Earthquakes, a hit-and-run, election … the biggest stories of 2017

Here’s the stories at www.centralwesterndaily.com.au our online readers clicked on most in the last 12 months.

It was the biggest shake-up to hit Orange in 50 years – a 4.3 magnitude earthquake lasting seconds. The quake hit just 30 kilometres south of the city, five kilometres west of Newcrest’s Cadia Valley Operations, at 2.30am on Good Friday.

Police are hunting the driver involved in a hit-and-run crash in which a 36-year-old woman was killed on Summer Street. They said it appeared the woman had walked from a nearby motel before she was hit by a vehicle about 10.20pm on Sunday.

Police have launched an investigation after the body of a man – believed to be a security guard – was found at an Orange TAFE campus. Staff, who are not due to resume teaching until the end of the month, were consoling each other outside the cordoned off area.

We asked all 88 Orange City Council candidates to tell you a little bit about themselves and their policies in the lead up to the local government election on Saturday, September 9, including their views on roadworks, the re-zoning at the airport, parking and rates.

Car yard owner John Grum has told how he ran for safety after spotting flames at the back fence of his William Street business on Saturday. The deliberately-lit fire destroyed 130 old cars in Mr Grum’s scrapyard.

A Mitchell Highway crash which claimed the life of a young woman was the second fatal accident on the road in less than two months. The woman who was killed in the two-car crash was a 20-year-old from Bathurst.

The wife of an Orange man who tragically lost his life on the weekend has led the chorus of tributes. Fred Patey’s family and friends have taken to social media to mourn and remember him.