Wahgunyah is a town in northeastern Victoria,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The town is on the southern bank of the

Murray River The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray; Ngarrindjeri language, Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta language, Yorta Yorta: ''Dhungala'' or ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is List of rivers of Australia, Aust ...

, opposite Corowa, New South Wales, in the Shire of Indigo. Wahgunyah is north east of the state capital,

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 west of

Albury Albury (; ) is a major regional city that is located in the Murray River, Murray region of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the twin city of Albury–Wodonga, Albury-Wodonga and is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of ...

Wodonga Wodonga (pronounced ; ) is a city on the Victorian side of the border with New South Wales, north-east of Melbourne, Australia. It is part of the twin city of Albury-Wodonga and is located wholly within the boundaries of the City of Wodonga L ...

. At the , Wahgunyah had a population of 1,098. The name is believed to be an Aboriginal phrase meaning the resting place of crows.

History

Indigenous history

The Aboriginal people which inhabit the region around Corowa and Wahgunyah are the Bangarang people.

The tribe of Indigenous Australians that inhabited the Corowa area were called, in their own language, the Bangerang Tribe. The name has various spellings in English, varying all the way from Bandjalang through Panderang to Pinegorine.

Town history

The Wahgunyah cattle run was leased by John Foord and John Crisp in 1841. The township was established by Foord in 1856 and became important before the arrival of the

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

in 1879 as the furthest upstream port on the Murray. The Post Office opened on 1 July 1858 and a school opened the same year. All Saints Estate

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the cultivation and production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feat ...

to the north of town was established in 1864 by Scottish emigrants George Sutherland Smith and John Banks and its extensive cellar building was, at least in part, modelled on the Castle of Mey near Smith and Banks's home town

Caithness Caithness (; ; ) is a Shires of Scotland, historic county, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Scotland. There are two towns, being Wick, Caithness, Wick, which was the county town, and Thurso. The count ...

Industry

The main factory of Uncle Tobys, the breakfast cereal arm of

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

, is on the outskirts of Wahgunyah.

Sports and Recreation

Wahgunyah Football Club

The town has had an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

team since 1877 and Wahgunyah's first recorded match was against Corowa and was a return match against Corowa Football Club on Saturday, 16 June 1877, played "on the hill" in Corowa, with Wahgunyah winning the first encounter. Throughout 1877, there was talk of the Wahgunyah and Corowa Football Club's merging to form one stronger club and be called Border United Football Club. This merger actually took place and their first match as Border United was played against the Rutherglen Football Club in August 1877 and was captained by Jacob Levin. The Border United team wore pink and white colours. Border United FC remained in place until 1905, when they both entered stand alone teams in the Corowa District Football Association in 1906. Wahgunyah have won the following seven senior football premierships in the

Coreen & District Football League The Coreen & District Football League was an Australian rules football competition in the Coreen, New South Wales, Coreen district of the Riverina in New South Wales, initially formed in 1909. The netball competition commenced in 1972 in line w ...

- 1948, 1949, 1968, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2004. Wahgunyah played in the

Chiltern & District Football Association The Chiltern & District Football Association was first established in 1912 from six Australian Rules Football clubs—Barnawartha, Chiltern, Chiltern Valley, Christmastown, Southern and Wodonga—in North Eastern Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Aust ...

between 1920 & 1921, 1923 - 1929, 1931 - 1937, 1950, 1953 - 1956, winning senior football premierships in 1955 and 1956. At present (2021) compete in the

Tallangatta & District Football League The Tallangatta and District Football League (TDFL) is an Australian rules football competition in north-eastern Victoria (state), Victoria and the southern border area of the Riverina region of New South Wales. The clubs compete across four c ...

after having been in the

until 2007.

Other Sports

Wahgunyah was the former home of the

Corowa Cougars Corowa Cougars Rugby League Football Club is an Australian rugby league football club based on the New South Wales and Victorian border. The club is based at Corowa, New South Wales formed in late 1986. They conduct senior men's and women's te ...

rugby league club, based in nearby Corowa, who compete in the Goulburn Murray competition. The Cougars played their home fixtures on the Wahgunyah Recreation Reserve from their founding in 1987 until the early 1990s, during their time in the Group 13 Rugby League competition.

References

External links

Wahgunyah Football / Netball Club
Towns in Victoria (state) Shire of Indigo Populated places on the Murray River {{Hume-geo-stub