Australia

Score another drones-for-good point for Australia’s UAV and geospatial education provider SheMaps, whose aerial tech introduction and training have led a young Queensland woman to take to the skies in an effort to safeguard the history of the Aboriginal Koko-Muluridji people’s Wallara clan.

Next-generation aircraft manufacturer Wisk Aero is expanding its preparations for autonomous air taxi services beyond the US in cooperation with officials in Australia’s Queensland to bring advance air mobility (AAM) transport to the state.

After over two years of continuous medical drone delivery operations across Africa, Australia’s Swoop Aero has completed a $16 million Series B funding round. But what’s even more impressive is that the logistics startup had the confidence to reject a $100 million takeover offer from a US-based defense company, halfway through the round.

Leading drone show conceptualization and performing company, SKYMAGIC, will be at work this Sunday for the return of the Vivid Sydney creative festival, where a record 600 UAVs will light up the sky in a choreographed spectacle.

Australia and its ever-booming economy are being hampered by its construction sector suffering from continued pandemic fallout, supply chain disruption, rising material prices, and a deepening shortage of skilled labor. As a remedy to that latter problem, a national education business is using drone technology in classroom-level instruction to encourage students to navigate those aerial assets into surveying careers.

Drones that have racked up countless hours flying above Australian beaches on watch for drowning situations and approaching sharks may soon start scanning the waters for another potentially deadly threat: box jellyfish.

Google’s corporate cousin Wing is again expanding its activity in Australia with enlarged drone delivery service in the Canberra area, including orders from its new supermarket client, Coles.

Your favorite colonel is teaming up with Google’s sister company Wing to satiate those fried chicken hankerings. In about the same amount of time it takes for chicken to crisp up and get its golden hue, people in some parts of Australia will now be able to get their KFC favorites delivered by a drone.

Australian air taxi infrastructure company Skyportz is moving to secure use of prime urban real estate for future electric takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOL) air taxi operation by – somewhat like the fast-moving homophonic UK drone group Skyports – working with large parking lot businesses to serve as heliports.

Two men, in their 40s, had to be rushed to a hospital last week after attempting to retrieve a drone stuck in power lines. The potentially life-threatening incident took place at a state-managed park in southeastern Australia.

Disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic may have caused Melbourne’s planned New Year’s Eve drone show to be canceled, but Sydney found a work-around to the complications it encountered to host an Intel orchestrated UAV performance purported to be the largest ever in the southern hemisphere.

The governments of Michigan and the Canadian province of Ontario have announced a joint feasibility study for a drone corridor permitting aerial transport of goods between the two neighbors – and, of course, over the international border between them.

Led by World Wildlife Foundation Australia, a team of concerned organizations is mounting a drone-powered effort to create a “koala corridor” of trees and foliage to restore the marsupial’s habitat wiped out by recent fires, and reverse its population decline.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) of Australia has granted operational approval to drone-in-a-box solutions provider Percepto to fly beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) in the country.

Hard-charging Australian drone delivery and logistics company Swoop Aero has been granted beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) authorization to transport medical supplies in the northeast state of Queensland.

On-demand residential drone delivery service Wing is bringing Christmas magic directly to Australia’s driveways and backyards this holiday season. Starting today, customers who live in Wing’s service areas in Canberra and Logan will be able to order a free “The Elf on the Shelf” plush toy and have it delivered to their home by a drone within minutes. And that’s not even the best part.

When COVID-19 restrictions prevented Australian farmer Ben Jackson from attending his beloved Aunt Deb’s funeral, he decided to honor her memory with a novel tribute: a heart made of sheep. A poignant drone video that captured the beautiful moment has struck a chord with many families separated during the pandemic.

Heartbreaking scenes of a juvenile whale trapped in shark nets off Australia’s Gold Coast for two days and two nights has reignited debate about the country’s shark control program. The humpback whale, which has been freed after a marathon rescue mission, still faces a fight for survival because rescuers have not been able to remove all portions of shark control equipment from its tail.

When a critically endangered southern right whale swam into a lake in Australia’s New South Wales (NSW) last month, it was a local drone photographer who was on hand to snag some spectacular footage of the majestic creature. And just last week, a mom and newborn calf whales were caught breaching on camera by a drone pilot off Jervis Bay.

Australia’s drama-charged National Rugby League (NRL) cannot seem to catch a break. With Sydney’s latest COVID-19 outbreak spiraling, hundreds of NRL players and their families have been forced to relocate to Queensland mid-season. But since then, there have been multiple reports of COVID-19 bubble breaches, which have put the game’s future at risk. The latest scandalous development comes in the form of drones being deployed as creepy, electronic Peeping Toms to keep the players and their families in check.

It’s quite rare to spot a critically endangered southern right whale in southeastern Australia. Rarer still is to find the mammal swimming next to you in a lake. But that’s exactly what happed to visitors at Lake Wallis in New South Wales (NSW) on Tuesday morning.