Wangaratta ( ) is a city in the northeast of

Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in Au ...

, from

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

along the

Hume Highway Hume Highway, inclusive of the sections now known as Hume Freeway and Hume Motorway, is one of Australia's major inter-city national highways, running for between Melbourne in the southwest and Sydney in the northeast. Upgrading of the route ...

. The city had an estimated urban population of 19,318 at June 2018. Wangaratta has recorded a population growth rate of almost 1% annually from 2016 to 2018 which is the second highest of all cities in North-Eastern Victoria. The city is located at the

junction Junction may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Junction'' (film), a 2012 American film * Jjunction, a 2002 Indian film * Junction (album), a 1976 album by Andrew Cyrille * Junction (EP), by Basement Jaxx, 2002 * Junction (manga), or ''Hot ...

of the

Ovens upA double oven A ceramic oven An oven is a tool which is used to expose materials to a hot environment. Ovens contain a hollow chamber and provide a means of heating the chamber in a controlled way. In use since antiquity, they have been us ...

and

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

rivers, which drain the northwestern slopes of the

Victorian Alps The Victorian Alps, also known locally as the High Country, is a large mountain system in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria. Occupying the majority of eastern Victoria, it is the southwestern half of the Australian Alps (the other h ...

. Wangaratta is the administrative centre and the most populous city in the

Rural City of Wangaratta The Rural City of Wangaratta is a Local government areas of Victoria, local government area in the Hume (region), Hume region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, located in the north-east part of the state. It covers an area of and, i ...

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

History

The original inhabitants of the area were the

Pangerang The Pangerang, also spelt Bangerang and Bangarang, are the Indigenous Australians who traditionally occupied much of what is now north-eastern Victoria stretching along the Murray River to Echuca and into the areas of the southern Riverina in Ne ...

peoples (''Pallanganmiddang'', ''WayWurru'', ''Waveroo''). The first European explorers to pass through the Wangaratta area were

Hume and Hovell The Hume and Hovell expedition was a journey of exploration undertaken in eastern Australia. In 1824 the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Thomas Brisbane, commissioned Hamilton Hume and former Royal Navy Captain William Hovell to lead an expedi ...

(1824) who named the Oxley Plains immediately south of Wangaratta.

Major Thomas Mitchell Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell (15 June 1792 – 5 October 1855), Surveyor (surveying), surveyor and European land exploration of Australia, explorer of Southeastern Australia, was born at Grangemouth in Stirlingshire, Scotland. In 1827 he too ...

during his 1836 expedition made a favourable report of its potential as grazing pasture. The first squatter to arrive was Thomas Rattray in 1838 who built a hut (on the site of the Wangaratta RSL) founding a settlement known as "Ovens Crossing". The Post Office in the area opened on 1 February 1843 as Ovens. 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 name Wangaratta was given by colonial surveyor Thomas Wedge in 1848 after the "Wangaratta" cattle station, the name of which is believed to have been derived from an indigenous language and meaning "nesting place of cormorants" or "meeting of the waters". The first land sales occurred shortly afterward and the population at the time was around 200. The first school was established by William Bindall on Chisholm Street with 17 students. Gold was found nearby at

Beechworth Beechworth is a well-preserved historical town located in the north-east of Victoria, Australia, famous for its major growth during the gold rush days of the mid-1850s. At the , Beechworth had a population of 3,859. Beechworth's many histor ...

in February 1852 and by the end of the year more than 8,000 prospectors rushed the fields of Ovens and Beechworth. Wangaratta became a major service centre to these goldfields. As a result, the first bridge over the Ovens was completed in early 1855. A seven-member council incorporated the

Borough of Wangaratta A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

on 19 June 1863. The 1870s saw the settlement establish a number of key infrastructure and services including the first water supply. Wangaratta hospital was opened in 1871 and the fire brigade was established in 1872. The railway to Melbourne was opened on 28 October 1873. On 28 June 1880 in the nearby small town of Glenrowan, located some 10 km away, the final shootout that led to the capture of Australia's most famous

bushranger Bushrangers were originally escaped convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who used the bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term had evolved to refer to those who took up "robbery under ...

Ned Kelly Edward Kelly (December 1854 – 11 November 1880) was an Australian bushranger, outlaw, gang leader and convicted police-murderer. One of the last bushrangers, he is known for wearing a suit of bulletproof armour during his final shootout wi ...

occurred. In 1884, the railway was connected through to Sydney. The population at the turn of the century reached 2,500 and the centre had developed an imposing streetscape of hotels, commercial public and religious buildings. The

Duke of Gloucester Duke of Gloucester () is a British royal title (after Gloucester), often conferred on one of the sons of the reigning monarch. The first four creations were in the Peerage of England and the last in the Peerage of the United Kingdom; the curren ...

visited Wangaratta during his tour of Australia in 1934. Bruck textile mills was established in 1946, employing over a thousand workers. Wangaratta was proclaimed a city on April 12, 1959 with a population of 12,000 people. New municipal offices were opened in 1980 which became the headquarters of the Rural City of Wangaratta after the amalgamation of municipalities in 1995.

Population

According to the

2016 census Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17 *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * ''Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film dir ...

of Population, there were 18,710 people in Wangaratta. * Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 1.6% of the population. * 84.0% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 1.7%, Italy 1.4% and New Zealand 0.6%. * 87.3% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Italian at 2.1%. * The most common responses for religion were No Religion 29.1%, Catholic 28.4% and Anglican 15.1%. CC-BY icon

Material was copied from this source, which is available under
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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. Notable buildings include the

Holy Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

and its Cathedral Close, St. Patrick's Catholic Church and the eccentric

art déco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

courthouse.

Climate

Since the warmest month mean reaches , Wangaratta would have a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(''Cfa'' in the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

). Despite its classification, it is located in a transitional region that also tends to receive dry searing winds from the northwest. April is the driest month; July is the wettest. Sleet falls occasionally, but settled

snowfalls Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

are a rare occurrence. Rain falls as thunderstorms in the summer, and in winter with

cold fronts A cold front is the leading edge of a cooler mass of air at ground level that replaces a warmer mass of air and lies within a pronounced surface trough of low pressure. It often forms behind an extratropical cyclone (to the west in the Northern H ...

. Occasional severe

heat wave A heat wave, or heatwave, is a period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity, especially in oceanic climate countries. While definitions vary, a heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in the ...

s are caused by hot, dry air from the central deserts of Australia moving over the area. Temperatures of and slightly above occur 2–4 times a year on average; however, heatwaves are often succeeded by

, which cause a significant drop in the temperature. Wangaratta has significantly cooler nights than

Albury Albury () is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – the ...

(especially in summer), due to its western longitude exposing it to cold airmasses off the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...

. The city gets 105.1 days annually, which is akin to Sydney and Wollongong, however the distribution is wildly different; Wangaratta having much sunnier summers and autumns, but the inverse for winter and spring. Rainfall averages out to a year, most of which falls in winter with passing frontal systems; however these can occur at any time of year, and the main form of rainfall in spring and summer is from thunderstorms. Extreme temperatures have ranged from on 3 January 1990 and again on 7 February 2009 to on 14 June 2006.

Governance

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

, the Wangaratta region is covered by the

. The council was created in 1994 as an amalgamation of a number of other

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the region with the council chambers located at the Government Centre in central Wangaratta. The city is represented by seven

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

s elected once every four years by

postal voting Postal voting is voting in an election where ballot papers are distributed to electors (and typically returned) by Mail, post, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling place, polling station or electronically via an electronic voti ...

. The mayor is elected from these councillors by their colleagues for a one-year term. In September 2013 the council was sacked by the state government. Victorian Local Government Minister

Jeanette Powell Elizabeth Jeanette Powell (born 4 February 1949) is a British-born Australian politician. She was a National Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 2002 to 2014, representing the electorate of Shepparton. She was previousl ...

said this was because "''Council has failed to provide effective leadership and service for the community''". The council will be replaced by an administrator who will serve until the 2016 local government elections. In state politics, Wangaratta is located in the Legislative Assembly district of

Ovens Valley The Ovens River, a perennial river of the north-east Murray catchment, part of the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the alpine and Hume regions of the Australian state of Victoria. Location and features Formed by the confluence of the East ...

currently held by the

National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia, also known as The Nationals or The Nats, is an List of political parties in Australia, Australian political party. Traditionally representing graziers, farmers, and regional voters generally, it began as the Au ...

. In federal politics, Wangaratta is located in a single

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

division—the

Division of Indi The Division of Indi (pronounced ) is an Australian electoral division in the state of Victoria. The division is located in the north-east of the state, adjoining the border with New South Wales. The largest settlements in the division are the ...

. The Division of Indi was seen as a safe

Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is a centre-right political party in Australia, one of the two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-left Australian Labor Party. It was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United Au ...

seat from 1977 until 2013, when the sitting member,

Sophie Mirabella Sophie Mirabella (née Panopoulos; born 27 October 1968) is an Australian lawyer and former politician who currently serves as a Commissioner on the Fair Work Commission since 24 May 2021. She was previously a Liberal Party member of the Austra ...

was defeated by independent candidate Cathy McGowan.

Industry

There is a considerable wine and gourmet food industry in the nearby Milawa and

King Valley The King Valley, or King River Valley is a wine-producing and agricultural region centred on the King River between Wangaratta and the Alpine National Park in the North East Victoria zone of the Australian state of Victoria. There are a number ...

region. Other notable industries in the area include Australian Textile Mills formerly

Bruck Textiles Wangaratta ( ) is a city in the northeast of Victoria, Australia, from Melbourne along the Hume Highway. The city had an estimated urban population of 19,318 at June 2018. Wangaratta has recorded a population growth rate of almost 1% annually ...

Wilson Fabrics Wangaratta ( ) is a city in the northeast of Victoria, Australia, from Melbourne along the Hume Highway. The city had an estimated urban population of 19,318 at June 2018. Wangaratta has recorded a population growth rate of almost 1% annually ...

that now occupies the old IBM facility,

Merriwa Industries Wangaratta ( ) is a city in the northeast of Victoria, Australia, from Melbourne along the Hume Highway. The city had an estimated urban population of 19,318 at June 2018. Wangaratta has recorded a population growth rate of almost 1% annually ...

and Australian Country Spinners. Previously multi-national IBM manufactured computers in Wangaratta.

Culture and sport

Sport

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

and

Netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

are the most popular sports There are four Australian rules football clubs in Wangaratta. The

Wangaratta Football Club The Wangaratta Magpies Football Club, officially known as the Wangaratta Magpies Football & Netball Club, is an Australian rules football club, which first played in the Ovens and Murray Football League in 1893 and is based in Wangaratta, Victori ...

, the

Wangaratta Rovers The Wangaratta Rovers, officially known as the Wangaratta Rovers Football & Netball Club, is an Australian rules football club based in Wangaratta, Victoria and play in the Ovens & Murray Football League. Their nickname is the Hawks. Their hom ...

Football Club, both competing in the

Ovens and Murray Football League The Ovens and Murray Football Netball League (O&MFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing ten clubs based in north-eastern Victoria, Australia, Victoria, the southern Riverina region of New South Wales, Austral ...

, and the North Wangaratta Football Club, which competes in the

Ovens and King Football League The Ovens & King Football Netball League is a minor country Australian rules football league based in North-Eastern Victoria in the vicinity of Wangaratta and more recently Benalla. History The ''Ovens & King Football League'' was formed on ...

. The close proximity of the Rovers and Wangaratta grounds reflects the historical

sectarian Sectarianism is a political or cultural conflict between two groups which are often related to the form of government which they live under. Prejudice, discrimination, or hatred can arise in these conflicts, depending on the political status quo ...

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 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. The event was hosted by both Melbourne and Wangaratta ...

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 Wangaratta ( ) is a city in the northeast of Victoria, Australia, from Melbourne along the Hume Highway. The city had an estimated urban population of 19,318 at June 2018. Wangaratta has recorded a population growth rate of almost 1% annually ...

. Clubs include City Colts, Wangaratta-Magpies & Rovers United Bruck. Wangaratta City Football Club is a

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club based at South Wangaratta Reserve. Founded in 1951, they compete in the

Albury Wodonga Football Association Albury Wodonga Football Association is a soccer league encompassing much of North East Victoria & the Southern Riverina. The association's headquarters and half of the clubs are based in the City Of Albury (New South Wales), and are affiliate ...

. Wangaratta Knights play rugby league in NRL Victoria. 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 is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

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 Boorhaman is a locality in north east Victoria, Australia. The locality is in the Rural City of Wangaratta, north east of the state capital, Melbourne. At the , Boorhaman had a population of 126. There is a state forest near Boorhaman on the Ove ...

to the north of Wangaratta. Between 1953 and 1956, the North Eastern Car Club ran motor racing meetings on the gravel and earth airstrip located on Wangarratta Common, south of the town centre.. The circuit ran up and down the airstrip, with a loop at the western end. The North East Windsport Club regularly sail "Land Yachts" called Blokarts (Blo-karts) at their sailing site at the nearby town of Springhurst, Victoria, The city is home to the Northeast Bushrangers who play in the

Big V Big or BIG may refer to: * Big, of great size or degree Film and television * ''Big'' (film), a 1988 fantasy-comedy film starring Tom Hanks * '' Big!'', a Discovery Channel television show * ''Richard Hammond's Big'', a television show present ...

basketball league. They play their home games at the Wangaratta YMCA.

Events

The main annual event is the

Wangaratta Festival of Jazz The Wangaratta Festival of Jazz is an annual Australian festival of jazz and blues, founded in 1990 by the City of Wangaratta with Adrian Jackson as its first director. It is held at various venues in the town of Wangaratta, north east of the ...

, which attracts renowned international acts and has been attended by thousands each year since 1990. Ales on the Ovens Craft Beer Festival is another main attraction for the town.

Education

Wangaratta has three secondary schools:

Galen Catholic College Galen Catholic College is a Roman Catholicism in Australia, Roman Catholic co-educational Secondary school, high school located in Wangaratta, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The College is affiliated with the Association of Marist Scho ...

(private), Cathedral College (private) and

Wangaratta High School Wangaratta High School is a secondary education institution in Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia. It was the 2002 winner of the Kool Skools award. It has consolidated from three campuses (Ovens College and the Wangaratta HS / GoTAFE Campus), back ...

which has three campuses. Wangaratta has seven primary schools: Our Lady's Catholic Primary School, Appin Park Primary School, Wangaratta West Primary School, Yarrunga Primary School, St. Bernand's Primary School, St. Patrick's Primary School, and Wangaratta (Chisolm Street) Primary School Wangaratta also has its own specialist school for people with disabilities,

Wangaratta District Specialist School Wangaratta ( ) is a city in the northeast of Victoria, Australia, from Melbourne along the Hume Highway. The city had an estimated urban population of 19,318 at June 2018. Wangaratta has recorded a population growth rate of almost 1% annually ...

The

Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE, also known as GOTAFE, GOTAFE is the largest vocational education provider in regional Victoria. Offering over 130 courses across eight campuses, GOTAFE services 11 local government areas with an estimated reside ...

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 Christensens 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 is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

. In 2015 the Christensens Lane campus moved to a bigger site in Tone Road. And in 2016

Charles Sturt University Charles Sturt University is an Australian multi-campus public university located in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Victoria. Established in 1989, it was named in honour of Captain Charles Napier Sturt, a British explorer w ...

also added a campus there. The old Christensens Lane campus was then dismantled to make way for a new housing estate.

Transport

Roads are the most used transport infrastructure in Wangaratta. The

Hume Freeway Hume Highway, inclusive of the sections now known as Hume Freeway and Hume Motorway, is one of Australia's major inter-city national highways, running for between Melbourne in the southwest and Sydney in the northeast. Upgrading of the route ...

(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-Whitfield Road (C521) and Wangaratta-Kilfeera 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 Wangaratta railway station is located on the North East line in Victoria, Australia. It serves the town of Wangaratta, and it opened on 28 October 1873. History Wangaratta opened on 28 October 1873, as the temporary terminus of the line from ...

is on the

North East railway line The North East railway line is a railway line in Victoria, Australia. The line runs from Albury railway station in the border settlement of Albury–Wodonga to Southern Cross railway station on the western edge of the Melbourne central busines ...

, the main railway line between

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and Melbourne. It is served by the

Albury V/Line rail service The Albury line is a regional passenger rail service operated by V/Line in Victoria, Australia. It serves passengers between state capital Melbourne and the regional cities of Benalla, Wangaratta, Wodonga, and the NSW border city of Albury. Hi ...

thrice-daily as well as the

NSW TrainLink NSW TrainLink is a train and coach operator in Australia, providing services throughout New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, along with limited interstate services into Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. Its primary interc ...

XPT service twice-daily in both directions. Historically, Wangaratta was the busy junction of several railway branch lines including; the broad gauge 5' 3"

Yackandandah railway line Yackandandah is a small tourist town in northeast Victoria, Australia. It is near the regional cities of Wodonga and Albury, and is close to the tourist town of Beechworth. At the , Yackandandah had a population of 2,008. History The indigeno ...

, a narrow gauge 2' 6"

Whitfield railway line The Whitfield railway line was a narrow gauge railway located in north-eastern Victoria, Australia, branching from the main North East railway at Wangaratta to the terminus of Whitfield. Overview It was the first of four narrow gauge line ...

and the broad gauge 5' 3" Bright and Beechworth railway line, all of which have since closed. Another short 5' 3" gauge branch line ran west to a wheat silo located on the north side of the

Ovens River The Ovens River, a perennial river of the north-east Murray catchment, part of the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the alpine and Hume regions of the Australian state of Victoria. Location and features Formed by the confluence of the East ...

. The current rail line through the town is the 4' 8" standard gauge rail opened in 1962. The

Murray to the Mountains Rail Trail The Murray to 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. This side branch ...

is a shared cycling and walking track that follows the way of the former

Bright railway line The Bright railway line was a railway line in Victoria, Australia constructed by the Victorian Railways as a branch from the previously constructed Yackandandah line to Beechworth, with the Bright line branching at Everton. The line followed t ...

. The Hume Freeway runs directly next to Wangaratta. Wangaratta is also serviced by a small regional airport,

Wangaratta Airport Wangaratta Airport is located about south of Wangaratta, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia just off the Hume Highway. It provides for general aviation, maintenance, an aero club, emergency services and occasional RAAF flights. See also * ...

Media

Radio Stations

FM * 87.6 MHz Orbit FM – Relay of

Kiss FM Kiss FM, Kiss Radio or variants may refer to: Asia-Oceania * Various Kiss FM-branded stations in the Philippines ** 95.1 Kiss FM, Lucena, Quezon ** 102.3 Kiss FM, Tagbilaran, Bohol * Kiss92 FM, Singapore * KISS 969, Sri Lanka * Kiss Radio Taiwan ...

* 88.0 MHz

Vision Radio Network Vision Christian Radio is an Australian narrowcast radio station owned and operated by Vision Christian Media, an affiliate of United Christian Broadcasters. It broadcasts a Christian radio format of music and talk from studios in the Brisban ...

– Christian narrowcast * 99.3 MHz

RSN Racing & Sport RSN Racing & Sport (ACMA callsign: 3UZ) is an Australian radio station in Australia. Owned and operated by thoroughbred, harness and greyhound racing bodies of Victoria, it broadcasts a sports radio format to Melbourne, and to much of Victori ...

- Horse Racing narrowcast * 101.3 MHz

Oak FM The New 107 Oak FM was a local radio station broadcasting in West Leicestershire and Nuneaton North Warwickshire, in the English Midlands. It was owned and operated by Quidem. History Launching on Wednesday 26 March 2008, the station was ...

- Community * 102.1 MHz

Edge FM Edge FM 102.1 is a commercial radio station broadcasting from Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia. It is currently owned by Ace Radio & broadcasts an Adult Contemporary (AC) format. It features both locally produced content & nationally syndicated ...

- North East Broadcasters AM * 756 kHz

Radio National Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors an ...

–

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

* 1566 kHz

3NE 3NE is an Australian Classic hits-formatted AM radio station, broadcasting from Wangaratta, Victoria to the surrounding areas of North East Victoria. 3NE was Opened on 27 March 1954. As of 1 November 2017 the station is owned and operated by Ace ...

- North East Broadcasters Some stations from nearby centres such as Albury-Wodonga and

Shepparton Shepparton () ( Yortayorta: ''Kanny-goopna'') is a city located on the floodplain of the Goulburn River in northern Victoria, Australia, approximately north-northeast of Melbourne. As of the 2021 census, the estimated population of Shepparton, ...

can be heard across the region.

Notable residents and former residents

Rebecca Allen Rebecca Allen may refer to: *Rebecca Allen (artist) (born 1954), American international artist *Rebecca Allen (basketball) (born 1992), Australian basketball player {{Hndis, Allen, Rebecca ...

(born 1992), Australian basketball player * William Ah Ket, Chinese Australian barrister, 1876–1936 *

Daniel Andrews Daniel Michael Andrews (born 6 July 1972) is an Australian politician serving as the 48th and current premier of Victoria since December 2014. He has been the leader of the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since December ...

, premier of Victoria 2014 – Current * Sir John Bowser, premier of Victoria 1917–1918 *

Alipate Carlile Alipate Carlile (born 30 April 1987) is a former professional Australian rules footballer for who played for the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Carlile was born in Lautoka to mother Asenaca of Batiki. He ...

, Australian rules footballer with

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...

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, political journalist, born in Wangaratta *

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, popular musician * Lloyd Crosbie, double murderer *

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, 5x Paralympic Wheelchair Tennis Coach *

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, Filipina actress, singer, TV Host * Sir Edward "Weary" Dunlop 1907–1993 * Simon Abney-Hastings, The Rt Hon. The 15th Earl of Loudoun (born 1974), an

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who inherited a

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2001–2013 *

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Bibliography

* Larsen, Wal. ''The Mayday Hills Railway'', Wal Larsen, Bright, 1976. * O'Callaghan, Bill and Bill Findlay (1984). "Wangaratta, 1959–1984: A Silver City", City of Wangaratta. * O'Brien, Antony. ''Shenanigans on the Ovens Goldfields: the 1859 Election'', Artillery Publishing, 2005. * Oberg, Leon. ''Railways of Australia'', Reed, Sydney, 1975. * Thompson, John E. ''Focus on Victoria's Narrow Gauge Whitfield Line'', Puffing Billy Preservation Society, Belgrave, 2002. * "Wangaratta: Capital of North Eastern Victoria", (1927) Committee of the Back to Wangaratta Celebrations. * Whittaker, D. M. (1963). "Wangaratta: Being the History of the Township that sprang up at Ovens Crossing and grew into a modern City", Wangaratta City Council. * ''Why Wangaratta'', and ''Moments in Jazz'' (books on the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and Blues).

Gallery

File:WangarattaOldPostOffice.JPG, Wangaratta Old Post Office File:WangarattaOldFreeLibrary.JPG, Wangaratta Library File:Holy Trinity Cathedral, Wangaratta, 2018 (03).jpg, Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral File:WangarattaRomanCatholicChurch.JPG, Wangaratta Roman Catholic Church File:Wangaratta murphy street 1908.jpg, Murphy Street in 1908

References

Maps * Dept of Minerals and Energy, ''Wangaratta, 8125'', 1:100,000 (1971)(shows the district as it was in the 1960s with railways and before major sub-division redevelopments)

External links

Rural City of Wangaratta Website
{{authority control Cities in Victoria (Australia) Towns in Central Hume Rural City of Wangaratta