Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the
Riverina
The Riverina ()
is an agricultural list of regions in Australia, region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, a climate with significant seaso ...
region of
New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
, Australia. Straddling the
Murrumbidgee River
The Murrumbidgee River () is a major tributary of the Murray River within the Murray–Darling basin and the second longest river in Australia. It flows through the Australian state of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, desce ...
, with an urban population of more than 57,003 as of 2021,
it is an important agricultural, military, and transport hub of Australia. The ninth largest inland city in Australia, Wagga Wagga is located midway between the two largest cities in Australia—
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
and
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
—and is the major regional centre for the
Riverina
The Riverina ()
is an agricultural list of regions in Australia, region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, a climate with significant seaso ...
and
South West Slopes
The South Western Slopes, also known as the South West Slopes, is a region predominantly in New South Wales, Australia. It covers the lower inland slopes of the Great Dividing Range, extending from north of Dunedoo through central NSW and into ...
regions.
The central business district is focused around the commercial and recreational grid bounded by Best and Tarcutta Streets and the
Murrumbidgee River
The Murrumbidgee River () is a major tributary of the Murray River within the Murray–Darling basin and the second longest river in Australia. It flows through the Australian state of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, desce ...
and the
Sturt Highway
Sturt Highway is an Australian national highway in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. It is an important road link for the transport of passengers and freight between Sydney and Adelaide and the regions along the route.
Initiall ...
. The main shopping street of Wagga is Baylis Street which becomes Fitzmaurice Street at the northern end. Wagga is accessible from Sydney via the
Sturt and
Hume Highway
The Hume Highway, including the sections now known as the Hume Freeway and the 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 t ...
s, Adelaide via the
Sturt Highway
Sturt Highway is an Australian national highway in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. It is an important road link for the transport of passengers and freight between Sydney and Adelaide and the regions along the route.
Initiall ...
and Albury and Melbourne via the
Olympic Highway
Olympic Highway is a rural road in the Central West, New South Wales, central western and Riverina, south-eastern Riverina regions of New South Wales, Australia. It services rural communities, links Hume Highway with Mid-Western Highway, and ...
and
Hume Highway
The Hume Highway, including the sections now known as the Hume Freeway and the 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 t ...
. Wagga is in an
alluvial
Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...
valley and much of the city has a problem with urban
salinity
Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt (chemistry), salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensio ...
.
The original inhabitants of the Wagga Wagga region were the
Wiradjuri
The Wiradjuri people (; ) are a group of Aboriginal Australian people from central New South Wales, united by common descent through kinship and shared traditions. They survived as skilled hunter-fisher-gatherers, in family groups or clans, a ...
people. In 1829,
Charles Sturt
Charles Napier Sturt (28 April 1795 – 16 June 1869) was a British officer and explorer of Australia, and part of the European land exploration of Australia, European exploration of Australia. He led several expeditions into the interior of the ...
became the first
European explorer to visit the future site of the city.
Squatters
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...
arrived soon after. The town, positioned on the site of a
ford across the Murrumbidgee,
was surveyed and gazetted as a village in 1849 and the town grew quickly after. In 1870, the town was gazetted as a municipality.
During the negotiations leading to the
federation
A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...
of the Australian colonies, Wagga Wagga was a contender for the site of the capital for the new nation.
[Morris, p. 115.] During World War I, the town was the starting point for the
Kangaroo recruitment march. The
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
and the resulting hardship saw Wagga Wagga become the centre of a
secession
Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a Polity, political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a declaration of independence). A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal i ...
movement for the
Riverina
The Riverina ()
is an agricultural list of regions in Australia, region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, a climate with significant seaso ...
region. Wagga Wagga became a garrison town during World War II with the establishment of a military base at
Kapooka and
Royal Australian Air Force
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal Air force, aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the Governor-Gener ...
bases at
Forest Hill and
Uranquinty
Uranquinty is a small town approximately south of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Wagga Wagga, in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The population of the town, often referred to as "Quinty", is 909.
Uranquinty was used as the ...
. After the war, Wagga Wagga was proclaimed as a city in 1946 and new suburbs were developed to the south of the city. In 1982, the city was amalgamated with the neighbouring
Kyeamba
Kyeamba is a farming community in the central east part of the Riverina and situated about north west of Humula, New South Wales, Humula and south west of Tarcutta, New South Wales, Tarcutta. At the 2016 Australian census, 2016 census, Kyeamba ...
and
Mitchell Shires to form the
City of Wagga Wagga
City of Wagga Wagga is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the Riverina region of southern New South Wales, Australia.
The mayor of the City of Wagga Wagga is Councillor, Cr. Dallas Tout, an Independent politician, indepen ...
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 federated state, state, province, division (politica ...
.
Geography
Wagga Wagga is at the eastern end of the
Riverina
The Riverina ()
is an agricultural list of regions in Australia, region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, a climate with significant seaso ...
region where the slopes of the
Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills. It runs roughl ...
flatten and form the Riverina plain. Wagga straddles the
Murrumbidgee River
The Murrumbidgee River () is a major tributary of the Murray River within the Murray–Darling basin and the second longest river in Australia. It flows through the Australian state of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, desce ...
, one of the great rivers of the
Murray–Darling basin
The Murray–Darling Basin is a large geographical area in the interior of southeastern Australia, encompassing the drainage basin of the tributaries of the Murray River, Australia's longest river, and the Darling River, a right tributary of ...
, and the city centre is on the southern bank, protected by a
levee
A levee ( or ), dike (American English), dyke (British English; see American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, spelling differences), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is an elevated ridge, natural ...
from potential flooding.
Wagga sits halfway between the largest cities in Australia, being 452 kilometres southwest of Sydney and 456 kilometres northeast of Melbourne with the
Sydney–Melbourne railway line passing through.
The
Sturt Highway
Sturt Highway is an Australian national highway in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. It is an important road link for the transport of passengers and freight between Sydney and Adelaide and the regions along the route.
Initiall ...
, part of Australia's
National Highway network, passes through Wagga on its way from
Adelaide
Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...
to its junction with the main Sydney–Melbourne route, the
Hume Highway
The Hume Highway, including the sections now known as the Hume Freeway and the 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 t ...
, a further 45 kilometres east.
This location astride some of Australia's major transport routes has made Wagga Wagga an important heavy truck depot for a number of companies, including
Toll Group. Wagga Wagga itself is the major regional centre for the
Riverina
The Riverina ()
is an agricultural list of regions in Australia, region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, a climate with significant seaso ...
and for much of the
South West Slopes
The South Western Slopes, also known as the South West Slopes, is a region predominantly in New South Wales, Australia. It covers the lower inland slopes of the Great Dividing Range, extending from north of Dunedoo through central NSW and into ...
regions, providing education, health and other services to a region extending as far as
Griffith
Griffith may refer to:
People
* Griffith (name)
* Griffith (surname)
* Griffith (given name)
Places Antarctica
* Mount Griffith, Ross Dependency
* Griffith Peak (Antarctica), Marie Byrd Land
* Griffith Glacier, Marie Byrd Land
* Griffith Ridge, ...
to the west,
Cootamundra
Cootamundra, nicknamed Coota, is a town in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia and within the Riverina. It is within the Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council. At the 2016 Census, Cootamundra had a population of 6,782. I ...
to the north and
Tumut
Tumut () is a town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, situated on the banks of the Tumut River.
Tumut sits on the north-west foothills of the Snowy Mountains and is located on the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri, Wolgalu ...
to the east.
Landform and salinity

Wagga Wagga is upstream from the Riverina plain in the mid-catchment range of the
Murrumbidgee River
The Murrumbidgee River () is a major tributary of the Murray River within the Murray–Darling basin and the second longest river in Australia. It flows through the Australian state of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, desce ...
in an
alluvial
Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...
valley confined by low
bedrock
In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material ( regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet.
Definition
Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of bed ...
hills.
Much of Wagga Wagga is on heavy
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...
soils in a large
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...
with a small catchment discharge point.
Groundwater
Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...
therefore cannot leave easily, leading to Wagga Wagga having a problem with waterlogged soil and
soil salination. Urban salination in Wagga Wagga is now the subject of a large multi-pronged approach to prevent further salination and reclaim salt-affected areas.
City and suburbs
The location of Wagga Wagga's Central business district was already well established by the late 1800s and remains focused around the commercial and recreational grid bounded by Best and Tarcutta Streets and the Murrumbidgee River and the Sturt Highway. The main shopping street of Wagga Wagga is Baylis Street which becomes Fitzmaurice Street at the northern end. The Wollundry Lagoon is the water focus of the city centre and has been a key element in the development and separation of the north (older) and south (newer) parts of the city centre.
Most residential growth in Wagga Wagga has been on the higher ground to the south of the city centre, with the only residential areas north of the Murrumbidgee being the flood prone suburb of
North Wagga Wagga and the university suburb of
Estella. Major industrial areas of Wagga Wagga include the northern suburb of
Bomen and the eastern suburb of
East Wagga Wagga.
Thomas Mitchell, the surveyor who served under
Lord Wellington, named many of the streets after
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...
veterans.
Climate
Wagga Wagga has a
temperate climate
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ra ...
with hot dry summers and cool to cold winters. Under the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
, the city has a
humid subtropical climate
A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...
(''Cfa''),
with a
semi-arid
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a aridity, dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below Evapotranspiration#Potential evapotranspiration, potential evapotranspiration, but not as l ...
influence in its vegetation. At a latitude of 35 degrees and altitude of , Wagga Wagga has four distinct seasons.
Winters can be cold by Australian standards. The mean maximum temperature falls in July to and a mean minimum of . The lowest temperature recorded at Wagga was on 21 August 1982. The lowest maximum temperature was on 16 July 1966.
Fog
Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus and is heavily influenc ...
and heavy
frost
Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor that deposits onto a freezing surface. Frost forms when the air contains more water vapor than it can normally hold at a specific temperature. The process is simila ...
s are common in the winter; while
snow
Snow consists of 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 througho ...
is now a very rare occurrence, with the last significant snowfall on 17 August 1970 (though with several occurrences prior to that year).
Summers in Wagga Wagga are hot and dry, with mean maximum temperatures ranging between . The highest temperature on record was on 4 January 2020.
Relative humidity
Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation (meteorology), precipitation, dew, or fog t ...
is low in the summer months with a 3 pm average of around 30%. Wagga Wagga is considerably sunny with 124.3 clear days annually, averaging 8.1 sunshine hours daily or 2,961.5 hours annually (with the majority in the warmer months).
In 2009 the city recorded an anomalous maximum of , which was above the country's average of and the highest anomalous maximum in Australia for 2009. This preceded the
early 2009 southeastern Australia heat wave
Early may refer to:
Places in the United States
* Early, Iowa, a city
* Early, Texas, a city
* Early Branch, a stream in Missouri
* Early County, Georgia
* Fort Early, Georgia, an early 19th century fort
Music
* Early B, stage name of Jamaican d ...
, in which Wagga Wagga recorded 13 consecutive days over .
Wagga Wagga has a mean annual rainfall of per year.
This rainfall is distributed fairly equally over the 12 months, with a slight peak in winter and spring.
On 8 March 2010, Wagga Wagga Airport recorded of rain. This broke the previous all-time daily record of set on 16 March 1966, with of rain recorded at Gurwood Street in the city's CBD. In December 2010, the city recorded its wettest year on record and the first yearly rainfall recording of .
History
European settlement
The original inhabitants of the Wagga Wagga region, who maintain a relationship with the area to this day, are the
Wiradjuri
The Wiradjuri people (; ) are a group of Aboriginal Australian people from central New South Wales, united by common descent through kinship and shared traditions. They survived as skilled hunter-fisher-gatherers, in family groups or clans, a ...
people and the word ''wagga'' in the
Wiradjuri language
Wiradjuri (; many other spellings, see Wiradjuri) is a Pama–Nyungan language of the Wiradhuric subgroup. It is the traditional language of the Wiradjuri people, an Aboriginal Australian people of New South Wales, Australia. Wiraiari and Je ...
was thought to mean '
crow
A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly, a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not linked scientifically to any certain trait but is rathe ...
', so ''wagga wagga'' could be taken to mean 'the place of many crows'. Other interpretations had ''wagga'' to mean 'reeling' (a sick man or a dizzy man); 'to dance, slide or grind'.
In August 2019, the
City of Wagga Wagga
City of Wagga Wagga is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the Riverina region of southern New South Wales, Australia.
The mayor of the City of Wagga Wagga is Councillor, Cr. Dallas Tout, an Independent politician, indepen ...
dropped the definition 'crow' and adopted the city's Aboriginal meaning as 'dance and celebrations'. The new meaning was officially enshrined in the city's first Reconciliation Action Plan.
European exploration of the future site of Wagga Wagga began in 1829 with the arrival of Captain
Charles Sturt
Charles Napier Sturt (28 April 1795 – 16 June 1869) was a British officer and explorer of Australia, and part of the European land exploration of Australia, European exploration of Australia. He led several expeditions into the interior of the ...
during his expedition along the Murrumbidgee River.
[Morris, pp. 15–16.] Settlers arrived shortly thereafter with Charles Tompson establishing the Eunonyhareenyha 'run' in 1832 on the north bank of the river, and also in 1832 the Wagga Wagga 'run' established by Robert Holt Best (died September 1853), on the south bank. Other settlers followed, all
squatting
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...
illegally, but by 1836 the colonial government regulated the tenure of land and established a licensing scheme.
[Morris, pp. 17–20.] Within a few years settlers' numbers increased greatly and before 1850 a local bench of
magistrate
The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...
s and a place for holding
petty sessions
Courts of petty session, established from around the 1730s, were local courts consisting of magistrates, held for each petty sessional division (usually based on the county divisions known as hundreds) in England, Wales, and Ireland. The session ...
was established.
[Morris, pp. 33–34.] The beginnings of a village formed near the ford used by most traffic passing through the area and included a crude
blacksmith
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...
's shop, a
hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...
, and a post office. By 1849 the town was marked out by
surveyor
Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the ...
Thomas Scott Townsend and formally
gazette
A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper.
In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...
d as a village.
[Morris, pp. 34–36.]
Wagga Wagga grew quickly, reaching a population of 627 in 1861 and during that decade a number of hotels and stores opened, as well as professional services in the form of banks, solicitors, doctors and dentists.
[Morris, pp. 56–64.] The ''Wagga Wagga Advertiser'' (today's ''
Daily Advertiser'') commenced publication in 1868.
Until the 1860s most goods were transported to markets by
bullock wagon. For a short time, the arrival of faster, cheaper and more reliable
riverboat
A riverboat is a watercraft designed for inland navigation on lakes, rivers, and artificial waterways. They are generally equipped and outfitted as work boats in one of the carrying trades, for freight or people transport, including luxury ...
s allowed goods to be transported more easily to export markets. The riverboat era ended when the New South Wales government extended the railway line to North Wagga Wagga in 1878 and across the river to Wagga Wagga itself in 1881.
[Morris, p. 76.]
As in most rural towns Chinese people made a significant contribution as storekeeper, scrub clearers and in other occupations. As observed in 1879: "Chinamen seem to pervade everywhere. It is evident that the yellow agony doesn't annoy the good folks of Wagga Wagga much. Chinese cooks, Chinese "boots" Chinese labourers, Chinese servants are everywhere." "Most of the "ringing" on the surrounding runs and selections is in the hands of Chinamen, who, be it noted, have so far advanced in the civilisation of the west as to understand fully the advantage of a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. Chinese cheap labour is unknown here. The Celestial business establishments seem well patronised by Europeans as well as by their compatriots."
On 15 March 1870, Wagga Wagga was incorporated as a municipality and George Forsyth was chosen as the first
mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...
of Wagga Wagga.
Gas lighting
Gas lighting is the production of artificial light from combustion of a fuel gas such as methane, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, coal gas (town gas) or natural gas. The light is produced either directly by ...
was installed throughout the streets of Wagga Wagga in 1881, although once again North Wagga Wagga was neglected. By 1885, a town
waterworks
Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Thes ...
and reservoir was established although water quality remained a problem. Poor
sanitation
Sanitation refers to public health conditions related to clean drinking water and treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage. Preventing human contact with feces is part of sanitation, as is hand washing with soap. Sanitation systems ...
caused a horrific stench in the town and was blamed for a large increase in
infectious disease
An infection is the invasion of tissue (biology), tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host (biology), host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmis ...
s such as
typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often th ...
in the 1890s and early 1900s. In 1908 the council approved a
sewerage
Sewerage (or sewage system) is the infrastructure that conveys sewage or surface runoff ( stormwater, meltwater, rainwater) using sewers. It encompasses components such as receiving drains, manholes, pumping stations, storm overflows, and scr ...
scheme and by 1914 most of the main streets were sewered. A free public library was opened in 1875 and the council began to establish parklands such as Bolton Park and the Town Hall Gardens.
[Morris, pp. 89–92.]
In September 1859 local residents formed a committee for the construction of a
pile bridge
A pile bridge is a structure that uses foundations consisting of long poles (referred to as piles), which are made of wood, concrete or steel and which are hammered into the soft soils beneath the bridge until the end of the pile reaches a hard ...
over the Murrumbidgee River. After the New South Wales Government refused to support this type of bridge the committee decided to finance it themselves. The bridge was completed in October 1862 and opened on 27 October at just over 91 metres long and 7 metres wide. In 1884 the New South Wales Government purchased the bridge and it was demolished in 1895.
[Morris, p. 78.] In 1895 a
truss bridge
A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements, typically straight, may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...
called the
Hampden Bridge, was built across the Murrumbidgee River at Wagga. The bridge served the Wagga Wagga community for over 100 years until 16 August 2006 when it was closed and fenced off to the public due to the bridge being declared a safety risk after one of the trusses failed. In 2014 the Hampden Bridge was demolished.
With its increasing prosperity and population, Wagga Wagga and the surrounding district became a place of interest to several infamous
bushrangers
Bushrangers were armed robbers and outlaws who resided in the Australian bush between the 1780s and the early 20th century. The original use of the term dates back to the early years of the British colonisation of Australia, and applied to ...
. The Wagga police magistrate
Henry Baylis was bailed up by
Mad Dog Morgan
''Mad Dog Morgan'' is a 1976 Australian bushranger film directed by Philippe Mora and starring Dennis Hopper, Jack Thompson and David Gulpilil. It is based upon the life of Dan Morgan.
Plot
Dan Morgan witnesses a bloody massacre of Chines ...
in 1863.
Captain Moonlite
Andrew George Scott (5 July 1842 – 20 January 1880), also known as Captain Moonlite, though also referred to as Alexander Charles Scott and Captain Moonlight, was an Irish-born New Zealand immigrant to the Colony of Victoria, a bushranger the ...
and his band arrived in the district on 15 November 1879 and held up 39 people at
Wantabadgery Station. Moonlite and his gang escaped a police pursuit only to be captured at another nearby property when police from the neighbouring townships of
Gundagai
Gundagai is a town in New South Wales, Australia. Although a small town, Gundagai is a popular topic for writers and has become a representative icon of a typical Australian country town. Located along the Murrumbidgee River and Muniong, Honeys ...
and
Adelong arrived.

Along with most of the
Riverina
The Riverina ()
is an agricultural list of regions in Australia, region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, a climate with significant seaso ...
region, the majority of Wagga Wagga residents supported the
federation
A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...
of the Australian colonies, in large part due to the prospect of
free trade
Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold Economic liberalism, economically liberal positions, while economic nationalist politica ...
across colonial borders. In 1898, a group of residents promoted Wagga Wagga for consideration as the site of the future national capital due to its location equidistant from Sydney and Melbourne and its ample water supply. Despite the bid's lack of success, in the 1899
referendum
A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...
Wagga Wagga residents voted strongly in favour of federation.
During World War I the town was the starting point of the "Kangaroo March", one of a series of
snowball marches
During World War I, recruitment marches or snowball marches to state capital cities were a feature of volunteer recruiting drives for the First Australian Imperial Force, Australian Imperial Force in rural Australia. Between October 1915 and F ...
conducted in New South Wales during the war in which groups of recruits marched towards Sydney and appealed to men in the towns along the route to join them and enlist in the
Australian Imperial Force. 88 recruits left Wagga Wagga on 1 December 1915, farewelled by a large crowd and to the accompaniment of a band. The marchers included
John Ryan, who later won the
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...
for his actions in the
Battle of the Hindenburg Line in 1918.
[Morris, pp. 120–122.] The march finished at
Campbelltown with over 220 recruits.
After the war some of the area around Wagga Wagga was designated for
settlement by returned soldiers, who faced insurmountable difficulties due to poor and unwatered land, lack of farming experience and lack of access to markets. Many walked off the land after years of backbreaking work.
[Morris, pp. 134–140.] Residential growth continued with a population in 1921 of 11,631.
[Morris, p. 148.] Much of this residential growth was housed in the higher ground to the south, extending to the south of the railway tracks. A suburb consisting of tents and crude huts, known as "Tent Town", developed along the river providing housing for the poorer residents of Wagga Wagga.
[Morris, p. 154.] In 1922, electricity was provided for the town, with
hydro-electric power available from
Burrinjuck Dam from 1928.
[Morris, p. 160.]
Hardship as a result of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
, and the election of
Jack Lang of the
Labor
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
party as
Premier of New South Wales
The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster system, Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales actin ...
, sparked the formation of the "Riverina Movement". Throughout the Riverina in early 1931, a series of rallies were organised by the movement, culminating in a great meeting in Wagga Wagga on 28 February 1931. The meeting called on the State and Federal governments to alleviate the concerns of producers in the district or hold a referendum to determine if the Riverina should
secede
Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a declaration of independence). A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal is the c ...
. The movement petered out following the dismissal of Lang in 1932 and the recovery of the regional economy.
[Morris, pp. 178–184.]
The outbreak of World War II saw
Royal Australian Air Force
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal Air force, aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the Governor-Gener ...
bases established at
Forest Hill in 1940 and
Uranquinty
Uranquinty is a small town approximately south of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Wagga Wagga, in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The population of the town, often referred to as "Quinty", is 909.
Uranquinty was used as the ...
in 1941. A major
Australian Army
The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia. It is a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army ...
camp was constructed at
Kapooka in 1942 and one year later there were 8,000 troops in training there with Wagga taking on the characteristics of a garrison town.
[Morris, pp. 191–198.]
After the war, Wagga Wagga grew steadily and was proclaimed a city on 17 April 1946. Suburbs such as
Turvey Park and
Kooringal were developed to the south of the city and in the 1960s, residential growth expanded to cover areas such as
Tolland and
Lake Albert. The main commercial district also moved south to the Baylis Street end with the development of the Sturt Mall in 1979. The City Council developed a series of industrial areas including areas for service and general industries, and agricultural processing and noxious industries were established in a new industrial estate in
Bomen.
[Morris, pp. 212–218.]

In the 1950s the defence bases in Wagga Wagga again became an important part of the city. The Army camp at Kapooka was reopened as a recruit training centre from 1951, a role it maintains to this day.
RAAF Base Wagga at Forest Hill also expanded, with training of defence force aircraft technicians there from 1969.
[Morris, p. 223.] After a series of major floods in the early 1950s, the City Council protected the city area on the south
flood plain
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...
through construction of a
levee
A levee ( or ), dike (American English), dyke (British English; see American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, spelling differences), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is an elevated ridge, natural ...
, completed in 1962. The levee was designed to provide protection from floods at levels expected once every one hundred years. North Wagga Wagga was initially excluded from protection however by 1982 another levee was constructed to protect the village, although at a lower standard.
[Morris, pp. 237–238.]
In 1971, following pressure from the Wagga Wagga community for a university, the teachers' college established in 1947 became the Riverina College of Advanced Education and was relocated to a site adjacent to the Wagga Agricultural College, with which it amalgamated in 1975. In 1989, the college amalgamated with the College of Advanced Education at
Bathurst to become
Charles Sturt University
Charles Sturt University is an Australian multi-campus public university located in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Established in 1989, it was named in honour of Captain (British Army and Royal ...
.
[Morris, pp. 226–228.] In 1981, the New South Wales government forced the amalgamation of Wagga Wagga City Council with neighbouring Kyeamba Shire and Mitchell Shire to form the new
City of Wagga Wagga
City of Wagga Wagga is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the Riverina region of southern New South Wales, Australia.
The mayor of the City of Wagga Wagga is Councillor, Cr. Dallas Tout, an Independent politician, indepen ...
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 federated state, state, province, division (politica ...
, containing 4,886 square kilometres.
[Morris, p. 237.]
In February 1993, Wagga Wagga was the first city in the world to be proclaimed as a Rotary Peace City, with a Rotary Peace Monument unveiled on the corner of The Esplanade and Best Street.
Heritage listings
Wagga Wagga has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
* Botanic Gardens Site (BGS), Baden Powell Drive:
Mobile Cook's Galley, Museum of the Riverina
The Mobile Cook's Galley, part of the Museum of the Riverina, is a heritage-listed former mobile field kitchen and now museum collection and museum exhibit located in the Wagga Wagga Botanic Gardens, Baden Powell Drive, Wagga Wagga, in the Cit ...
* Main Southern railway:
Wagga Wagga railway station
Symbols
Flag
The Wagga Wagga city flag was designed by H Ellis Tomlinson and adopted in 1965. Wagga Wagga City Council holds the copyright to Tomlinson's design. The flag is officially square and takes its design from the shield of the city's coat of arms.
Coat of arms
The upper quarter of the shield contains eight stalks of wheat positioned to form two capital letters W on a vert (green) field. The lower quarter of the upper half of the flag contains a wavy blue line on gold (yellow) representing the river winding through the wheat fields. The lower half of the flag contains the head of a ram positioned centrally on a vert (green) field.
The crest has a gold (yellow) mural crown on a knight's helmet. Inside the mural crown are a yellow caduceus with black wings, and eight gum leaves arranged as two letters W.
Both the supporters are crows, each with a gold (yellow) collar in the shape of the letter W.
The base of the coat of arms is grassy with a river in between, indicating that Wagga Wagga is built on both sides of the river.
Crows
Crows
The Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station (CROWS) is a series of remote weapon stations used by the US military on its armored vehicles and ships. It allows weapon operators to engage targets without leaving the protection of their vehicle. ...
are considered a symbol of the city of Wagga Wagga, appearing in the council's logo, coat of arms, and throughout branding of local businesses, as well as in public artwork. This is due to the debated interpretation of 'Wagga Wagga' being derived from a
Wiradjuri language
Wiradjuri (; many other spellings, see Wiradjuri) is a Pama–Nyungan language of the Wiradhuric subgroup. It is the traditional language of the Wiradjuri people, an Aboriginal Australian people of New South Wales, Australia. Wiraiari and Je ...
term meaning 'place of many crows'.
Since 2019, the Wagga Wagga City Council has recognised this meaning as incorrect, instead adopting "many dances and celebrations", which was supported by
Wiradjuri
The Wiradjuri people (; ) are a group of Aboriginal Australian people from central New South Wales, united by common descent through kinship and shared traditions. They survived as skilled hunter-fisher-gatherers, in family groups or clans, a ...
elder
Stan Grant. Crows remain a ubiquitous civic symbol of Wagga Wagga. Both the council and
ABC Riverina have promoted the use of the
barking marsh frog as an alternative animal emblem for the city, originally suggested by Canberra resident Dec Browne.
Demographics

Wagga Wagga is the major city of the Riverina and the second largest inland city in New South Wales after Maitland,
In 2021 the urban area of Wagga Wagga was home to 57,003 people.
[ Wagga had grown, on average, 0.65 percent year-on-year during the previous five years.][ Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018.] Much of this growth is attributable to the "sponge city" phenomenon as Wagga Wagga attracts residents from smaller towns in the region such as Urana
Urana is a small town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The town is in the Federation Council, New South Wales, Federation Council local government area.
Urana is located between Lockhart, New South Wales, Lockhart and Jeril ...
. Other factors include Wagga's role as a regional centre and its hosting of major defence establishments and a Charles Sturt University
Charles Sturt University is an Australian multi-campus public university located in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Established in 1989, it was named in honour of Captain (British Army and Royal ...
campus.
In the 2021 census, there were 57,003 people in the Wagga Wagga Urban Area.
* Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 7% of the population.
* 82.9% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were India 1.5%, Iraq 1.4%, England 1.2% and New Zealand and Philippines both 0.7%.
* 85.2% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Kurdish 1.2%, Malayalam 0.8%, Mandarin 0.6%, Arabic 0.5%, and Punjabi 0.4%.
* The most common responses for religion were No Religion 31.2%, Catholic 27.4%, Anglican 15.3%, Not stated 5.9% and Presbyterian and Reformed 3.7%.
Wagga is home to approximately 39% of Australia's Yazidi
Yazidis, also spelled Yezidis (; ), are a Kurdish-speaking endogamous religious group indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran. The majority of Yazidis remaining in ...
population.
Wagga Wagga falls within the boundary of the Anglican Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn
The Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn is one of the 23 dioceses of the Anglican Church of Australia. The diocese has 60 parishes covering most of south-east New South Wales, the eastern Riverina and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It st ...
. Anglican parishes include St John's, Wagga Wagga (Church St); St Paul's, Turvey Park (Fernleigh Rd); St Alban's, Kooringal (Lake Albert Rd); Community of the Redeemer, Ashmont (Blakemore Ave).
Wagga Wagga is the seat of a Roman Catholic diocese
As of June 21, 2024, the Catholic Church in its entirety comprises 3,172 ecclesiastical jurisdictions, including over 652 archdioceses and 2,249 dioceses, as well as apostolic vicariates, apostolic exarchates, apostolic administrations, apost ...
, with its principal church being St Michael's Cathedral.
Economy
Commercial
Wagga attracts people from all over the Riverina and southwestern New South Wales to its shopping facilities. It is the major support city for over 200,000 people who live across the region.
Wagga's shopping centres include two notable centres of metropolitan standards, Wagga Wagga Marketplace and Sturt Mall in the central business district, and suburban shopping centres such as the South City Shopping Centre in Glenfield Park, the Lake Village Shopping Centre, Lake Albert, the Tolland Shopping Centre and Kooringal Mall in Kooringal. Wagga has a large HomeBase store located on the Sturt Highway
Sturt Highway is an Australian national highway in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. It is an important road link for the transport of passengers and freight between Sydney and Adelaide and the regions along the route.
Initiall ...
.
Wagga's central business district, with both Baylis and Fitzmaurice Streets and other surrounding streets, offers hundreds of speciality retailers including national chains such as Big W
Big W (stylised as BIG W) is an Australian chain of discount department stores, which was founded in regional New South Wales in 1964. The company is a division of the Woolworths Group and as of 2024 operated 179 stores, with around 18,000 emp ...
, Myer
Myer (stylised MYER) is an Australian mid-range to upscale department store. It trades in all Australian states and one of Australia's two self-governing territories. Myer retails a broad range of products across women's, men's, and child ...
and Kmart
Kmart ( ), formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department-store chain and online retailer in the United States and Territories of the United States, its territories. It operates four remaining Kma ...
. Target Country closed its store on Baylis Street in March 2021. The dairy company Fonterra
Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited is a New Zealand Multinational corporation, multinational publicly traded dairy cooperative, co-operative owned by New Zealand farmers. The company is responsible for approximately 30% of the world's dairy ex ...
(formerly Murrumbidgee Dairy Products), is based on the Sturt Highway, and is a supplier of dairy products in the Riverina, Other major industries include Cargill
Cargill, Incorporated is an American multinational food corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, Minnetonka, Minnesota, and incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded in 1865 by William Wallace Cargill, it is the largest privately held c ...
and Heinz
The Kraft Heinz Foods Company, formerly the H. J. Heinz Company and commonly known as Heinz (), is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. ...
, which are in the suburb of Bomen.
Defence forces
The Australian Army
The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia. It is a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army ...
base at Kapooka includes the Army Recruit Training Centre, where general enlistment members of the Australian Army
The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia. It is a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army ...
undertake their initial training. The barracks at Kapooka are named after World War II military commander Sir
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part ...
Thomas Blamey
Field marshal (Australia), Field Marshal Sir Thomas Albert Blamey (24 January 1884 – 27 May 1951) was an Australian general of the First World War, First and Second World Wars. He is the only Australian to attain the rank of field marshal.
Bl ...
, born at Lake Albert Wagga Wagga and Australia's only Field Marshal
Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...
. Following recruit training, soldiers move on to take specific training at training establishments throughout Australia. The soldiers club at Kapooka is named for John Hurst Edmondson, Australia's first Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...
winner in World War II, who was born in Wagga Wagga.
There is a separate Royal Australian Air Force
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal Air force, aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the Governor-Gener ...
(RAAF) base at Forest Hill, RAAF Base Wagga, which is the administration and logistics training base for Air Force personnel and the tri-service (RAN/Army/RAAF) electronic (White hander) and aircraft (Black hander) trades school. Some Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the navy, naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (Australia), Chief of Navy (CN) Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Mark Hammond (admiral), Ma ...
Aircraft Technicians assigned to the naval air station are based at RAAF Base Wagga as an Aircraft Maintenance and Flight Trials Unit (AMAFTU). As of 2008, No 1 Recruit Training Unit (1RTU) has moved from RAAF Edinburgh to RAAF Wagga Wagga. RAAF Base Wagga is also the home of the Wagga Wagga RAAF Museum.
Education
The sole provider of higher education in Wagga Wagga is the local campus of the multi-campus Charles Sturt University
Charles Sturt University is an Australian multi-campus public university located in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Established in 1989, it was named in honour of Captain (British Army and Royal ...
, located on the outskirts of the suburb of Estella. The university was established on 1 July 1989[Morris, pp. 228.] following the enactment of The Charles Sturt University Act, 1989 and involved the merger of several existing separately-administered Colleges of Advanced Education including the Riverina College of Advanced Education in Wagga Wagga. At the time of its establishment it became the ninth university in the state and its inaugural vice-chancellor was C.D. Blake AO who at the time was the principal of the Riverina College.
The Riverina Institute, a collection of TAFE
Technical and further education or simply TAFE () is the common name in Australia for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational courses. Colloquially also known ...
institute campuses has its headquarters in Wagga Wagga and Wagga is home to three campuses. The Primary Industries Centre, at North Wagga Wagga is set on 250 hectares and runs courses on agriculture and horticulture. The National Aerospace Training Centre of Excellence, at RAAF Base Wagga provides training support to the Australian Defence Force
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the Armed forces, military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia and its national interests. It consists of three branches: the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army and the Royal Aus ...
aerospace
Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astron ...
traineeship program. The commercial contract with the ADF is the largest technical training contract in Australia. In addition Wagga Wagga is home to eight secondary schools and 22 primary schools.
Government
Local government
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state.
Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...
for the city is provided by the Wagga Wagga City Council. As well as Wagga Wagga itself the City Council area includes the outlying towns of Tarcutta
Tarcutta is a town in south-western New South Wales, Australia. The town is south-west of Sydney, east of the Hume Highway, It was proclaimed as a village on 28 October 1890. As of 2016, the town had a population of 446.
It serves a local farm ...
, Ladysmith, Mangoplah, Collingullie and Uranquinty
Uranquinty is a small town approximately south of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Wagga Wagga, in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The population of the town, often referred to as "Quinty", is 909.
Uranquinty was used as the ...
covering an area of 4,824 km2. The local government area was formed as a result of the amalgamation of the City of Wagga Wagga with the Mitchell and Kyeamba Shires in 1981. The council itself consists of 9 councillors elected for a four-year term and from these a mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...
and deputy mayor are elected each year by the council.
Wagga Wagga is the largest city in the Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are set out in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia.
...
electorate of Riverina
The Riverina ()
is an agricultural list of regions in Australia, region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, a climate with significant seaso ...
, currently represented by Michael McCormack of the National Party. At the state level, the city is represented in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...
by Joe McGirr, Independent member for the Electoral district of Wagga Wagga.
Transport
Busabout Wagga Wagga provides bus services from most Wagga Wagga suburbs to the CBD 365 days a year, including public holidays.
Allen's Coaches of Coolamon and Junee Buses provide weekday connections to Coolamon (routes 1W, 2W and 3W) and Junee (routes 21–25) respectively.
Wagga Radio Cabs run taxis 24/7 in the city with taxi ranks at Station Place, Forsyth Street, Gurwood Street, Wagga Wagga Base Hospital and Kooringal Mall.
Baylis Street in the CBD was a thoroughfare for the Olympic Highway
Olympic Highway is a rural road in the Central West, New South Wales, central western and Riverina, south-eastern Riverina regions of New South Wales, Australia. It services rural communities, links Hume Highway with Mid-Western Highway, and ...
until the Gobbagombalin Bridge (referred to locally as the ''Gobba Bridge'' and is believed to be the longest continuous-span viaduct in New South Wales) about 6 km northwest of the CBD was opened on 26 July 1997. The Sturt Highway
Sturt Highway is an Australian national highway in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. It is an important road link for the transport of passengers and freight between Sydney and Adelaide and the regions along the route.
Initiall ...
passes through the centre of Wagga Wagga.
Rail
Wagga Wagga railway station is located on the Main Southern railway line
The Main Southern Railway (or Great Southern Railway) is a major railway in New South Wales, Australia. It runs from Sydney to Albury, near the Victorian border. The line passes through the Southern Highlands, Southern Tablelands, South West ...
with twice daily XPT rail services provided by NSW TrainLink
NSW TrainLink is a regional train and coach operator in Australia, providing services throughout New South Wales and into Australian Capital Territory, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria (state), Victoria, Queensland and South Australia ...
, the state owned passenger rail service.
Airport
Wagga Wagga Airport
Wagga Wagga Airport is a regional airport serving Wagga Wagga in New South Wales, Australia. The airport is located in the suburb of Forest Hill, New South Wales, Forest Hill, south-east of the city centre, on land leased from the Department ...
at Forest Hill has scheduled daily flights to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane operated by two carriers, Rex Airlines and QantasLink
QantasLink is a full-service, Regional airline, regional brand of Australian flag carrier airline Qantas. As of 2024, QantasLink provides over 2,000 flights each week to 65 metropolitan, regional and remote destinations across Australia, as wel ...
bringing approximately 210,000 passengers through the region every year. Coupled with Rex's major maintenance base and the Australian Airline Pilot Academy (AAPA), the Airport is one of the busiest in regional Australia. The airport itself is owned by the Royal Australian Air Force
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal Air force, aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the Governor-Gener ...
and the civil side is leased by the Wagga Wagga City Council. The sealed runway can cater for aircraft up to Boeing 737-800
The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a twinjet, twin-engine narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third-generation derivative of the Boeing 737, it ha ...
and Airbus A321
The Airbus A321 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short to medium range, Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body, commercial passenger Twinjet, twin engine jet airliners; it carries 185 to 236 passengers. It has a stretched fuselage which was ...
.
Sport
Wagga's location approximately midway between Melbourne and Sydney on the "Barassi Line
The Barassi Line is an imaginary line in Australia which approximately divides areas where Australian rules football or rugby league is the most popular football code. The term was first used by historian Ian Turner in his 1978 Ron Barassi Mem ...
" contributes to high levels of football participation in all codes: 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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...
, Rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
, Rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
and Soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
. Other popular sports in Wagga include cricket
Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
, tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
, and lawn bowls
Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...
.
The city has eight Australian rules football clubs, including: Mangoplah–Cookardinia United-Eastlakes, Wagga Tigers, Collingullie–Wagga and Turvey Park in the Riverina Football League
The Riverina Football Netball League (RFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing nine clubs based in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The league features three grades in the Australian rules footba ...
and East Wagga-Kooringal, North Wagga and Rivcoll (CSU) in the Farrer Football League.
There are four Rugby union teams which include: CSU Reddies, Wagga Agricultural College, Wagga City and Wagga Waratahs in the Southern Inland Rugby Union.
Four soccer teams based in the city include: Henwood Park, Wagga United, Tolland and Lake Albert, with the first grade competition for men being the ''Pascoe Cup'' and for women the ''Leonard Cup''.
Three local rugby league teams compete in the Group 9 Rugby League
Group 9 is a rugby league competition based in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia, and surrounding areas. The competition is played in six grades, with these being Under 16s, Under 18s, Women's Tackle, Women's League tag, League-Tag, Reser ...
competition and include Wagga Brothers, South City and Wagga Kangaroos. National Rugby League games played in Wagga Wagga are held at McDonald's Park. The city also hosts the Group 9 grand final
Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...
, a major event.
The ''Wagga Wagga Gold Cup'', said to be Australia's second oldest thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...
horse race
Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...
, is held in the first week of May.
East Wagga is home to the Wagga Wagga Gun Club and the Australian Clay Target Association, which has an Olympic-standard clay target shooting range and "The Range" function centre, at 308 Copland Street. The centre, which opened in October 2018, was made possible through a NSW Government grant of $5.5 million.
"Wagga Effect"
The "Wagga Effect" is a term that has been used frequently in the Australian media to describe the disproportionately large number of elite sportsmen and women that originate from the city. It is speculated that the phenomenon may arise in rural areas where the population is large enough to sustain the presence of a large number of sporting codes, but small enough to ensure that talented individuals are exposed to adult-level competition at an earlier age.
Notable sportspeople from Wagga include:
* 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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...
– Wayne Carey
Wayne Francis Carey (born 27 May 1971) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the North Melbourne Football Club and Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
A dual-premiership captain at North Melbourne ...
, Paul Hawke, Paul Kelly, Bill Mohr, Cameron Mooney, John Pitura, Adam Schneider, Matt Suckling, Isaac Smith, Harry Cunningham, Dougal Howard, Harry Himmelberg
Harrison George Himmelberg (born 8 May 1996) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Early life
Himmelberg was born in Wagga Wagga in the Riverina an ...
, Gabrielle Colvin and Ally Morphett
* Cricket
Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
– Geoff Lawson, Michael Slater, and Mark Taylor
* Golf – US PGA Championship
The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. The PGA is one of the four men's major golf champi ...
winner Steve Elkington
* Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...
– jockey Scobie Breasley
* Rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
– Greg Brentnall, Ben Cross
Harry Bernard Cross (16 December 1947 – 18 August 2020) was an English actor. He was best known for his portrayal of the British Olympic athlete Harold Abrahams in the 1981 film ''Chariots of Fire'' and for playing Billy Flynn in the or ...
, Marc Glanville, Chris Mortimer, Peter Mortimer, Steve Mortimer, Jamie Soward
Jamie Soward (born 13 November 1984) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer, and the former head-coach of St. George Illawarra Dragons Women in the NRLW.
A New South Wales State of Origin and Indigenous All-Stars rep ...
, and Peter Sterling
* Rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
– Nathan Hines and Nathan Sharpe
Nathan Sharpe (born 26 February 1978) is a retired professional Australian rugby union player. He began his rugby career at the Queensland Reds in 1999 before joining the newly created Western Force in 2006, where he captained the club until hi ...
* Rugby sevens
Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...
– Alicia Quirk
* Soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
– Australia women's national soccer team
The Australia women's national soccer team is overseen by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is currently a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the regional ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) s ...
representative Sally Shipard
* Tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
– Tony Roche
Anthony Dalton Roche Order of Australia, AO Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 17 May 1945) is an Australian former professional tennis player.
A native of Tarcutta, Roche played junior tennis in the New South Wales regional city of Wagga ...
, 1966 French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
champion, and later a coach, is from Tarcutta
Tarcutta is a town in south-western New South Wales, Australia. The town is south-west of Sydney, east of the Hume Highway, It was proclaimed as a village on 28 October 1890. As of 2016, the town had a population of 446.
It serves a local farm ...
near Wagga
* Triathlon
A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the ...
– Brad Kahlefeldt
Bradley Kahlefeldt (born 27 July 1979) is an Australian triathlete born in Temora, NSW. Kahlefeldt has lived in the city of Wagga Wagga since 1982. Brad now splits his time between the Gold Coast and France during the European su ...
, Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist, Olympian, and World Champion
* Snooker
Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...
– Quinten Hann, former Elite 'Top 16' player and world championship quarter-finalist.
In 1993, the City of Wagga Wagga
City of Wagga Wagga is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the Riverina region of southern New South Wales, Australia.
The mayor of the City of Wagga Wagga is Councillor, Cr. Dallas Tout, an Independent politician, indepen ...
instituted a Sporting Hall of Fame as part of the Museum of the Riverina dedicated to the elite sportspeople from Wagga Wagga and the surrounding area.[ and ]
5 o'clock wave
According to the local urban myth, at precisely 5 o'clock a giant wave moves down the Murrumbidgee River, a result of water being released from the Blowering and Burrinjuck Dams. The wave is said to continue down river at high speed, and visitors are told it is so powerful that surfers can ride it along the meandering river until it reaches the town of Narrandera
Narrandera ( ), until around 1949 also spelled "Narandera", is a town located in the central Riverina region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The town lies on the junction of the Newell Highway, Newell and Sturt Highway, Sturt highwa ...
.
Recreation and culture
Recreation
The Murrumbidgee River
The Murrumbidgee River () is a major tributary of the Murray River within the Murray–Darling basin and the second longest river in Australia. It flows through the Australian state of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, desce ...
at Wagga Wagga forms into a large sandy beach, and is a popular location for swimming, picnics and barbecue
Barbecue or barbeque (often shortened to BBQ worldwide; barbie or barby in Australia and New Zealand) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that employ live fire and smoke to coo ...
s during the warmer months. Between 1977 and 1995 the beach played host to the Gumi Races, where people were encouraged to make rafts from inner tubing and sabotage their competition by throwing rotten eggs and flour at them.[Morris, p. 261.] Visitors and local residents still take every opportunity during the warmer months to float down the river from the area known as "The Rocks" some 600 metres upstream from the main beach area.
Wollundry Lagoon, Lake Albert and parks provide recreational facilities. Sporting facilities include the Oasis Regional Aquatic Centre, with Australia's only wave ball. Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre and the Forum 6 Cinemas provide entertainment venues. The Wagga Wagga Botanic Gardens
Wagga Wagga Botanic Gardens, Australia are located in the Wagga Wagga suburb of Turvey Park on a site on the south western slopes of Willans Hill Reserve. Access to the gardens is via Macleay Street near the corner of Lord Baden Powell Drive ...
are home to a music bowl, a small zoo with a walk through aviary, a tree chapel, Willans Hill Miniature Railway
Willans Hill Miniature Railway is a rideable miniature railway located in Wagga Wagga Botanic Gardens in the suburb of Turvey Park, New South Wales, Turvey Park in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia.
The ra ...
and a camellia
''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in tropical and subtropical areas in East Asia, eastern and South Asia, southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are ...
garden. Located on the banks of the Wollundry lagoon and officially opened in 1927, the Victory Memorial Gardens were established amidst some controversy as a tribute to those who fought and died in World War I.
Culture
The main cultural precinct for Wagga Wagga can be found in central Wagga Wagga, at the Wagga Wagga Civic Centre on the banks of Wollundry Lagoon. The precinct includes the Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre, Museum of the Riverina, Wagga Wagga Art Gallery (incorporating the National Art Glass Gallery) and Wagga Wagga City Library.
The Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre was officially opened in 1963 at a cost of £165,000. During its design and construction and again after opening the theatre was the subject of severe criticism. Critics lamented the destruction of rose gardens removed to allow construction, the size of the orchestra pit, the amount of seating (497 seats) as well as the design of the feature mural. A considerable refurbishment was carried out in the 1990s and now the theatre is regarded as one of the best in regional Australia, playing host to national and international touring acts.
The Wagga Wagga Art Gallery hosts local collections and travelling exhibitions and has space for an artist in residence
Artist-in-residence (also Writer-in-residence), or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs that involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs that pr ...
. The centrepiece of the collection is the National Art Glass Gallery, a nationally significant collection of studio art glass hosted in a separate, specially designed gallery. The collection was first established by the former director of the Wagga Wagga Regional Art Gallery, Judy Le Lievre, in response to a request by the Australia Council
Creative Australia, formerly known as the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia.
The council was announ ...
for regional galleries to develop a specialised collection to avoid duplication and competition. The collection consists of around 400 works, making it the largest studio glass collection in Australia.
The Museum of the Riverina was established in 1967 by the Wagga Wagga and District Historical Society. Wagga Wagga City Council took over its operations in the late 1990s and it now operates at two sites. The Historic Council Chambers site on the corner of Baylis and Morrow streets in central Wagga, hosts travelling exhibitions and the main site at the Botanic Gardens is home to the main collection including the Wagga Wagga Sporting Hall of Fame. The museum has an important collection of memorabilia about the Tichborne Case, including a set of four rare plaster figurines depicting characters from the trial, a complete set of hard-bound court transcripts and a monumental painting entitled ''The Tichborne Trial'' painted in 1874 by Nathan Hughes, which hangs in the city's council chambers.
The Wagga Wagga Jazz Festival was established in 1995 and has featured a range of Australian and international musicians. Established in 1976 as the Riverina Trucking Company and renamed in 1983, the Riverina Theatre Company is one of Australia's longest running regional theatre companies and runs a full program of events each year at the Riverina Playhouse, which is located on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River and owned by Charles Sturt University.
Notable artists and performers from Wagga Wagga include poet Dame
''Dame'' is a traditionally British honorific title given to women who have been admitted to certain orders of chivalry. It is the female equivalent of ''Sir'', the title used by knights. Baronet, Baronetesses Suo jure, in their own right also u ...
Mary Gilmore
Dame Mary Jean Gilmore (née Cameron; 16 August 18653 December 1962) was an Australian writer and journalist known for her prolific contributions to Australian literature and the broader national discourse. She wrote both prose and poetry.
Gi ...
, who is featured on the Australian ten-dollar note
The Australian ten-dollar note was one of the four original decimal banknotes (excluding the Australian five-dollar note) that were issued when the currency was changed from the Australian pound to the Australian dollar on 14 February 1966 ...
and veteran actor Bill Kerr
William Henry Kerr (10 June 1922 – 28 August 2014) was a British and Australian actor, comedian and vaudevillian.
Born in South Africa, he started his career as a child actor in Australia, before emigrating to Britain after the Second World W ...
. Former Yellow Wiggle, Sam Moran
Samuel Alexander Moran (born 4 April 1978) is an Australian entertainer best known for having been a member of the children's band the Wiggles from 2006 to 2012.
Early life
Moran was born on April 4, 1978, in Sydney, New South Wales, and he wa ...
, is from Wagga Wagga, having replaced the original Yellow Wiggle, Greg Page, in November 2006.[ ] The fictional creation of satirist Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries (17 February 1934 – 22 April 2023) was an Australian comedian, actor, author and satirist. He was best known for writing and playing his stage and television characters Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson. He appeare ...
, Dame Edna Everage
Dame Edna Everage, often known simply as Dame Edna, is a character created and portrayed by Australian comedian Barry Humphries, known for her lilac-coloured ("wisteria hue") hair and cat eye glasses ("face furniture"); her favourite flower, ...
was said to have been born in Wagga Wagga.
Frank Ottenson wrote a song ''Wagga Wagga'' about the city in 1942, calling it a 'Riverina paradise'. It was recorded by Tom Davidson and his Orchestra.
Wagga has strong cultural ties with three international sister cities which form part of a twinning program. Wagga's sister cities are Leavenworth, Kansas
Leavenworth () is the county seat and largest city of Leavenworth County, Kansas, Leavenworth County, Kansas, United States. Part of the Kansas City metropolitan area, Leavenworth is located on the west bank of the Missouri River, on the site o ...
in the United States, which was established in 1962; Nördlingen
Nördlingen (; Swabian: ''Nearle'' or ''Nearleng'') is a town in the Donau-Ries district, in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, with a population of approximately 20,674. It is located approximately east of Stuttgart, and northwest of Munich. It was ...
in Germany, established in 1967; and Kunming
Kunming is the capital and largest city of the province of Yunnan in China. The political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province, Kunming is also the seat of the provincial government. During World War II, Kunming was a Ch ...
in China, mutually established in 1988.
In April 2020, The Wagga council voted to cut ties with China's Kunming city. A week later they voted again, rejoining Kunming as a sister city.
File:Henry's Tunnel, Wagga Wagga.jpg, "Henry's Tunnel" on the Willans Hill Miniature Railway
Willans Hill Miniature Railway is a rideable miniature railway located in Wagga Wagga Botanic Gardens in the suburb of Turvey Park, New South Wales, Turvey Park in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia.
The ra ...
File:Wagga Wagga Historic Council Chambers on the corner of Baylis St (Trimmed).jpg, The former Council Chambers
Image:Rotary Peace Monument.jpg, The Wagga Rotary Peace Monument
Literary links
Wagga has captured the interest of writers, novelists and songwriters over the years. Specifically the city's international notoriety surrounding Arthur Orton and the Tichborne Case attracted a visit from Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...
when he visited Australia in the 1890s. Wagga has been home to a number of famous Australian writers, including Frank Moorhouse
Frank Thomas Moorhouse (21 December 1938 – 26 June 2022) was an Australian writer who won major national prizes for the short story, the novel, the essay and for script writing. His work has been published in the United Kingdom, France and t ...
who worked as a journalist on the city's daily newspaper, and the poets Mary Gilmore
Dame Mary Jean Gilmore (née Cameron; 16 August 18653 December 1962) was an Australian writer and journalist known for her prolific contributions to Australian literature and the broader national discourse. She wrote both prose and poetry.
Gi ...
and Barcroft Boake.
Humourist Spike Milligan
Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright and actor. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British India, where he spent his ...
was quite taken with the double-barrelled names of Australian towns, and presented a show called "Australia: From Woy Woy to Wagga Wagga".
In other cases the town's name has been directly referred to as part of the content of songs and novels. For example, the song ''Don't call Wagga Wagga Wagga'', written by Australian country music
Australian country music is a part of the music of Australia. There is a broad range of styles, from bluegrass, to yodeling to folk to the more popular. The genre has been influenced by Celtic and English folk music, the Australian bush balla ...
artists Greg Champion
Greg Champion (born 1955) is an Australian songwriter, guitarist, and radio personality.
Biography
Born in Benalla, Victoria, Champion is most recognised for his work as part of the Coodabeen Champions as a songwriter and guitarist. Greg often ...
and Jim Haynes, was a minor hit on the Australian country charts and is a light-hearted take on the habit of Australians to refer to double named towns by one name only. Other examples include the ''Harry Potter
''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...
'' series of fantasy novels, where the character Gilderoy Lockhart claimed to have defeated the "Wagga Wagga Werewolf", the Bryce Courtenay
Arthur Bryce Courtenay, (14 August 1933 – 22 November 2012) was a South African-Australian advertising director and novelist. He is one of Australia's best-selling authors, notable for his book '' The Power of One''.
Background and early ye ...
book '' The Power of One'', where the main character Peekay is said to have a cousin Lenny from Wagga Wagga Australia, the Bryce Courtenay
Arthur Bryce Courtenay, (14 August 1933 – 22 November 2012) was a South African-Australian advertising director and novelist. He is one of Australia's best-selling authors, notable for his book '' The Power of One''.
Background and early ye ...
book '' Jessica'' has several passages that take place in Wagga Wagga, including the judgement of Billy Simple, and the Robert G. Barrett novel, ''"Mud Crab Boogie"'' which is partially set in Wagga Wagga.
Media
As a regional centre for the Riverina
The Riverina ()
is an agricultural list of regions in Australia, region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, a climate with significant seaso ...
and South West Slopes
The South Western Slopes, also known as the South West Slopes, is a region predominantly in New South Wales, Australia. It covers the lower inland slopes of the Great Dividing Range, extending from north of Dunedoo through central NSW and into ...
, Wagga Wagga is home to a number of regional media outlets.
Wagga receives the ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting
* Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
's four free-to-air national television channels ABC TV (formerly ABC1), ABC Family
American cable television, cable and satellite television network Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through four different owners and six different name changes dur ...
(formerly ABC TV Plus, ABC Comedy
ABC Family is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and part of its ABC Television network. The channel broadcasts a range of family and teen entertainment programming. The channel oper ...
and ABC2
ABC Family is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and part of its ABC Television network. The channel broadcasts a range of family and teen entertainment programming. The channel oper ...
) together with ABC Kids (formerly ABC 4 Kids), ABC Entertains
ABC Entertains is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It was launched on 4 December 2009 as a children's channel called ABC3. It was rebranded on 19 September 2016 to ABC ME. It rebra ...
(formerly ABC Me and ABC Me and ABC3) and ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to:
* ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
* ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company
ABC News may a ...
(formerly ABC News 24), as well as SBS's six television channels SBS TV
SBS TV (Seoul Broadcasting System Television) is a South Korean free-to-air television channel operated by Seoul Broadcasting System. The channel was launched on 9 December 1991. Unlike competing network MBC, SBS operates using a federalized ...
, SBS Viceland
SBS Viceland (stylised as SBS VICELAND) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). It began as SBS TWO on 1 June 2009, and was branded as SBS 2 between 2013 and 2016. On 8 April 2017, SBS V ...
(formerly SBS Two and SBS 2), SBS Food
SBS Food (formerly Food Network) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). The channel airs programs about food and cooking, from cultures around the world.
History
SBS first ...
(formerly Food Network
Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery, who manages and operates it as a division of the Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks Group. The channel airs both televi ...
), SBS World Movies
SBS World Movies is an Australian free-to-air television channel showing international movies. The channel features foreign language films, documentaries, independent, annual films, art films and mainstream cinema and interviews with intern ...
, SBS WorldWatch
SBS WorldWatch is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). The channel shows multilingual international news bulletins in more than 30 languages, as well as two local bulletins ...
and NITV
National Indigenous Television (NITV) is an Australian free-to-air television channel that broadcasts programming produced and presented largely by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It includes the six-day-a-week ''NITV News Updat ...
.
The commercial networks' main channels are Seven Network
Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...
from Seven Regional (formerly Prime7 and Prime Television), Nine Network
Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...
from WIN Television
WIN Television is an Australian television broadcasting, Australian television network owned and operated by WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single television stat ...
(formerly carried by Southern Cross Austereo
Southern Cross Media Group Limited, Trade name, doing business as Southern Cross Austereo, is an Australian media company which operates broadcast radio and Terrestrial television, television stations. It is the largest radio broadcaster in Au ...
) and Network Ten
Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...
from Network 10
Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's UK & Australia division and is one of the five national free-to-a ...
(formerly carried by WIN Television and Southern Cross Austereo) and the commercial networks' multi channels 7two, 7mate
7mate is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Seven Network on 25 September 2010. The channel contains sport and regular programs aimed primarily to a male audience, with programming drawn from a c ...
, 7Bravo
7Bravo is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Seven Network under license from NBCUniversal International Networks on 15 January 2023. The channel contains programming from NBCUniversal's Americ ...
(stylised as 7bravo in the logo) and 7flix
7flix is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Seven Network on 28 February 2016.
7flix targets a variety of viewers and offers drama, comedy, reality, docusoap, and movies.
History
On 18 Decembe ...
from Seven Regional (formerly Prime7 and Prime Television), 9Go!
9Go! is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Nine Network on 9 August 2009, replacing Nine Guide. It is a youthful channel that offers a mix of comedy, reality, general entertainment, movies, anima ...
, 9Gem
9Gem is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, launched by the Nine Network in September 2010. The channel provides general entertainment and movie programming, from which the original name "GEM" is derived.
History
The la ...
and 9Life
9Life is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel owned by Nine Entertainment. The channel airs mostly foreign lifestyle and reality programs, with the channel having a licensing agreement with Discovery Inc. (previously Scr ...
from WIN Television (formerly carried by Southern Cross Austereo) and Sky News Regional
Sky News Australia is an Australian news channel owned by News Corp Australia. Originally launched on 19 February 1996, it broadcasts rolling news coverage throughout the day, while its prime time lineup is dedicated to opinion-based programs fe ...
, 10 Bold Drama
10 Bold Drama (set to rebrand as 10 Drama in 2025) is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel owned by Network 10. It originally launched on 26 March 2009 as One HD with a focus on broadcasting sports-based programming and eve ...
(formerly One
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...
, One HD, 10 Boss and 10 Bold), 10 Peach Comedy
10 Peach Comedy (set to rebrand as 10 Comedy in 2025) is an Australian free-to-air television channel operated by Network 10. It was launched on 11 January 2011 as Eleven. It is owned by ElevenCo, which was established as a joint venture betwee ...
(formerly 10 Peach and Eleven
Eleven or 11 may refer to:
*11 (number)
* One of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011
Literature
* ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn
*''Eleven'', a 1970 collection of short stories by Patricia Highsmith
*''Eleven'' ...
) and Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...
from Network 10 (formerly carried by WIN Television and Southern Cross Austereo).
Of the three main commercial networks:
*Seven News
Seven News (stylised 7NEWS) is the television news service of the Seven Network and, as of 2021, the highest-rating in Australia.
National bulletins are presented from Seven's high definition studios in South Eveleigh, Sydney, while its flags ...
(formerly Prime7 News and Prime News) produces a half-hour local news bulletin for the Riverina
The Riverina ()
is an agricultural list of regions in Australia, region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, a climate with significant seaso ...
, airing each weeknight at 6pm. It is produced from a local newsroom in Wagga Wagga and broadcast from studios in Canberra
Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...
.
*Network 10
Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's UK & Australia division and is one of the five national free-to-a ...
(formerly Southern Cross 10) airs short local news updates throughout the day, broadcast from studios in Hobart. Previously, a regional New South Wales edition of ''Nine News
Nine News (stylized as 9News) is a national News agency, news service on the Nine Network in Australia. Its flagship program is an hour-long ''9News'' bulletin at 6:00 pm, with editions produced by Nine's owned-and-operated stations in TCN, S ...
'' from Sydney each weeknight at 6pm, featuring opt-outs for Wagga Wagga and the Riverina when the station was affiliated with the Nine Network.
*WIN Television
WIN Television is an Australian television broadcasting, Australian television network owned and operated by WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single television stat ...
aired a half-hour local bulletin until the closure of its Wagga Wagga newsroom in June 2019. Between June 2019 and June 2021 the station produced short news updates throughout the day from its Wollongong
Wollongong ( ; Dharawal: ''Woolyungah'') is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near water' or 'sound ...
studios. From July 2021, the Wagga Wagga newsroom was reopened, with the stories now inserted into a statewide bulletin which airs across the broadcast area on the network.
Local radio stations broadcasting from Wagga Wagga include ABC Riverina, AM radio
AM broadcasting is radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation (AM) transmissions. It was the first method developed for making audio radio transmissions, and is still used worldwide, primarily for medium wave (also known as "AM band") transmi ...
commercial station Triple M Riverina
Triple M Riverina (ACMA call sign 2WG) is an Australian radio station which transmits on 1152 kHz on the AM band. It is licensed to the city of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. The station was originally owned by Eric Vernon Roberts and his secon ...
(callsign 2WG, 1152kHz), FM radio
FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting that uses frequency modulation (FM) of the radio broadcast carrier wave. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to transmit high fidelity, high-f ...
commercial station Hit93.1 Riverina, racing and sports station Sky Sports Radio and a rebroadcast from radio reading service Radio 1RPH. Other local stations include Christian radio
Christian radio refers to Christian media radio formats that focus on Christian religious broadcasting or various forms of Christian music. Many such formats and programs include contemporary Christian music, gospel music, sermons, radio dramas, ...
station Life FM and the community station 2AAA FM. The ABC's national stations ABC Radio National
ABC Radio National, more commonly known as Radio National or simply RN, is an Australian nationwide public service radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. ...
, ABC Classic FM
ABC Classic, formerly ABC-FM (also ABC Fine Music), and then ABC Classic FM, is an Australian classical music radio station available in Australia and internationally. Its website features classical music news, features and listening guides. I ...
, ABC NewsRadio
ABC NewsRadio, since 2017 broadcast under the ABC News brand and for a short time known as ABC News on Radio, is a 24-hour news radio service broadcast by the Australian public broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). ABC ...
and Triple J
Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...
and the multicultural network SBS Radio
SBS Radio is an Australian radio network owned by the Special Broadcasting Service directed towards newly arrived immigrants in Australia. It originally began as two stations based in Melbourne and Sydney, set up to provide pre-recorded informa ...
are broadcast into Wagga Wagga.
'' The Daily Advertiser'', published Monday to Friday and its sister publication, ''the Weekend Advertiser'', service Wagga and much of the surrounding region. The newspaper was established by two wealthy local pastoralists, Auber George Jones and Thomas Darlow[Morris, p. 62.] and first printed on 10 December 1868 by editor Frank Hutchison, an Oxford
Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town.
The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
graduate. Originally printed bi-weekly, by 1880 it was tri-weekly and became 'daily' in December 1910. In 1962 the newspaper reduced in size from a broadsheet
A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of in height. Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper ...
to a tabloid format. ''The Riverina Leader'', the local free community newspaper was launched in May 1979.
Notable people
*Sharna Burgess
Sharna May Burgess (born 21 June 1985) is an Australian ballroom dancer who is best known for being a professional partner and troupe member on the ABC series ''Dancing with the Stars''. She is the winner of season 27 of American television sh ...
(Dancing with the Stars
''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...
professional dancer)
*Wayne Carey
Wayne Francis Carey (born 27 May 1971) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the North Melbourne Football Club and Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
A dual-premiership captain at North Melbourne ...
AFL (North Melbourne FC and 2x Premiership player)
*Dame Edna Everage
Dame Edna Everage, often known simply as Dame Edna, is a character created and portrayed by Australian comedian Barry Humphries, known for her lilac-coloured ("wisteria hue") hair and cat eye glasses ("face furniture"); her favourite flower, ...
(Satirical figure)
* Carmel Kaine (Classical violinist)
* Paul Kelly (Former 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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...
er, Brownlow Medal
The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as Charlie), is awarded to the best and fairest player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by the f ...
winner and captain of the Sydney Swans
The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a Austral ...
for ten seasons)
*Bill Kerr
William Henry Kerr (10 June 1922 – 28 August 2014) was a British and Australian actor, comedian and vaudevillian.
Born in South Africa, he started his career as a child actor in Australia, before emigrating to Britain after the Second World W ...
(Australian actor and co-star of the BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
radio comedy Hancock's Half Hour
''Hancock's Half Hour'' was a BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy series, broadcast from 1954 to 1961 and written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The radio series starred Tony Hancock, with Sidney James, Bill Kerr and,at various ...
)
*Nina Las Vegas
Nina Elizabeth Agzarian (born 18 December 1984), known professionally by her stage name Nina Las Vegas, is an Australian radio host, DJ and music producer. From 2009 to 2014 she was the host of ''House Party'' on national radio station Triple J ...
(DJ)
* Geoff Lawson (Cricketer)
*Jack Littlejohn
Jack Littlejohn (born 8 November 1991) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who last played for the Salford Red Devils in the Super League. He previously played for the Wests Tigers and the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles in the Nat ...
(Rugby league player)
*Lex Marinos
Alexander Francis Marinos (1 February 194913 September 2024) was an Australian actor and television director, radio personality and voice artist. He was most notable for his role as Bruno, in the 1980s television series '' Kingswood Country''.
...
(Actor)
*Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, and musician. Known for Steve Martin filmography, his work in comedy films, television, and #Discography, recording, he has received List of awards a ...
(Rugby league player)
* Jada Mathyssen-Whyman (Soccer player for the Australia national team)
* Michael McCormack (18th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
The deputy prime minister of Australia is the deputy Chief executive officer, chief executive and the Deputy prime minister, second highest ranking officer of the Australian Government. The office of deputy prime minister was officially creat ...
)
*Sam Moran
Samuel Alexander Moran (born 4 April 1978) is an Australian entertainer best known for having been a member of the children's band the Wiggles from 2006 to 2012.
Early life
Moran was born on April 4, 1978, in Sydney, New South Wales, and he wa ...
(former member of the children's musical group The Wiggles
The Wiggles are an Australian children's music group formed in Sydney in 1991. As of 2022, the group members are Anthony Field, Lachlan Gillespie, Simon Pryce, Tsehay Hawkins, Evie Ferris, John Pearce (entertainer), John Pearce, Caterina Mete ...
)
* William Monks (Architect)
* Chris Mortimer (Rugby league player)
* Peter Mortimer (Rugby league player)
*Arthur Orton
Arthur Orton (20 March 1834 – 1 April 1898) was an English man who has generally been identified by legal historians and commentators as the Tichborne case, "Tichborne Claimant", who in two celebrated court cases both fascinated and shocke ...
( Imposter of the late 19th century)
* Alicia Quirk ( Australian Women's Rugby sevens player and 2016 Summer Olympics
The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...
gold medal winner)
*Tony Roche
Anthony Dalton Roche Order of Australia, AO Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 17 May 1945) is an Australian former professional tennis player.
A native of Tarcutta, Roche played junior tennis in the New South Wales regional city of Wagga ...
( 1966 French Open tennis champion)
*Nathan Sharpe
Nathan Sharpe (born 26 February 1978) is a retired professional Australian rugby union player. He began his rugby career at the Queensland Reds in 1999 before joining the newly created Western Force in 2006, where he captained the club until hi ...
(Rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
player)
* Michael Slater (Cricketer)
* Peter Sterling (Rugby League player and TV commentator)
* Mark Taylor (Australian cricket
Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
captain)
See also
* The Bee Gees
''The'' is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the ...
– who wrote "Morning of My Life" at the Wagga Police Boys Club
* Chiko Roll – first sold in 1951 at the Wagga Wagga show
* Eric Weissel Oval
* Eurythmics
Eurythmics were a British New wave music, new wave duo formed in 1980, consisting of Scottish vocalist Annie Lennox and English musician and producer Dave Stewart (Eurythmics), Dave Stewart. They were both previously in the Tourists, a band t ...
– who formed in Wagga Wagga
*
*List of reduplicated Australian place names
These names are examples of reduplication, a common theme in Australian toponymy, especially in names derived from Indigenous Australian languages such as Wiradjuri language, Wiradjuri. Reduplication is often used as an intensifier such as "Wag ...
* List of people from Wagga Wagga
*List of Wagga Wagga suburbs and localities
A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
* Mortimer family
* Murrumbidgee Co-operative Milling
* Pulletop bushfire
* Wagga Wagga War Cemetery
* Wagga Wagga Leagues Club
Notes
References
*
Further reading
*
External links
* Official Guides
*
Wagga Wagga City Council Homepage
* Culture
*
Art Gallery & National Art Glass Collection
*
Civic Theatre
*
Riverina Theatre Company
*
Museum of the Riverina
*
Jazz Festival
* Climate
*
Wagga Wagga Weather (Bureau of Meteorology)
* Imagery
WikiSatellite view of Wagga Wagga at WikiMapia
*
Google Maps: Wagga Wagga – satellite photograph
{{Authority control
1849 establishments in Australia
Populated places established in 1849
Towns in the Riverina
Populated places on the Murrumbidgee River