Wangaratta, Victoria
Encyclopedia
Wangaratta is a cathedral city of almost 17,000 people in the northeast of Victoria, Australia, about 230 km (142.9 mi) from Melbourne
along the Hume Highway
, with Benalla
45 km (28 mi) to the southwest, and Albury-Wodonga
72 km (44.7 mi) to the northeast. It is located at the junction of the Ovens and King
rivers which flow from the Victorian Alps. It the administrative centre and most populous city in the Rural City of Wangaratta
local government area.
The city's name may be informally abbreviated to "Wang", analogously to "Shep" (Shepparton
), "Yack" (Yackandandah) and "Yarra" (Yarrawonga
).
(Pallanganmiddang, WayWurru, Waveroo), who spoke a Gunai language
. Many of the Pangerang were killed in the Gippsland massacres
. White settlement began in the 1830s with the establishment of the 'Wangaratta' cattle station. The name is said to mean 'nesting place of cormorants'. Gold was found in the surrounding area during the 1850s and this is reflected in the name of a nearby town of Eldorado
where the remains of an old dredge can still be seen today. The Post Office in the area opened on 1 February 1843 as Ovens, and moved to the township and was renamed Wangaratta in 1854. The Ovens office, and the Kilmore
office which opened the same day, were the fifth and sixth to open in the Port Phillip District and the first two inland offices.
The nearby small town of Glenrowan
located some 10 km away is known as the site of the final shootout that led to the capture of Australia's most famous bushranger
, Ned Kelly
.
Wangaratta is the closest city or town of any size to Falls Creek
and Mount Hotham
, two of Victoria's three major snowfields.
Notable buildings include the Holy Trinity
Anglican
Cathedral
and its Cathedral Close, St. Patrick's Catholic Church and the eccentric art déco
courthouse.
, the Wangaratta region is covered by the Rural City of Wangaratta
. The council was created in 1994 as an amalgamation of a number of other municipalities
in the region with the council chambers located at the Government Centre in central Wangaratta. The City is represented by seven councillor
s elected once every four years by postal voting
. The mayor is elected from these councillors by their colleagues for a one year term.
In state politics
, Wangaratta is located in the Legislative Assembly
districts of Murray Valley
currently held by the National Party of Australia
.
In federal politics
, Wangaratta is located in a single House of Representatives
division – the Division of Indi
. The Division of Indi has been a safe Liberal Party of Australia
seat since 1977.
and King Valley
region. The area also has two cosiderable industry's Notably Bruck Textiles and Australian Country Spinners.
Previously multi-national IBM
manufactured computers in Wangaratta.
Australian rules football
and cricket
are the most popular sports.
There are three Australian rules football clubs in Wangaratta, the Wangaratta Football Club
, the Wangaratta Rovers Football Club (both competing in the Ovens and Murray Football League), and the North Wangaratta Football Club, which competes in the Ovens and King Football League. The close proximity of the Rovers and Wangaratta grounds reflects the historical sectarian
split in membership of the clubs; Rovers membership being predominantly Catholic and Wangaratta being predominantly Protestant.
The city hosted several games for the 2005 Australian Football International Cup
event, with several countries competing in the sport of Australian rules football. The event was played at the City Oval and Showgrounds and set the attendance records for the tournament to date.
Cricket in Wangaratta is organised by the Wangaratta and District Cricket Association. Clubs include Wangaratta Magpies, Rovers United, City Colts and Bruck Cricket Clubs.
There is one soccer team in Wangaratta, the Wangaratta City Football Club. Founded in 1951, they compete in the Albury Wodonga Football Association.
Wangaratta has a horse racing club, the Wangaratta Turf Club, which schedules around eleven race meetings a year including the Wangaratta Cup meeting in April.
The Wangaratta Greyhound Racing
Club which held regular meetings at the same venue,has been discontinued. Avian Park is no longer used.
Golfers play at the course of the Wangaratta Golf Club on Yarrawonga Road, or at the course of the Jubilee Golf Club at Wangandary nearby. A nine hole course is at Boorhaman to the north of Wangaratta.
, which has been attended by thousands each year since 1990.
(private), Cathedral College
(private) which has two campuses and Wangaratta High School
which has three campuses.
The Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE
has two Wangaratta campuses. The Docker street campus offers a broad range of courses from business studies to music with a central area containing a cafeteria, library and student services. The Christensen Lane campus on the outskirts of Wangaratta is the home for the National Centre for Equine Education as well as providing courses in horticulture
.
Rail transport services both passengers and freight. Wangaratta railway station is the city's only passenger train station and is on the North East railway line - the main railway line between Sydney
and Melbourne. It is usually served by the Albury-Wodonga V/Line rail service thrice-daily (however V/Line have operated reduced rail services with bus replacements due to the North East Rail Revitalisation project) as well as the Countrylink XPT
service twice-daily in both directions.
Historically Wangaratta was the junction of several railway branch lines including the Yackandandah railway line, the Whitfield railway line and the Bright railway line, all of which have since closed. Another short branch line ran west to a wheat silo located on the north side of the Ovens River
at Boorhaman.
The Murray to the Mountains Rail Trail
is a shared cycling and walking track.
Wangaratta is also serviced by a small regional airport, Wangaratta Airport
.
Radio services that are available in Wangaratta include:
Some stations from nearby centres such as Albury-Wodonga
and Shepparton also broadcast into the region.
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
along the Hume Highway
Hume Highway
The Hume Highway/Hume Freeway is one of Australia's major inter-city highways, running for 880 km between Sydney and Melbourne. It is part of the Auslink National Network and is a vital link for road freight to transport goods to and from the two cities as well as serving Albury-Wodonga and...
, with Benalla
Benalla, Victoria
Benalla is a city of just over 9,000 people located just off the Hume Freeway in north-eastern Victoria, Australia, about southwest of Wangaratta. Its Local Government Area is the Rural City of Benalla.- Overview :...
45 km (28 mi) to the southwest, and Albury-Wodonga
Albury-Wodonga
Albury-Wodonga is the broad settlement incorporating the twin Australian cities of Albury and Wodonga, which are separated geographically by the Murray River and politically by a state border: Albury on the north of the river is part of New South Wales while Wodonga on the south bank is in...
72 km (44.7 mi) to the northeast. It is located at the junction of the Ovens and King
King River (Victoria)
King River is a river in Victoria, a state of Australia. It is a tributary of the Ovens River and ultimately the Murray River on the western slopes of the Australian Alps. The King Valley is a beautiful, cool climate wine grape growing area. It is a river used by kayaking enthusiasts with many...
rivers which flow from the Victorian Alps. It the administrative centre and most populous city in the Rural City of Wangaratta
Rural City of Wangaratta
The Rural City of Wangaratta is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia. It is located in the north-eastern part of the state. It has an area of 3,764 square kilometres. In 2001 it had a population of 26,000, of which 8.6% were born overseas...
local government area.
Nomenclature
Historically, there was disagreement about whether the first syllable should be pronounced 'Wong' or 'Wang'. The 'Wong' pronunciation was never used by a majority of the population, and never received any wide currency outside the district. It was officially disavowed by the Wangaratta City Council's declaration in favour of the 'Wang' pronunciation in the 1980s. Some locals, particularly the elderly, continue to use the 'Wong' pronunciation.The city's name may be informally abbreviated to "Wang", analogously to "Shep" (Shepparton
Shepparton, Victoria
Shepparton is a city located on the floodplain of the Goulburn River in the north east of Victoria, Australia approximately north-east of Melbourne. It is the fifth largest city in Victoria, Australia. The estimated population of Shepparton's statistical area is 48,926.It began as a sheep station...
), "Yack" (Yackandandah) and "Yarra" (Yarrawonga
Yarrawonga, Victoria
Yarrawonga is a town in the Shire of Moira Local Government Area in the Australian state of Victoria. The town is situated on the south bank of the Murray River, the border between Victoria and New South Wales and is located approximately north-east of the state capital, Melbourne. Yarrawonga's...
).
History
The original inhabitants of the area were the Pangerang AboriginesIndigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
(Pallanganmiddang, WayWurru, Waveroo), who spoke a Gunai language
Gunai language
The Gunai language refers to a collection of Indigenous Australian languages from Gippsland in south-east Victoria....
. Many of the Pangerang were killed in the Gippsland massacres
Gippsland massacres
The Aboriginal people of East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, known as the Gunai/Kurnai people, fought against the European invasion of their land. The technical superiority of the Europeans' weapons gave the Europeans an absolute advantage...
. White settlement began in the 1830s with the establishment of the 'Wangaratta' cattle station. The name is said to mean 'nesting place of cormorants'. Gold was found in the surrounding area during the 1850s and this is reflected in the name of a nearby town of Eldorado
Eldorado, Victoria
Eldorado, or El Dorado, is a small town in the north-east of Victoria, Australia. At the 2006 census, Eldorado had a population of 287.-History:...
where the remains of an old dredge can still be seen today. The Post Office in the area opened on 1 February 1843 as Ovens, and moved to the township and was renamed Wangaratta in 1854. The Ovens office, and the Kilmore
Kilmore, Victoria
Kilmore is a town in the Australian state of Victoria. Located north of Melbourne, it is contentiously claimed as Victoria's oldest inland settled town...
office which opened the same day, were the fifth and sixth to open in the Port Phillip District and the first two inland offices.
The nearby small town of Glenrowan
Glenrowan, Victoria
Glenrowan is a small town located in the Wangaratta Local Government Area of Victoria, Australia. It is 184 kilometres north-east of Melbourne and 14 kilometres from Wangaratta and located near the Warby Ranges and Mount Glenrowan...
located some 10 km away is known as the site of the final shootout that led to the capture of Australia's most famous bushranger
Bushranger
Bushrangers, or bush rangers, originally referred to runaway convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who had the survival skills necessary to use the Australian bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities...
, Ned Kelly
Ned Kelly
Edward "Ned" Kelly was an Irish Australian bushranger. He is considered by some to be merely a cold-blooded cop killer — others, however, consider him to be a folk hero and symbol of Irish Australian resistance against the Anglo-Australian ruling class.Kelly was born in Victoria to an Irish...
.
Geography and landmarks
The geographical layout of the city is unusual in that the business district is located at the north-eastern extremity of the urban area, with outlying suburbs extending only to the south and west. The reason for this arrangement is that the area beyond the rivers, to the north and east of the business district, was until the 1990s prone to flooding and so unsuitable for building. Levees were constructed in the 1990s to alleviate the flooding, however development in this area has been slow.Wangaratta is the closest city or town of any size to Falls Creek
Falls Creek, Victoria
Falls Creek is a ski-in, ski-out ski resort in north-eastern Victoria, Australia. It is located about 350 kilometres by road from Melbourne in the Alpine National Park, with the nearest town Mount Beauty, approximately 30 kilometres away. The resort lies between an altitude of 1,210 and 1,830...
and Mount Hotham
Mount Hotham
Mount Hotham is a mountain in Victoria, Australia. It is home to Hotham Alpine Resort. The mountain is located approximately north east of Melbourne, from Sydney, and from Adelaide by road. Mt Hotham's summit rises to an altitude of above sea level...
, two of Victoria's three major snowfields.
Notable buildings include the Holy Trinity
Holy Trinity Cathedral
Holy Trinity Cathedral may refer to:* Holy Trinity Cathedral , Ethiopia* Holy Trinity Cathedral , Ghana* Holy Trinity Cathedral, Auckland, New Zealand* Holy Trinity Cathedral, Blaj, Romania...
Anglican
Anglican Church of Australia
The Anglican Church of Australia is a member church of the Anglican Communion. It was previously officially known as the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania...
Cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
and its Cathedral Close, St. Patrick's Catholic Church and the eccentric art déco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
courthouse.
Governance
In local governmentLocal government in Australia
Local government in Australia is the third tier of government, administered by the states and territories which in turn are beneath the Commonwealth or federal tier. Unlike New Zealand, the US or the UK, there is only one level of local government in all states, with no distinction such as...
, the Wangaratta region is covered by the Rural City of Wangaratta
Rural City of Wangaratta
The Rural City of Wangaratta is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia. It is located in the north-eastern part of the state. It has an area of 3,764 square kilometres. In 2001 it had a population of 26,000, of which 8.6% were born overseas...
. The council was created in 1994 as an amalgamation of a number of other municipalities
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
in the region with the council chambers located at the Government Centre in central Wangaratta. The City is represented by seven councillor
Councillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...
s elected once every four years by postal voting
Postal voting
Postal voting describes the method of voting in an election whereby ballot papers are distributed or returned by post to electors, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling station or electronically via an electronic voting system....
. The mayor is elected from these councillors by their colleagues for a one year term.
In state politics
Politics of Victoria
Victorian politics takes place in context of bicameral parliamentary system.The two main parties are the governing Liberal Party of Australia and the Australian Labor Party opposition...
, Wangaratta is located in the Legislative Assembly
Victorian Legislative Assembly
The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria in Australia. Together with the Victorian Legislative Council, the upper house, it sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Melbourne.-History:...
districts of Murray Valley
Electoral district of Murray Valley
The Electoral district of Murray Valley is an electoral district of the Victorian Legislative Assembly.It contains the towns of Cobram, Numurkah, Rutherglen, Wangaratta and Yarrawonga, as well as many other smaller towns....
currently held by the National Party of Australia
National Party of Australia
The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
.
In federal politics
Politics of Australia
The Politics of Australia take place within the framework of a parliamentary democracy, with electoral procedures appropriate to a two-party system. Australia is governed as a federation and as a constitutional monarchy, with an adversarial legislature based upon the Westminster system...
, Wangaratta is located in a single House of Representatives
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
division – the Division of Indi
Division of Indi
The Division of Indi is an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. It is located in north-eastern Victoria. Its northern border is formed by the Murray River...
. The Division of Indi has been a safe Liberal Party of Australia
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
seat since 1977.
Industry
There is a considerable wine and gourmet food industry in the nearby MilawaMilawa, Victoria
Milawa is a town in Victoria, Australia, located on Snow Road, south-east of Wangaratta, in the Rural City of Wangaratta. At the 2006 census, Milawa and the surrounding area had a population of 543....
and King Valley
King Valley
The King Valley is a wine-producing and agricultural region centred on the King River in north-eastern Victoria, Australia between Wangaratta and the Alpine National Park...
region. The area also has two cosiderable industry's Notably Bruck Textiles and Australian Country Spinners.
Previously multi-national IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
manufactured computers in Wangaratta.
Sport
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
and cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
are the most popular sports.
There are three Australian rules football clubs in Wangaratta, the Wangaratta Football Club
Wangaratta Football Club
The Wangaratta Magpies Football Club, officially known as the Wangaratta Magpies Football & Netball Club is an Australian rules football club which play in the Ovens and Murray Football League based in Wangaratta, Victoria at the Wangaratta Showgrounds....
, the Wangaratta Rovers Football Club (both competing in the Ovens and Murray Football League), and the North Wangaratta Football Club, which competes in the Ovens and King Football League. The close proximity of the Rovers and Wangaratta grounds reflects the historical sectarian
Sectarianism in Australia
Sectarianism in Australia is a historical legacy from the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when Australia was a sectarian society divided between Catholics — predominantly but not exclusively of Irish background — on the one hand and Protestants of British heritage on the...
split in membership of the clubs; Rovers membership being predominantly Catholic and Wangaratta being predominantly Protestant.
The city hosted several games for the 2005 Australian Football International Cup
2005 Australian Football International Cup
The 2005 Australian Football International Cup was the second time that the Australian Football International Cup tournament, an international Australian rules football competition was held....
event, with several countries competing in the sport of Australian rules football. The event was played at the City Oval and Showgrounds and set the attendance records for the tournament to date.
Cricket in Wangaratta is organised by the Wangaratta and District Cricket Association. Clubs include Wangaratta Magpies, Rovers United, City Colts and Bruck Cricket Clubs.
There is one soccer team in Wangaratta, the Wangaratta City Football Club. Founded in 1951, they compete in the Albury Wodonga Football Association.
Wangaratta has a horse racing club, the Wangaratta Turf Club, which schedules around eleven race meetings a year including the Wangaratta Cup meeting in April.
The Wangaratta Greyhound Racing
Greyhound racing
Greyhound racing is the sport of racing greyhounds. The dogs chase a lure on a track until they arrive at the finish line. The one that arrives first is the winner....
Club which held regular meetings at the same venue,has been discontinued. Avian Park is no longer used.
Golfers play at the course of the Wangaratta Golf Club on Yarrawonga Road, or at the course of the Jubilee Golf Club at Wangandary nearby. A nine hole course is at Boorhaman to the north of Wangaratta.
Events
The main annual event is the Wangaratta Festival of JazzWangaratta Festival of Jazz
The Wangaratta Festival of Jazz is an annual festival of jazz and blues held in the town of Wangaratta, 2.5 hours from Melbourne in North East Victoria, Australia. It has become the premier jazz event in Australia and is renowned internationally....
, which has been attended by thousands each year since 1990.
Education
Wangaratta has three secondary schools: Galen Catholic CollegeGalen Catholic College
Galen Catholic College is a Catholic School based in Wangaratta, North East Victoria, Australia. The school caters for grades 7 to VCE .- The school itself :...
(private), Cathedral College
Cathedral College
Cathedral College is an independent co-educational Anglican school in Wangaratta, Australia. . The school caters for grades prep to year 12. The motto of the college is Truth and Service. The current principal of Cathedral is David Everett....
(private) which has two campuses and Wangaratta High School
Wangaratta High School
Wangaratta High School is a secondary education institution in Wangaratta, Victoria. It was the 2002 winner of the Kool Skools award. It has three campuses, and is a public school. It currently has approx. 1300 students attending the school. They are building new campuses to accommodate for the...
which has three campuses.
The Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE
Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE
Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE, also known as GOTAFE, is a Technical and Further Education institute located in the north east region of Victoria, Australia based on the Goulburn and Ovens rivers, and is the largest regional TAFE in Victoria, and a specialist centre for food processing, equine...
has two Wangaratta campuses. The Docker street campus offers a broad range of courses from business studies to music with a central area containing a cafeteria, library and student services. The Christensen Lane campus on the outskirts of Wangaratta is the home for the National Centre for Equine Education as well as providing courses in horticulture
Horticulture
Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...
.
Transport
Roads are the most used transport infrastructure in Wangaratta. The Hume Freeway (M31) bypasses the city to the south and east, while the C314 now forms the main road through it (as Murphy Street and Wangaratta Road). The city is located at the junction of several other major roads, the Great Alpine Road (B500), Wangaratta-Yarrawonga Road (C374), Wangaratta-Whitefield Road (C521) and Wangaratta-Kileera Road (C523). A city bus service runs every half an hour during the day on weekdays and on Saturday mornings on a route covering Wangaratta's West End, the business district, Yarrunga and more recently, Yarrawonga Road.Rail transport services both passengers and freight. Wangaratta railway station is the city's only passenger train station and is on the North East railway line - the main railway line between Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
and Melbourne. It is usually served by the Albury-Wodonga V/Line rail service thrice-daily (however V/Line have operated reduced rail services with bus replacements due to the North East Rail Revitalisation project) as well as the Countrylink XPT
CountryLink XPT
The XPT is the main long-distance passenger train used in regional New South Wales, Australia. It operates on key eastern seaboard routes including the Sydney-Melbourne and Sydney-Brisbane services...
service twice-daily in both directions.
Historically Wangaratta was the junction of several railway branch lines including the Yackandandah railway line, the Whitfield railway line and the Bright railway line, all of which have since closed. Another short branch line ran west to a wheat silo located on the north side of the Ovens River
Ovens River
The Ovens River is a river in the Australian state of Victoria.Hamilton Hume and William Hovell explored the area in 1824, naming the Ovens River...
at Boorhaman.
The Murray to the Mountains Rail Trail
Murray to the Mountains Rail Trail
The Murray to the Mountains Rail Trail is a cycling and walking rail trail in northern Victoria, Australia. It extends from Wangaratta to Bright, with a side branch to Beechworth, following the route of the former Bright railway line...
is a shared cycling and walking track.
Wangaratta is also serviced by a small regional airport, Wangaratta Airport
Wangaratta Airport
Wangaratta Airport is located about 5 km from Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia just off the Hume Highway.-External links:*****...
.
Media
Radio StationsRadio services that are available in Wangaratta include:
- ABC Classic FMABC Classic FMABC Classic FM is a classical music radio station available in Australia, and internationally online. It is operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation . It was established in 1976 as "ABC-FM", and later for a short time was known as "ABC Fine Music" , before adopting its current name...
104.1 FM/96.1 FM - OAK FM 101.3
- The EdgeEdge FM102.1 The Edge is a radio station broadcasting in North-Eastern Victoria and South-Eastern New South Wales. The main studio centre is based in Wangaratta, Victoria.The main transmitter is from Mount Stanley, east of Wangaratta...
102.1 FM (commercial) - Orbit FM 87.6
- Triple JTriple Jtriple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
103.3 FM/94.5 FM - ABC Goulburn MurrayABC Goulburn MurrayABC Goulburn Murray is an ABC Local Radio station based in Albury-Wodonga, formerly known as 2CO. From studios located in Wodonga, the station covers parts of northern Victoria and southern New South Wales including Albury, Wodonga, Wangaratta, and Benalla.The station's lineup of local programming...
106.5 FM/97.7 FM - ABC Radio National 990 AM/756 AM
- 3NE 1566 AM (commercial)
- Star FM 104.9, 96.9 (Commercial)
Some stations from nearby centres such as Albury-Wodonga
Albury-Wodonga
Albury-Wodonga is the broad settlement incorporating the twin Australian cities of Albury and Wodonga, which are separated geographically by the Murray River and politically by a state border: Albury on the north of the river is part of New South Wales while Wodonga on the south bank is in...
and Shepparton also broadcast into the region.
Notable residents and former residents
- Sir John BowserJohn BowserJohn Bowser , Australian politician, was the 26th Premier of Victoria. He was born in London, the son of an army officer, and arrived in Melbourne as a child with his family. He grew up at Bacchus Marsh and when he left school got a job with the Bacchus Marsh Express...
, premier of Victoria 1917-1918 - William Ah KetWilliam Ah KetWilliam Ah Ket was a noted Australian barrister.Ah Ket was born on 20 June 1876 at Wangaratta, Victoria, the only son and fifth child of Mah Ket and Hing Ung. On 16 November 1912 he had married Gertrude Victoria Bullock at the Kew Methodist Church. They had two sons and two daughters...
, Chinese Australian barrister, 1876–1936 - Nick CaveNick CaveNicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...
, popular musician - Sir Edward "Weary" DunlopEdward DunlopLieutenant Colonel Sir Ernest Edward "Weary" Dunlop, AC, CMG, OBE was an Australian surgeon who was renowned for his leadership while being held prisoner by the Japanese during World War II.-Early life and family:...
1907 - 1993 - Steve Johnson, Australian rules footballer with GeelongGeelong Football ClubThe Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also...
- Ben ReidBen ReidBen Reid is an Australian rules footballer for Collingwood in the Australian Football League .- Early life :He is the son of former Footscray and Carlton player, Bruce Reid. His younger brother Sam Reid also plays AFL football for the Sydney Swans.- AFL career :He was taken with Collingwood's...
, Australian rules footballer with CollingwoodCollingwood Football ClubThe Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League... - Alipate CarlileAlipate CarlileAlipate Carlile is an Australian rules footballer for Port Adelaide in the Australian Football League .-AFL career:...
, Australian rules footballer with Port AdelaidePort Adelaide Football ClubThe Port Adelaide Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, which plays in the Australian Football League and the South Australian National Football League... - Dean WoodsDean WoodsDean Anthony Woods, OAM is an Australian racing cyclist from Wangaratta in Victoria known for his track cycling at the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games...
, former Olympic cyclist - Isobelle CarmodyIsobelle CarmodyIsobelle Jane Carmody is an Australian writer of science fiction, fantasy, children's literature, and young adult literature.-Biography:Carmody began work on the highly acclaimed Obernewtyn Chronicles at the age of fourteen...
, award winning author, born 1958 - Sophie MirabellaSophie MirabellaSophie Mirabella is an Australian federal politician. She has been a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives since 2001, representing the Division of Indi, Victoria...
, member for IndiDivision of IndiThe Division of Indi is an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. It is located in north-eastern Victoria. Its northern border is formed by the Murray River...
2001- - Nick MorrisNicholas MorrisNicholas Morris OAM is a Men's wheelchair basketball player for Australia, who was a member of the team that won gold at the 1996 Summer Paralympics in Atlanta as well as a member of the 2000 Summer Paralympics wheelchair basketball squad...
, men's wheelchair basketball player for Australia