Howlong is a town west of Albury, and is situated on the Murray River which separates the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n states of New South Wales and Victoria. The town is located on the Riverina Highway. There is a bridge across the Murray into Victoria. Howlong is in the Federation Council

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 ...

. At the , Howlong had a population of 2,551.

History

Prior to the founding of the township the Surveyor-General of New South Wales at that time Major Thomas Mitchell crossed the Murray River during his exploration of the area. There is a monument to Mitchell on the Victorian side of the river which states that Mitchell and his party camped at the location on 17 October 1836 and then crossed the river slightly downstream of their camping point on the following day. Three years later two men with a property in the area set off on the second longest cattle drive of its kind attempted in Australia at that time driving 300 head to South Australia. Also in 1838 the site of the Mitchell river crossing became the location of the first postage mail delivery by a mail carrier, John Conway Bourke when he undertook to deliver the overland mail from

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 ...

to what would later be called Melbourne. The township appears to have taken its title from a property named Hoolong in the area which was owned by Isaac Rudd and was named after an

Aboriginal Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

place name meaning 'beginning of the plains'. Howlong as a township was laid out in 1854. The Post Office opened on 1 January 1861. It has frequently been noted on lists of

unusual place names Unusual place names are names for cities, towns, and other regions which are considered non-ordinary in some manner. This can include place names which are also offensive words, inadvertently humorous or highly charged words, as well as place ...

Today

Howlong is now an important inland township which services the smaller villages of the area with a range of stores that meet most of the everyday needs of the people of the area. Nearby villages in the area include Brocklesby,

Walbundrie Walbundrie is a village in the eastern Riverina district of New South Wales, Australia. The village is located south-west of the state capital, Sydney and north of Melbourne. Situated on the bank of the Billabong Creek, at the , Walbundrie h ...

& Chiltern

Sport

Local sporting clubs include the

Howlong Football Club Howlong is a town west of Albury, and is situated on the Murray River which separates the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria. The town is located on the Riverina Highway. There is a bridge across the Murray into Victoria. How ...

, an

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 ...

team, who have competed in the Hume Football League since 1953 and previously competed in the

Chiltern & District Football Association The Chiltern & District Football Association was first established in 1912 from the following Australian Rules Football clubs - Barnawartha, Chiltern, Chiltern Valley, Christmastown, Southern and Wodonga, in North Eastern Victoria, Australia and wa ...

in 1915 & 1916 and 1923 to 1952. The Howlong Football Club played in the Ovens and Murray Football League from 1911 to 1914 and again in 1919. The Howlong Golf Resort which is the biggest membership Club in Australia and won the Jack Newton Junior Golf Club Of The Year 2011, the 2012 Golf Australia Centre Of The Year, the 2014 Highly Commended Winners from Clubs NSW, the 2015 Community Awards Finalist from Clubs NSW and hosts the renowned Top of the Murray and Murray Masters Tournaments. The town is immortalised in the song "By the time I get to Howlong" from

Spiderbait Spiderbait is an Australian alternative rock band from Finley, New South Wales, formed in 1991 by bass guitarist and singer Janet English, drummer and singer Kram (musician), Kram, and guitarist Damian Whitty. In 2004 the group's cover version o ...

's album '' Grand Slam''.

Gallery

File:Entering Howlong.jpg, Entering Howlong File:HowlongMechanicsInstitute.JPG, Mechanics Institute File:HowlongOldPostOffice.JPG, Old post office File:HowlongWarMemorial.JPG, War memorial

References

External links

Howlong Football & Netball Club
{{authority control Towns in the Riverina Towns in New South Wales Populated places on the Murray River Federation Council, New South Wales