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The Age has the latest local news on Melbourne, Victoria. Read National News from Australia, World News, Business News and Breaking News stories.

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Featured Writers

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Chanel Zagon

Digital Journalist

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Amy Fallon

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Maida Pineda

I am a food and travel writer of over 25 years and author of two books. Writing is my calling. I promised to go where my writing takes me. And …

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Sean Mortell

Thanks for taking your time to have a look through.Enjoy a diverse range of published work I have written for multiple websites, as well as some exercises and photos for …

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Peter Bateman

Award-winning journalist, producer, and TEDx speaker

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Joanne Hawkins

As an experienced writer, editor, copywriter and lifestyle content specialist, I know how to tell stories that people want to read. From writing for outlets such as Inside Out, Home …

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Latest Articles

A deep dive into Bitcoin’s enduring riddle: The identity of its inventor

The Booklist is a weekly newsletter for book lovers from Jason Steger. Get it delivered every Friday.CRYPTOCURRENCYThe Mysterious Mr NakamotoBenjamin WallaceAtlantic, $45In 2008, a white paper was published entitled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. It explained how existing technologies like proof of work, public key encryption and peer-to-peer network …
By Kurt Johnson
• The Age

For years, I rarely saw my culture in the media. The Wiggles helped change that

While scrolling on Instagram recently, I saw John Adamo Pearce – the purple Wiggle – teaching kids how to sing Bahay Kubo, the Filipino song I sang as a child that names vegetables growing in a backyard. Pearce, a proud Filipino-Australian, often showcases his culture through fun Instagram reels with …
By Maida Pineda
• The Age

In the era of the tech bro, Bill Gates’ memoir is refreshingly human

MEMOIRSource CodeBill GatesAllen Lane $55It was a raw March morning when the first hint came that I might not be as smart as I thought. Through the chalk-dust fog, the lecture’s 200 students were fidgeting on perilously tiered benches. Each seat was occupied by another student who had just finished …
By Kurt Johnson
• The Age

I don’t own a puffer jacket or drink coffee. But this is how I know I’m a legit Melburnian

As I was walking my dog this morning, I looked into my local cafe and saw every single person wearing black puffers. For a moment, I thought about pulling my phone out to snap a photo. But then who would need evidence? This is Melbourne.It’s the cliche Melbourne scene; people …
By Maida Pineda
• The Age

Building bad: How bikies, underworld have become a construction industry ‘cancer’

Underworld figures and bikies have infiltrated major Victorian and NSW construction projects, with some securing jobs as CFMEU delegates and secret surveillance exposing the involvement of notorious gangsters in the industry. A months-long investigation by The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, AFR and 60 Minutes has uncovered unprecedented details of senior …
By Ben Schneiders
• The Age

The only life coaches I’d hire are long dead or too busy

I’ve never considered hiring a life coach, but if I did, they wouldn’t be hard to find. It seems you can’t swing a cat without hitting one these days. They’re everywhere, jacked up on positivity and self-love, pimping out their programs. Friends and acquaintances pop out of the woodwork to …
By Cherie Gilmour
• The Age

What I learnt from watching the Ashley Madison doco with my husband

I’m watching the new Ashley Madison documentary on Netflix with my husband (who was not on the list). We hadn’t yet met when the infamous list of aspiring adulterers was released in 2015, but I remember feeling the weird guilt you feel when a police car is driving behind you, …
By Cherie Gilmour
• The Age

An Interview with Viet Thanh Nguyen as The Sympathizer makes it onto the screen

There’s an irony in the small-screen adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel The Sympathizer being a hit with viewers and critics alike, as Hollywood has long been one of his targets. “The Unofficial Ministry of Propaganda for the United States” as he calls Hollywood in the book is “a part …
By Kurt Johnson
• The Age

The hidden Melbourne beach teeming with rare fossils

Scarcely signposted, tucked behind a yacht squadron car park and accessible via an overgrown grass track lies one of Australia’s most significant urban fossil sites. Beaumaris Bay, a quiet pocket of pebbled beach between Black Rock and Mentone, can easily be missed. But fossil hunters who slip past the red-lettered …
By Petra Stock
• The Age

The hidden Melbourne beach teeming with rare fossils

Scarcely signposted, tucked behind a yacht squadron car park and accessible via an overgrown grass track lies one of Australia’s most significant urban fossil sites. Beaumaris Bay, a quiet pocket of pebbled beach between Black Rock and Mentone, can easily be missed. But fossil hunters who slip past the red-lettered …
By Petra Stock
• The Age

Should I have married my husband? Red flag culture would say no

Anyone who has walked down an aisle or stood under a 50-year-old gum to affirm a legally binding, lifelong pact has probably asked themselves at some point in the intervening years: “Should I have done that?″⁣ It’s normal to question the big stuff. Hell, these days it’s pretty standard to …
By Hannah Vanderheide
• The Age

No ill will but you could be making your sick friends feel worse

“Oh, you’ve just had your thyroid removed? I’m so glad you’re feeling better.” Venturing out just days post-op, I hightailed it to my favourite almond-chai haunt and soon found myself in a pleasant chat with an old acquaintance. She continued: “My sister had her thyroid out. She used to be …
By Hannah Vanderheide
• The Age

Sobriety is your choice. Stop preaching that it should be mine

Most of the time I’m simply cosplaying as a responsible adult. Like many Millennials, I’m increasingly startled by the suggestion that I’m now genuinely a grown-up, though seeing my childhood 90s fashion return to vogue renders it pretty hard to ignore. There are myriad ways in which I fall short. …
By Hannah Vanderheide
• The Age

Non-alcoholic booze is the dumbest invention since the appendix

Of all the pointless things to ever be invented (blankets with sleeves, umbrella shoes, appendixes), the most pointless surely has to be alcohol-free booze. You could be forgiven for thinking you’d stumbled into a bottle-o in the soft drink aisle of your local supermarket, with alcohol brands like Carlton, Wolf …
By Cherie Gilmour
• The Age

Whether you’re a pet owner or fur parent, puppy love is real

On Mother’s Day, as I struggled with the cold autumn morning in Melbourne, I walked my dog Spark to the nearby garden. A fellow dog owner smiled at me with her pug in tow, saying, “Happy Mother’s Day, Fur Mum.” I was surprised by the greeting. It was the first …
By Maida Pineda
• The Age

Most of my life my friends were much older than me. Now it has flipped

When I moved to Melbourne, I was thrust into a community of yogis who were all younger than I was, including my teacher. In their 20s and 30s, they lived their lives freely following their passion. One was a contortionist who left yoga training to join the circus to showcase …
By Maida Pineda
• The Age

I’m 36 and on the cusp: cosmetic injectables or age disgracefully?

I am 36 and feel like I’m on the cusp: cosmetic injectables or not? It’s so normal now: my hairdresser casually handed me a business card for the place she gets Botox. Friends openly talk about their fillers. In the cold light of day, I can see age creeping on …
By Cherie Gilmour
• The Age

Puffer, thermals, layers, stew: How a girl from the tropics learned to survive Melbourne winter

It’s not yet officially winter. But Mother Nature insists it is. Melbourne began the month with its coldest May weekend in 23 years. There was widespread rain, hail and snow. It seems like we skipped autumn altogether. The single-digit temperatures have arrived. It means waking up to 6- or 7-degree …
By Maida Pineda
• The Age

Time to try the new ‘WFH’: Working from hospo

The increase in hybrid working arrangements post-COVID has given rise to a new meaning for “WFH” – now it’s all about “working from hospo”. Whether it’s cafes, restaurants or hotels, people are increasingly taking their laptops and settling in for a coffee and a meal rather than raiding the snack …
By TRACEY CHEUNG
• The Age

Could an AI hologram really be better than a wife? Some men think so

It sounds ideal – holographic wives can giggle, give you compliments and code a new computer game where necessary. Johansson’s voice provides a sultry backdrop to Theodore’s life in Her, able to chat and make jokes; a constant companion in his ears. Real human relationships are hard. They are constantly …
By Cherie Gilmour
• The Age

I’ve gone cold turkey on caffeine, and this is how I’m surviving in Melbourne

When I moved to Melbourne some three and a half years ago, I wasn’t fully aware of the depth of the city’s coffee culture. I had previously lived in Adelaide in 2005-06. At that time Starbucks opened three outlets, which quickly closed in July 2008. Australians take their coffee seriously, …
By Maida Pineda
• The Age

A young man called me ‘auntie’. It was a mark of respect, but I was taken aback

When I lived in Singapore, “auntie” was the respectful term for an older woman. We often fondly called the vegetable vendor in the market or our favourite laksa hawker “auntie.” They are the women pulling their shopping trolleys to the market. While shopping for shoes in Singapore, I tried on …
By Maida Pineda
• The Age

When I’m asked, ‘What do you do?’ I feel I have to prove myself

You’re at a party, scanning the room for canapes, when someone approaches and you realise you’re about to engage in small talk. You chug the rest of your Bollinger (sorry, your Brown Brothers) and prepare yourself. You might begin by asking each other how they know the host. A comment …
By Cherie Gilmour
• The Age

I scoffed at everyone’s emotional support water bottle, until I got one

In case you’ve been living under a yoga mat these past few years, hydration is back in vogue, only this time it’s super-sized. If you cast your eyes around at cafe tables, your colleague’s desk or the perimeter of your boutique gym class, you might have noticed a growing trend. …
By Hannah Vanderheide
• The Age

I’ve only been to Chadstone once – I’ve found my bliss away from malls

A few weeks ago, my best friend, Rissa in Manila, asked how my weekend was. “I just got back from a picnic in the gardens with some friends,” I told her. “Wow, how nice you get to do things outdoors,” she replied. Maida Pineda with her dog, Spark, in the …
By Maida Pineda
• The Age