The SMH year in pictures, 2024
99 ImagesThe year in photos from our award-winning staff photographers and regular contributing photographers at the Herald.
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Rider Joe Curtin falls from his bronco horse at a combined rodeo, branding, campdraft and gymkhana weekend in Birdsville. Many competitors travelled for days from isolated cattle stations to try their skills against other jackaroos and jillaroos.Credit:Nick Moir
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Manessa Ali, 10, surveys the damage in Dahiyeh, Beirut, in the aftermath of an October 5 Israeli strike on a medical facility on the airport road.Credit:Kate Geraghty
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Lorely Iacullo with her three-month-old son, Luciano, and her mother Juana Petkoff. The family live together in a rental house in Rouse Hill, which was sold several years ago and will eventually be knocked down for the construction of multiple apartments.Credit:Janie Barrett
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Doctors and researchers used 3D printing technology to reconstruct Mark Robinson’s face after cancer surgery.Credit:Wolter Peeters
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Fashion designer Camilla Franks at her Woollahra home, which was purchased by Inland Rail CEO Nick Miller.Credit:Louise Kennerley
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Fear and concern on faces after a mass stabbing at Bondi Junction Westfield in April.Credit:Flavio Brancaleone
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The American River Hotshot crew retreat as flames jump their containment line .The Hotshots are an elite type 1 hand crew who cut a line of no fuel to try and starve a fire. The Park Fire was started by an arsonist on July 24 and it destroyed more than 600 buildings. It was the largest arson fire in California’s history. Extreme fire behaviour was witnessed on this fire, including a rotating plume (fire tornado).Credit:Nick Moir
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Alan Jones is swamped by a media throng as he leaves Day Street police station on November 18.Credit:James Brickwood
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Ferial hugs her daughter Israa, 10, outside their makeshift tent where they were living with six other family members when we visited Ramlet al-Baida Beach in Beirut October 14. The Syrian refugees had relocated here from Dahiyeh in Beirut’s south.Credit:Kate Geraghty
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Cabaret star Reuben Kaye, who was cast as King Herod in the new version of Jesus Christ Superstar.Credit:Dylan Coker
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Julian Assange arrives at Canberra airport on June 26 after he agreed a plea deal with US prosecutors that saw him released. He pleaded guilty in the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands to a charge of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US national defence documents under the Espionage Act. Credit:James Brickwood
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The Bloom Barn Farm owner Ivan Rusev has planted one million sunflowers this year in Peats Ridge.Credit:Steven Siewert
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Latrell Mitchell, photographed here in June, declared he was ready to wear the NSW jersey again.Credit:Wolter Peeters
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Early risers at Jeffrey Street Wharf as morning fog blows across Sydney Harbour on May 17.Credit:Sam Mooy
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Makaydee Leayr and her son, Marcus, are among the residents of Broken Hill living in homes contaminated by lead. They are pictured here in August.Credit:Rhett Wyman
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Kate Geraghty’s Walkley Award-winning photograph of Muslim worshippers being stopped momentarily by an Israeli police officer before entering the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.Credit:Kate Geraghty
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Veteran Michael and his family sit around a communal table in Wollongong.Credit:Janie Barrett
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Acclaimed British-Australian actress Miriam Margolyes, photographed in February.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
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Survivors walk away from Westfield Bondi Junction in April after a lone attacker stabbed and killed six people.Credit:Flavio Brancaleone
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Water scientist Ian Wright takes a sample of PFAS-contaminated water in a sandstone canyon at Greaves Creek, below Medlow Dam.Credit:Wolter Peeters
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Premier Chris Minns convened a special meeting of cabinet to discuss policy responses to domestic and family violence following a mass stabbing at Bondi Junction in April.Credit:Sam Mooy
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Muzafar Ahmed Tahir, brother of Faraz Tahir, meets Muhammad Taha, photographed wearing the blue gloves, who was a security guard with Faraz during the Bondi Junction mass stabbing. Faraz was killed in the attack. Muhammad was also stabbed. Credit:Nick Moir
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A displaced teenager waits to be seen by a doctor provided by the Ash-Shifaa medical and humanitarian NGO at the Martyr Rafic Hariri Vocational School in Beirut’s Al Jeddieh neighbourhood in October. At the time, the centre was home to approximately 300 internally displaced people.Credit:Kate Geraghty
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Mona Vale ocean pool.Credit:Nick Moir
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Authorities conducted a planned burn in the Blue Mountains National Park in March.Credit:Wolter Peeters
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Heavy rain falls on the Sydney CBD on February 19.Credit:Dion Georgopoulos
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Australian Ballet dancers Isabella Triscari, Madison Sparkman and Charlotte Booth at rehearsals in May for a 60th anniversary showcase at the Sydney Opera House.Credit:Louise Kennerley
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Con Ange, who has motor neurone disease. Photographed in Northbridge on February 13.Credit:Rhett Wyman
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The sun rises on June 19 over the Illawarra, soon to be the site of an offshore wind farm.Credit:Kate Geraghty
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Detectives recover evidence from a Paddington house after the murder of Jesse Baird in February.Credit:Edwina Pickles
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Barnaby Joyce during question time on February 12.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
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David Warner, pictured at the SCG ahead of his last Test in January.Credit:Steven Siewert
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One of the first beachgoers, Lidia Jaszczyszyn, enjoying the waters shortly after the opening of Penrith Beach on December 7.Credit:Dion Georgopoulos
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Sydney was voted the world’s best city by half a million Conde Nast Traveller readers.Credit:Dion Georgopoulos
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An angry crowd confronted police after a stabbing at a church in Wakeley in April.Credit:Wolter Peeters
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Larry Yazzie from Native Pride, a US First Nations dance group that performed at SXSW.Credit:Wolter Peeters
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Akash Chakravarty in an ice bath at a so-called Don’t Die event in February. The event was arranged to discuss billionaire tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson’s attempts to reverse ageing or to avoid dying altogether.Credit:Steven Siewert
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Danny Mikati, a former police officer who is now a private investigator, opposes the sale of spyware through PI businesses.Credit:Steven Siewert
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A man plays with his dog at Kyeemagh Beach on January 17.Credit:Kate Geraghty
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Sydneysider Harley Jones works in his driveway on restoring the forward fuselage and crew escape module of a General Dynamics F-111.Credit:Wolter Peeters
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Central Station, September 19.Credit:Sam Mooy
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Brian Barry, 100, served in Papua New Guinea in World War II.Credit:Steven Siewert
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Kathleen Folbigg and her dog Snowie, photographed at Stockton, near Newcastle. Folbigg was seeking compensation for 20 years she spent in prison prior to being acquitted.Credit:James Brickwood
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese brings his dog Toto for a group photo on January 25.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
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Tayla Brailey was accused of having sex with students from the Sydney school where she worked.Credit:Louise Kennerley
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Senator Fatima Payman after she resigned from the Labor Party in July.Credit:James Brickwood
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Cisco Tschurtschenthaler and George Gorrow at Sea Sea Hotel, Crescent Head.Credit:Louie Douvis
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Senator Fatima Payman (centre) sits among the Labor caucus during the swearing-in of Governor-General Sam Mostyn on July 1.Credit:James Brickwood
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Loved ones mourn the loss of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies outside the Paddington home where they are alleged to have died.Credit:Dion Georgopoulos
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Backstage at the Sydney Opera House for Opera Australia’s production of Suor Angelica, the second part of Puccini’s Triptych.Credit:Janie Barrett
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Shia Muslim women gather in Hyde Park before taking part in the Ashura procession mourning the 7th-century death of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Imam Hussein.Credit:Kate Geraghty
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On the first anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack, Rachel Moshe mourns her son Oz Ezra at his shrine at the site of the Nova music festival.Credit:Kate Geraghty
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Nedd Brockmann at The Happy Sailors Barbershop, Redfern. Brockmann only listened to music for the final 10 kilometres of each day on his run across the Nullarbor. “That was my reward for putting up with the 90 kilometres of not having it.”Credit:Nic Walker
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Red Bull Diving World Series champion Rhiannan Iffland dives off the tower in the first round of the series in Sydney Harbour.Credit:Janie Barrett
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Jackie Franks, photographed on October 9.Credit:Louie Douvis
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on the Kokoda Trail in April.Credit:Dominic Lorimer
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Pole vaulter Nina Kennedy, photographed for Good Weekend.Credit:Nic Walker
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A car on an outback road between Burra and Arkaroola in June. The annual Outback Car Trek raises funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.Credit:Wolter Peeters
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Taylor Swift performs at Accor Stadium during her sold-out Eras Tour.Credit:Wolter Peeters
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Dimity Azoury and Adam Elmes star in The Australian Ballet’s production of Carmen.Credit:Janie Barrett
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Barry Taylor, a relative of Wesley Lockyer, who vanished from his Jinparinya house in October 2022. Jinparinya is a community of nine houses just a short drive from Port Hedland in Western Australia. Six Indigenous men have gone missing in suspicious circumstances from the Kimberley and Pilbara regions since October 2022. Taylor was photographed for a Good Weekend story.Credit:Rhett Wyman
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A man carrying a gun prays with his children at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem.Credit:Kate Geraghty
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Nick Cave performing at the State Theatre on April 29.Credit:Edwina Pickles
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Avida Bahar, who lost his right leg after being shot by Hamas. He is photographed in his home, where his wife, Dana, and son, Carmel, were killed and his daughter, Hadar, was wounded during the October 7 attack on Kibbutz Be’eri.Credit:Kate Geraghty
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Sam Kelly surveys the canola crop at his Red Hill property at Bowning, NSW.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
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People venture out under the Sydney Harbour Bridge at The Rocks despite the wet conditions in January.Credit:Dion Georgopoulos
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Aerial images from the scene of a house explosion in Whalan that killed one person and injured five in June.Credit:Nick Moir
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Rachael “Raygun” Gunn, through her lawyers, closed down a play based on her Paris Olympics exploits.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
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Comedian Stephanie Broadbridge had written and was set to star in Raygun: The Musical.Credit:Dylan Coker
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Laura Enever: one of the biggest names, and smallest humans, in big-wave surfing.Credit:James Brickwood
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Dylan Siafakas, 4, heads for a dip in the Colo River in January.Credit:Brook Mitchell
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US cellist Karen Hall incorporates clowning into her performances.Credit:Wolter Peeters
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Politics can be a race to the top, not the bottom, according to Chris Minns and Dominic Perrottet.Credit:James Brickwood
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Queen Dunbar with her son, Joshua. Queen’s husband, Adam Dunbar, took his own life after serving in Australia’s defence force.Credit:Janie Barrett
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Striking nurses call for a pay rise outside NSW Parliament in Sydney in September. Credit:Janie Barrett
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Parents Kelly and Mat say farewell to Charlotte, 12, outside the Mary Immaculate Catholic Church in Bossley Park on September 27. Charlotte took her own life after being bullied at school.Credit:Janie Barrett
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Penrith locals cool off in the Nepean River as temperatures reached 42 degrees on December 17.Credit:Wolter Peeters
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Ten-year-old Alexander Bennett enjoys his last day of school holidays at Leichhardt skate park on April 29.Credit:Kate Geraghty
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People swim at sunrise at Bondi Beach during the Friday Salties event.Credit:Flavio Brancaleone
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Hundreds of surfers form a circle off Bondi Beach in memory of those killed in April’s Bondi Junction stabbing attack.Credit:Nick Moir
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Eileen McLeod and her daughter Jade Sturgeon. Jade and her sister have both had brain cancer, which is potentially linked to the PFAS contamination of Wreck Bay. Credit:Rhett Wyman
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A big grin for the final haircut before Bill Shorten’s valedictory speech.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
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Surf school students at Mona Vale beach on November 25.Credit:Nick Moir
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Stars of Furiosa, Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, with director, George Miller, in Sydney in May.Credit:Janie Barrett
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Tourists near dangerous floodwaters at Katoomba Falls as eastern NSW experienced heavy rains and flooding in April.Credit:Wolter Peeters
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Lexie Meyer, who runs Don Hearn’s Cabins at Cunjurong Point near Lake Conjola, which has been a getaway for surfers for more than 50 years. The NSW Department of Planning wanted to evict Lexie and close down the site.Credit:Peter Rae
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Byron Bay Bluesfest marked its 35th year over the Easter weekend.Credit:Edwina Pickles
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Dharawal woman Shannon Foster, 51, photographed on the banks of the Georges River in Picnic Point in May.Credit:Kate Geraghty
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Chris Collins, otherwise known as Hannah Conda, was the first drag queen to bring Aussie talent to the global Drag Race stage.Credit:Anna Kucera
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Stuart and Amber McWilliam with their children, Hendrix, Nix and Amber, travelled from Laggan, near Crookwell, for the Wilmot Field Day in Hernani in February.Credit:Janie Barrett
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Lifesavers are capsized by a wave while competing at the Surf Boat Premiership in January.Credit:Jessica Hromas
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George Alex outside the NSW Supreme Court at Darlinghurst in August during jury deliberations in his tax fraud trial.Credit:Dion Georgopoulos
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A fisherman with his kayak tries his luck in Narrabeen lagoon on February 5 during a period of intense humidity.Credit:Nick Moir
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Adam Riakos travels with his grandfather, Mosh Riakos, on the first paid passenger Metro train from Sydenham to Chatswood on August 19.Credit:Janie Barrett
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Lightscape at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney.Credit:James Brickwood
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The 2024 City to Surf finish line. Credit:Edwina Pickles
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Jack Black was in Australia in March for the release of Kung Fu Panda 4.Credit:Rhett Wyman
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The Cronulla Gropers take to the surf at South Cronulla on April 19. Credit:Sam Mooy
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The bridge explodes to welcome in 2025.Credit:Wolter Peeters
