Justice, change and a much-loved dingo featured in our top WA photos for June

By the end of June, our reporters had filed stories holding power to account, conveying the emotion of a high-profile court case and documenting the rapid spread of a beetle wrecking havoc on trees.

This collection of photographs offer a window into the people, places and moments behind the headlines — and tell a story of the month that was.

Community's most vulnerable

A pile of documents inks a timeline of Claire's* daughter's descent into the state care system. 

The mother and daughter's story highlighted how a system which is meant to care for some of the community's most vulnerable people can be weaponised against them.

It spurred on an admission from the WA public guardian in a rare public appearance that some "vexatious applicants" are using the state guardianship and administration system to do harm.

State control

Daniel's* mother's assets were put under the care of the Public Trustee during a family dispute. 

The trustee charged huge fees to manage her assets, but made a loss on two rental properties in Perth.

The day after Daniel's story was published, the Public Trustee said he would support the reduction of his office's fees by the state government.

Reproductive rights

Jane* describes herself as a "reproductive refugee", having to travel interstate to undergo IVF with her own eggs because WA's laws prevent her from going through the same process at home.

The procedure was successful and she was 30 weeks pregnant, due to have a girl, when she talked to the ABC in June, while the state government has announced its "intention" to introduce new legislation by the end of year.

Changing landscapes

At Broome's Cable Beach, 2,100 kilometres north of Perth, a local shire redevelopment has blocked access to parts of the famous beach, frustrating locals and businesses.

Faced with declining customers, some food trucks have had to relocate, leaving vendors "broken-hearted".

Pursuit of justice

Almost three years on from her son Cassius's death, Mechelle Turvey embraced the detective who led the murder investigation after the murderers were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Mechelle's courage and restraint paved the way for justice to take its course, and has helped to improve the way WA Police interact with Aboriginal victims of crime.

Four-legged legend

Marley was Bunbury's much-loved alpine dingo who sadly died earlier in the month.

Though few knew how he'd come to live independently at Bunbury's harbour area, most long-time residents had a story about him, and many said he helped them through dark times.

Over the past 16 months, reporter Bridget McArthur went to the habour to try and photograph the beloved canine, but only got close-up pictures once.

Deep connections

Panna Hill, or Parlapuni as the Robe River Kuruma people call it, is a rock formation 1,400 km north of Perth outside the remote town of Pannawonica.

For local woman Tuesday Lockyer, the outcrop is a place of spiritual significance where she feels at both peace and strength. 

Small beetle, big problem

In a sobering development in the state's fight against the polyphagous shot-hole borer, the government has conceded it is no longer feasible to eradicate the beetle, shifting to a management approach instead.

About 4,800 trees in Perth have been infected, and iconic trees at Perth's Hyde Park have been chopped down and mulched as a result.

This composite shows the tree canopy at an island in Hyde Park in late May, compared to a month later. 

Regional footy

The round 13 game between the West Coast Eagles and North Melbourne was the first ever in-season AFL game hosted in regional WA, bringing thousands of people to the city of Bunbury, which is often bypassed by Perth locals and tourists. 

Local kids watched in awe as the oval they grew up playing on transformed into an AFL arena.

The council hopes it’s just the start of turning Bunbury into a sports capital. 

Building WA

Roger Cook and Rita Saffioti's first budget since the election was pitched as being all about changing WA for the better.

There are grand plans for the future, but in the short-term they're focused on building more homes and creating more hospital beds.

That's meant they (and the journalists following them) have spent lots of time on construction sites lately.

Stepping back from the high-vis and stage-managed events, those construction sites can be full of different textures and lines, making for some interesting scenes to photograph. 

Slide-show nights

While technology has evolved, has the reason we take photographs changed too?

Kevin Parsons has a unique view of photography from the past to the present day.

His mother, an avid photographer in Western Australia's Midwest in the 1950s and 60s, left him a cherished collection of photo slides and 8-millimetre film reels.

Traditional woodwork

Noongar artist Denzel Coyne honours his late parents by making traditional Indigenous artefacts — his tattoos commemorating them, and the woodwork converging in this picture.

He started making the artefacts as an adult while in a rehab program, and has been enthralled by the process since — even teaching his daughter how to throw a boomerang.

*Claire, Daniel and Jane are pseudonyms