State of the nation | Monday, November 21, 2016

► SUTHERLAND, NSW: An elderly man was bashed by a teenage boy at a train station in south Sydney on Saturday after he attempted to stop another boy from applying graffiti to the station's platform. More here.

► CEDUNA, SA: Kerrin McEvoy has had a spring carnival to remember forever, both on the racecourse and away from it. The Streaky Bay born jockey became a two-time Melbourne Cup winner when he rode Almandin over the line two weeks ago, securing his first victory in the great race since 2000. More here.

► BUNBURY, WA: Bunbury jockey Damian Lane has had a winning return to Western Australia, winning the $500,000 Group 2 WA Guineas at Ascot Racecourse on Saturday afternoon. More here.

► MOUNT ISA, QLD: It’s silent but for the birds calling and the distant rumbling of a motorbike. The popular section of Lake Moondarra is deserted. It seems to be any ordinary Sunday morning at the junction. There are campfire ashes, tyre tracks, and the occasional piece of litter. And then on the lake’s steep inclined bank there’s something out of place. Orange arrows are painted on the shore, pointing out into the lake. More here.

► MOREEE, QLD: Hanging out of a helicopter is all in a day’s work for film-maker Sascha Estens, based in Moree, Ms Estens and her business, Rabbit Hop Films, last week caught the attention of a panel of small business experts looking for regional Australia’s best online innovators. She was named among 10 finalists in the Regional Australia Institute’s (RAI) ‘regional online heroes’ competition. More here.

► BURNIE, TAS: A bright yellow 1979 Kombi van has been recovered with the help of social media. The van was reported missing on Sunday morning and was found within 24 hours. More here.

► NEWCASTLE, NSW: Cindy Modderman has just embarked on the trip of a lifetime. She has battled post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for years, some days finding it is impossible to leave the house, and her first trip to America with her daughter is an exciting event for the former police officer and paramedic – one her psychologist believes will help her recovery. More here.

► YOUNG, NSW:  “When I was holding him his eyes rolled back and I was watching his chest and I just thought, you’re gone...but by some miracle he started moving again.”  This is the situation local man Dyon Sutherland faced as he attended to his mate who had just been critically injured by a pet bull on Allandale Road, Young in October. More here.

► WAGGA WAGGA, NSW:  Eastern Riverina councils have asked the NSW Government to help cover a $36 million flood damage bill for local roads. The Riverina Eastern Regional Organisation of Councils (REROC) asked its members to tally their estimated repair costs from the record-breaking rains so it could ask Roads Minister Duncan Gay for help, according to chairman Rick Firman. More here.

► ILLAWARRA, NSW: A symphony of horns began sounding through the Illawarra from 8am Sunday, awakening the region to its biggest charity day of the year – Convoy. More here.

► ALBURY/WODONGA, VIC: The victim of a bloody and brutal bashing wants public help to catch the thugs who left him needing a metal plate near his eye socket. More here.

► BENDIGO, VIC: A car fire at Ascot is being treated as suspicious.  Emergency services were called to McConnachie Court about 5.30am on Sunday, where they found the vehicle ablaze. More here.

► There are reports the Green Lantern Ride has become "stuck" at Movie World on Sunday. A Movie World spokeswoman denied the ride was "stuck" but said there was a delay on the Green Lantern ride. More here.

►  Darren Cini would have to leave home in Windsor at 3am to get to work at 5am at Wetherill Park, about 35 kilometres away, because of poor public transport links. Since losing his job at a sheet metal factory after a period of illness, Mr Cini, 19, has been virtually cut off from job opportunities. More here.

► Rob Delaporte was simply unlucky. He cannot blame a promiscuous lifestyle or misspent youth for his prostate cancer, though he wonders sometimes if his high protein diet had something to do with it. It was his genes that did for him. More here.

► One day in March, Jim Medcraft woke up in a US hospital in a full body brace as doctors drained fluid from his collapsed lungs through his back. The 38-year-old video jockey should have been dead. More here.

► On the eve of the 15th anniversary of the greatest moment in American Music Awards red carpet history, Justin Timberlake walked another ruby rug in Australia to mark the local premiere of Trolls. He has been busy on the promotional trail for the new animation by Dreamworks, a film which he stars in and created music for having produced the score. More here.

1783 - The first successful flight was made in a hot air balloon. The pilots, Francois Pilatre de Rosier and Francois Laurent, Marquis d'Arlandes, flew for 25 minutes and 5½ miles over Paris. 

1960 - George Harrison was deported from Germany for being too young to perform there with the Beatles. 

1961 - Bob Dylan began recording his first album. The self-titled album was released in March of 1962. 

1990 - Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall were married in Bali, Indonesia. 

2003 - In Santa Barbara, CA, Michael Jackson was booked on suspicion of child molestation. Jackson immediately posted the $3 million bail and then flew back to Las Vegas where he had been filming a video. He was given an arraignment date of January 9, 2004. 

Today is singer Carly Rae Jepsen’s birthday.

Laurieton's Jim and Jean Munyard say 68 years of marriage isn't all a bed of roses

The way Jim ‘Pablo’ Munyard tells it, he fell in love with Jean Parker at first sight.

He lived in a boarding house at Shepparton in Victoria, opposite the Parker family home. Jim worked for the same company as Jean’s father and managed to place himself so that the two men would work together, so that he could ask “permission to call on Jean.”