, family, community-organisations, wollongong-2500, mittagong-2575, welby-2575, bundanoon-2578
Woven coffins and not-for-profit funerals: Breathing new life into the death trade
Posted | Updated
The revolutionary undertaking in Port Kembla is an Australian-first, offering eco-friendly, personalised grief support and funerals that embrace music and art as therapeutic tools.
Topics: community-and-society, community-organisations, death, arts-and-entertainment, performance-art, art-and-creativity, music, textiles, port-kembla-2505, sydney-2000, byron-bay-2481
Wollongong Public school celebrates diversity and 'seeing the person within'
Posted | Updated
Embracing diversity is easy when your friends come from all over the world, and your school celebrates different cultures too.
Topics: community-and-society, education, society, environment, languages, popular-culture, family-and-children, children, primary-schools, public-schools, schools, multifaith, multiculturalism, wollongong-2500, sydney-2000
Running life of Brian: 83-year-old clocks up 100,000km
Posted
Brian almost lost his leg when he was 11 years old and spent a year in a caliper. But then he started to run, meticulously recording his mileage. Now he's looking back at the ground he covered.
Topics: mens-health, mental-health, lifestyle-and-leisure, sports-organisations, older-people, community-and-society, figtree-2525, sydney-2000, wollongong-2500
Preserving the DNA of classic Aussie rock
Posted
Wayne Budge's friendship with some of Australian music's most iconic figures has led to a photographic time capsule.
Topics: arts-and-entertainment, photography, music-industry, music, radio, nowra-2541, wollongong-2500, sydney-2000, brisbane-4000
Snoring, sleep apnoea, and the long-term risks of sleep deprivation (audio)
Posted | Updated
Fifty per cent of people who snore loudly have sleep apnoea, according to a NSW doctor who says the condition can lead to serious illnesses.
Topics: health, sleep-disorders, mental-health, medical-procedures, medical-research, australia, figtree-2525, wollongong-2500
'Out of the box' theatre puts people with disabilities centrestage
Posted
The Altogether Drama group started with just five participants 25 years ago. Today, it's still going strong, with more than 27 members staging an end-of-year performance.
Topics: arts-and-entertainment, comedy-humour, art-and-creativity, performance-art, regional-development, community-and-society, community-organisations, happiness, youth, wollongong-2500, sydney-2000
How the rain is bringing back Christmas cheer
Posted
Recent rain in regional NSW raises the hopes of many Christmas tree farmers, greening up their land and facilitating new growth on stock.
Topics: environmentally-sustainable-business, rural, rural-women, horticulture, timber, regional-development, community-and-society, happiness, family-and-children, national-days, religion-and-beliefs, environment, land-management, drought, oakdale-2570, wollongong-2500, sydney-2000
Blythe dolls: Stealing the hearts of middle-aged women across the globe
Posted | Updated
Blythe dolls create opportunities for women to build collections, stage and shoot photographs, and participate in an online community.
Topics: craft, photography, arts-and-entertainment, digital-multimedia, community-and-society, community-organisations, art-and-creativity, clubs, fairy-meadow-2519, sydney-2000
A motorcycle show where the make and model doesn't count, but age does
Posted
Motorcycle shows do not often feature a high bar for entry, but this weekend's classic bikes event at Bulli in NSW has an age limit — sure, bring your bikes, but only if they are over 35 years of age.
Topics: arts-and-entertainment, community-and-society, history, bulli-2516, wollongong-2500
Cute, cuddly and freezing cold: stitching together a mother's warmth for orphaned wildlife
Posted
Native animals suffering through a cold, dry winter are being given a second chance thanks to the kindness of volunteers and dozens of handmade pouches.
Topics: human-interest, animals, marsupials, mammals, volunteers, national-parks, drought, road, charities-and-community-organisations, lifestyle-and-leisure, craft, robertson-2577, berrima-2577, bowral-2576, germany, bundanoon-2578, mittagong-2575, moss-vale-2577, wollongong-2500
Drought takes its toll on Christmas tree quality, producers say
Posted | Updated
The drought is taking its toll on Christmas tree quality this year, with producers warning revellers to prepare themselves for a tree with 'personality'.
Topics: drought, lifestyle-and-leisure, christmas, natives, women-in-agriculture, agricultural-crops, rural, sustainable-and-alternative-farming, wollongong-2500, windsor-2756, oakdale-2570, nsw
'Auslan is for everybody': Calls for signing to be taught as a second language in schools
Posted | Updated
A mother who is deaf and has a deaf child says redefining Auslan as an acceptable second language for hearing children could create a demand that could provide opportunities for many, not just the deaf.
Topics: languages, society, community-and-society, family-and-children, schools, primary-schools, public-schools, secondary-schools, access-to-education, adult-education, community-education, environment-education, education, wollongong-2500, unanderra-2526, thirroul-2515
'The tour saved my life': The African choir saving children from slums
Posted | Updated
The African Children's Choir has given more than 55,000 children the opportunity to escape poverty in Uganda, and they are currently touring around the country.
Topics: choral, poverty, access-to-education, unrest-conflict-and-war, jervis-bay-2540, uganda, wollongong-2500, vincentia-2540, katoomba-2780, sydney-2000
Vegans get to have their cake and enjoy it too
Posted
The huge demand for gluten-free and vegan cakes poses a challenge for bakers who take pride in producing sweet treats that meet dietary needs while still delighting the tastebuds.
Topics: lifestyle-and-leisure, cakes, recipes, diet-and-nutrition, economic-trends, nowra-2541
Why bush tucker should be our national cuisine
Posted | Updated
Forget meat pies and prawns on the barbie. These bush tucker enthusiasts reckon native food grown and shared locally is our national cuisine and should be celebrated as such.
Topics: lifestyle-and-leisure, food-and-cooking, community-and-society, milton-2538, batemans-bay-2536, nowra-2541
Retro roller skating an all-ages throwback to the heady days of disco
Posted | Updated
Roller disco was all the rage on the dancefloors of the glitzy '70s and '80s before it lost its mojo, but for some it never really went away. Nowadays they call it 'retro roller'.
Topics: sport, health, exercise-and-fitness, community-and-society, huskisson-2540, sydney-2000, wollongong-2500, shoalhaven-heads-2535, windang-2528
Living and loving with Aphasia Video
Video
Posted
Kerry and Jaye plan to marry in March despite living with Aphasia.
Topics: health, community-and-society, sanctuary-point-2540
When the power of speech is stolen, life and love go on
Posted | Updated
When Kerry Flanders suffered a stroke that left her suffering from aphasia, a condition that compromises communication, she found that love was a great healer.
Topics: health, marriage, sanctuary-point-2540
Calls to use cultural burning to reinvigorate dying landscape
Posted | Updated
An Indigenous authority on fire and the environment urges us to take more of a traditional approach to burning, to protect the environment.
Topics: indigenous-culture, horticulture, community-and-society, land-management, gardens-and-site-elements, nowra-2541
Connect with ABC News
Got a news tip?
If you have inside knowledge of a topic in the news, contact the ABC.