Sombre, serious and sometimes scary, the biggest news stories of 2014 made for tough going.
MH17 and MH370
Two planes and 537 people gone. One plane disappeared and remains a mystery. The other was blasted from the sky and remains an outrage.
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 vanished over the Indian Ocean on March 8. Heading to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, MH370 had 239 people on board, including six Australians. The world was shocked that it was possible to lose an entire airliner.
No sign of the plane has been found and the search goes on.
On July 17, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 left Amsterdam for Kuala Lumpur, carrying 298 people including 38 Australians.
Radar tracked the plane until it was shot down over Ukraine by pro-Russian rebels.
No mystery this time, just horror and then anger as evidence pointed to a cover-up.
Wreckage fell into a warzone and families waited in agony as looters picked through bodies and luggage before searchers gained access to the site.
THE SYDNEY SIEGE
A madman armed with a shotgun and an Islamic banner took 18 hostages in a Lindt Chocolat Cafe in the centre of Sydney.
Australia was horrified that such an act of terror could happen in its biggest city.
For nearly 17 hours the nation and the world watched and prayed for a peaceful resolution and the safe return of the innocent victims.
It wasn't to be: just after 2am on Tuesday, December 16, shots were heard and armed police stormed the cafe on their rescue mission but mother-of-three Katrina Dawson and cafe manager Tori Johnson lost their lives, along with gunman Man Haron Monis.
The tragedy set off a wave of sorrow, an extraordinary show of community strength and a multitude of questions about how it could ever have happened.
ISIL AND THE RETURN OF TERRORISM
The rise of ISIL, also called ISIS and Islamic State, put terrorism back on top of the world agenda.
ISIL emerged out of the Syrian civil war in 2013 as rebels fought to overthrow ruler Bashar Al-Assad.
The extremist Sunni organisation was well-funded, well-organised and rapidly subjected large parts of Syria and Iraq to its brutal rule.
At least 60 Australians travelled to join ISIL including former boxer Mohamed Elomar and petty criminal Khaled Sharrouf.
A photo of Sharrouf's seven-year-old son holding up the severed head of an ISIL victim became a defining image of the group labelled a "death cult" by Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
Police launched anti-terror raids across Sydney and Brisbane in September and arrested a 22-year-old who was charged with conspiring with a senior ISIL member in a planned act to "horrify and terrify the community" - believed to be a public beheading.
- Read - Explainer: What is ISIS and where did it come from?
- Watch - Dateline: Saving Baghdad
- Watch - Dateline: The Jihad Surge
File. (AAP)
EBOLA
Nearly 7,000 people have died across West Africa since an outbreak of Ebola virus disease in March.
The world is facing the biggest outbreak of the dangerous Ebola virus since it was discovered in 1976.
Cases have been detected outside Africa in the United States and Spain, while in Australia a Queensland nurse was quarantined, then cleared, after returning from Africa.
- Read - Explainer: What is Ebola?
- Watch - Insight: Pandemic
- Watch - Dateline: Ebola's Epicentre
ROLF HARRIS
Once an Australia icon and friend of the Queen, entertainer Rolf Harris was found guilty on 12 charges of indecent assault of four girls between 1968 and 1986.
The June 30 verdict left Australians shocked, angered and dismayed and led to honorary plaques being removed and Harris paintings being painted over.
The 84-year-old entertainer and artist was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison but is likely to serve just three years behind bars.
- Read - Who is Rolf Harris?
Rolf Harris on the front page of Metro, Tuesday 1 July 2014
LUKE BATTY
Eleven-year-old Luke Batty was murdered by his mentally ill father on a cricket oval in the Victorian town of Tyabb on February 12.
Police shot Gregory Anderson after he killed Luke with a cricket bat and knife and he died in hospital.
An inquest revealed there were multiple arrest warrants for Anderson when he killed Luke.
Rosie Batty, the mother of Luke, speaks at the funeral service of 11-year-old Luke Batty at the Flinders Christian Community College in Tyabb in February. (AAP Image/Fiona McCoy)
GOUGH WHITLAM
A political giant. Australia's greatest white elder.
The death of Gough Whitlam brought forth a torrent of tributes for the man who was prime minister for less three years but left an indelible legacy.
Mr Whitlam died on October 21 at 98 years of age, ending what his family described as "an innings worthy of Bradman".
The state memorial service for former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam at Sydney Town Hall.
BABY GAMMY
The apparently heartless decision by two west Australian parents to leave the sick twin brother of their surrogate daughter in Thailand shocked the world and raised uncomfortable questions about the surrogacy industry.
Baby Gammy was born with Down Syndrome and a life-threatening heart condition.
His intended parents, Western Australian couple David and Wendy Farnell, denied telling Gammy's Thai surrogate mother they did not want the child, and denied even knowing of him when the case was revealed in August.
News then emerged Mr Farnell had served time in jail for child sex offences.
Gammy's 21-year-old Thai surrogate mum Pattaramon Chanbua continues to care for him, helped by hundreds of thousands of dollars donated by the public.
Thailand's government has begun moves to ban commercial surrogacy, throwing the plans of hundreds of couples into question.
- Read - Gammy's Story
(AAP)
SCHAPELLE CORBY OUT OF JAIL
Schapelle Corby walked free from her Bali jail on February 10, more than nine years after she was arrested for smuggling cannabis into Indonesia in 2004.
We didn't actually see her: the 37-year-old's face was covered by a sarong, hat and veil.
Australia's most famous prisoner abroad did not come home. She remains in Bali on parole until 2017.
In August the surfer rumoured to be Corby's boyfriend was charged with drug offences, resulting in tighter bail conditions for Schapelle.
- Read - Timeline: The Schapelle Corby Case
Schapelle Corby faces an Indonesian correction bureau officer with a cover on her head following her release from Kerobokan prison. (AAP)
ROYALS DOWN UNDER
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, aka Wills and Kate, along with baby George, came to see Australia, and be seen by Australia.
Their 10-day tour in April took them through Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra and to Uluru in the Northern Territory.
It was Prince William's second visit to Australia after he first came Down Under as an infant with his parents, Prince Charles and Lady Diana.
This time with his own bub in arms, William and his wife were thronged by wellwishers at public appearances and were photographed at the nation's most iconic locations - Uluru and the Opera House.
James Hird's lawyers say ASADA illegally used the AFL to investigate Essendon's supplements program. (AAP)
SPORT'S BLACKEST DAY
It's been nearly two years since the infamous "blackest day in sport" announcement and still the saga rolls on at AFL club Essendon.
James Hird, back from a one-year ban, is preparing to re-take the reins as Essendon coach in 2015.
But Hird is still fighting anti-doping body ASADA in court, challenging the validity of the drugs monitor's 2012 investigation into the team's supplements program despite Essendon accepting the inquiry.
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PHILLIP HUGHES DIES
The death of 25-year-old star batsman Phillip Hughes shocked and saddened the nation.
Hughes was struck in the neck by a rising ball as he batted for South Australia in a Sheffield Shield match against NSW at the Sydney Cricket Ground on November 25.
The blow ruptured an artery in his neck and the young star died in hospital from his injury two days later without regaining consciousness.
His death sparked a remarkable outpouring of grief across the community, among cricket fans and those who knew nothing of the game alike, as people responded to the loss of a much-loved and admired young man with a world of talent and the world before him.
