From the death of Father Leo Donnelly to some of the toughest weather conditions we've faced, community action on big issues, tragic deaths and fires that continue to rage across the country - we had you covered.

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Solemn silence fell over Port Macquarie as the town's beloved Reverend Father Leo Donnelly was farewelled by hundreds of parishioners on Friday, February 1.

Family, friends and community members from all walks of life came to pay their respects at his Requiem Mass in the St Agnes' Parish Church. Following the service, crowds formed an honour guard along the Hay, William and Horton streets.

Father Donnelly passed away on Wednesday January 23 in Sydney's St Vincent Hospital after suffering a stroke. He was aged 91 years.

READ MORE: Father Leo Donnelly farewelled, honoured at requiem mass

Englishman Hugo Palmer, 20, and Frenchman Erwan Ferrieux, 21, came to Australia with high hopes of adventure and fun under the sun... then they disappeared without a trace.

The journey began in England in November and ended in tragedy after the pair went missing in waters off Shelly Beach, Port Macquarie on February 17.

About 100 residents and visitors stood alongside family members on Sunday February 24 to release flowers into the ocean.

READ MORE: Bones found at Flynns Beach confirmed as those of Erwan Ferrieux

The coronial inquest into the disappearance of William Tyrrell in September 2014 from his foster grandmother's home in Kendall begins.

William's biological family huddled together as they passed an array of media cameras outside the NSW Coroner's Court before the first hearings are heard into one of the most infamous missing persons cases in Australian history.

The first court tasked with determining what happened to the boy in the Spiderman suit warned it did not have the evidence to provide any kind of easy answer.

READ MORE: New images released; inquest to resume March 2020

It was the election where candidates attempted to give the Nationals' stronghold on the seat of Cowper a really good shake.

An underdog went up against a political veteran - it was always going to be tough for newcomer Patrick Conaghan to take the win from heavyweight Independent Robert Oakeshott.

But he did it and the new kid on the block got Prime Minister Scott Morrison's tick of approval. The PM thanked the "quiet Australians" for getting his government across the line.

READ MORE: Inside story of the Cowper campaign - the strategies that claimed victory

"We are the closest we have been to extinction since the Cold War and yet despite climate change being worthy of extreme concern what action have we seen from our government? Nothing but frivolous measures." - Theo Last.

Hundreds of concerned school students, parents and community members gathered in Port Macquarie to take part in the second School Strike 4 Climate Action in March with the issue dominating international headlines in 2019.

READ MORE: "You are failing us": Greta Thunberg

A Facebook group called Teacher's Pet Released was started in relation to Port Macquarie High School and allegations around teacher-student relations between the 1970s and 1990s.

Up to 42 women have shared their stories.

Lawyer Steve Kerin told the Port News they were "acting on behalf of a number of mature women, all previous students of Port Macquarie High School".

"We are investigating, on their behalf, a number of serious allegations in relation to sexual interference whilst they were students at the school. The NSW Education Department owe each and every student a duty of care not to expose them to a risk of harm which they knew or ought to have known about," Mr Kerin said.

"A breach of that duty of care will give rise to causes of action upon each of these women."

In December, formal action was formally launched with one woman lodging proceedings in the District Court of New South Wales against a former teacher and the NSW Department of Education.

Read more: Port High teacher allegations go one step further

The orbital road, in some form, has been an option for council for decades to help ease the ever-increasing traffic congestion around a rapidly expanding Port Macquarie.

Thousands of submissions, as a result of extensive community consultation, were received by council on the proposed route that could potentially directly impact more than 450 properties.

An alliance of action groups called on the council to abandon its identified most viable Port Macquarie orbital road route option and look for other solutions.

A strategic business case objective is now underway to define and determine appropriate and viable solutions to improve the Port Macquarie road network.

And then there is the ailing health of the waterways surrounding Lake Cathie and Lake Innes.

The Revive Lake Cathie group, formed in 2019, has championed concern for the lake's water quality and its future.

The group's submission to help future-proof the lakes in the 2019-2020 operational plan was declined for funding.

An agreement by council to seek a one-off licence to open the lake has now hit a setback due to out of date environmental data.

READ MORE: Lake data two decades old; it won't be open this year

When 2019 started with record-breaking weather statistics we knew we were in for a long, dry year. And the predictions were right.

We need rain - and lots of it as the Hastings region, like the rest of the country, buckles under crippling drought conditions.

Farms across the region are facing a challenging future having to sell off livestock to make ends meet.

But when the going gets tough, our community unites and efforts to support families impacted by drought have been heart-warming.

Read more: Doing It For Our Farmers sends off final convoy of kindness

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council is forecasting the region has 293 days left of water and has implemented level 3 water restrictions.

Fires have been raging across Port Macquarie-Hastings since July.

The first blaze erupted at Lindfield Park Road and has proven to be a complex and challenging fire because is being fuelled by underground decaying vegetation and organic peat material which produces large amounts of smoke. Aerial water bombing was unsuccessful and a plan was rolled out to flood the area with reclaimed water.

But little did we know what was to come. A lightning strike during a thunderstorm in October set of a chain of events that saw the Hastings coastline between Crestwood and Lake Cathie erupt in flames. More than 100 firefighters, 30 fire units and 10 aerial waterbombing aircraft battled the blaze over more than a week.

Miraculously no lives were lost but the cost to our region's unique koala population was being realised.

Read more: Koala expert labels fire aftermath a national tragedy

On Saturday, November 2 - it was the news we had all been waiting for.

The Crestwood-Lake Innes fire, which has burned across 2880 hectares over seven long and tense days, was finally under control.

But we weren't out of the woods. No-one could have imagined we were about to face a monster - the most horrific start to a fire season seen in more than two decades.

The day the sky turned orange, we were in trouble.

Forster in the south to as far north as Nambucca Heads and inland west of Wauchope was on fire.

Thousands of people were evacuated, homes were destroyed, animals burned and tragically lives were lost.

Fire crews from across the country poured their resources into our region to contain dozens of fires that merged into a wall of hell at the height of its ferocity.

The Prime Minister visited and a state of emergency was declared.

Out of the ashes there were some remarkable stories though. A GoFundMe page set up for the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital raised more than $2 million with international support shining the spotlight on the devastating impact on our local wildlife.

On January 1, 2020 - Australia still burns.

The scale of the tragedy grows by the minute with Rural Fire Service volunteers losing their lives on the frontline.

Three people died in New Year's Eve bushfires on the south coast bringing the fire fatalities to seven, with authorities still to quantify a significant number of property losses.

The battle is far from over.

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