Murrumbidgee River levy

Wagga Wagga Courthouse

Hampden Bridge, Wagga Wagga

Temora Aviation Museum

Junee Railway Roundhouse Museum

The uniquely Australian fast food, the Chiko Roll, was first sold in 1951 at the Wagga Wagga show.

The Bee Gees wrote "Morning of My Life" at the Wagga Police Boys Club (renamed the Wagga Police and Community Youth Club).

In the book and movie Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Gilderoy Lockhart claimed to have defeated the Wagga Wagga Werewolf.

In the children's TV series Pound Puppies, Wagga Wagga was the name of the puppies' utopia.

In Bryce Courtney's book The Power of One, the main character Peekay is said to have a cousin Lenny from Wagga Wagga Australia.

The Robert G. Barrett novel, "Mud Crab Boogie" is partially set in Wagga Wagga.

Qantas Airlines have a Boeing 747-338 (VH-EBT) called the City of Wagga Wagga.

Wagga Wagga is the state's largest and the country's fifth largest inland city, an important agricultural, military, educational and transport hub of Australia.

Where is it?: New South Wales: Riverina. Wagga Wagga is 517 km south west of Sydney and 147 km from Albury on the Sturt Highway. The city is on the main Sydney-Melbourne railway line and is approximately half way between the two major cities.

Things to see and do:

Established in 1977, the Charles Sturt Winery is a producer of premium varietal table wines. It is an integral part of Australia's leading wine science school and as such is at the forefront of viticulture practices and wine making techniques. The Cellar Door has tasting and sales of our premium sparkling, table and fortified wines, hand made cheeses, and locally produced extra virgin olive oil from one of the oldest olive groves in Australia. There are five other wineries in the region that have cellar doors.

Situated in the Botanic Gardens, the Willans Hill Miniature Railway runs through the gardens and features an authentic station and booking office. The track runs through woodlands, a tunnel and over a bridge. It operates between 10.30am and 4.30pm on the first and third Sunday of each month.

There are a number of museums around town - Museum of the Riverina (includes Wagga Wagga Sporting Hall of Fame), Botanic Gardens; Australian Pen Museum; Wagga Wagga Rail Heritage Association Museum; Steam And Vintage Museum (every 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month); RAAF Museum (includes numerous aircraft).

Surrounding area:

One of Australia's finest regional museums, Temora Aviation Museum, at Temora (85km north) displays 16 military aircraft of historical significance to Australia. Aircraft Showcase Days are held on the first and third Saturday of every month with the aim of providing visitors with a personal, interactive and in-depth experience with some of the Museum’s aircraft. Visitors will witness the aircraft being towed from the hangar and watch the pre-flight inspection, servicing and refuelling as it takes place in front of them, before the aircraft takes flight. More >>

An old railway town, Junee (30km north) has long been a favourite with visitors, boasting one of the southern hemispheres largest operating railway roundhouses, and its adjunct museum the Junee Railway Roundhouse Museum - with engines and rolling stock from every era of Australian rail. The Junee Licorice and Chocolate Factory has become a Junee icon, with its specialty organic flours and bread mixes and its flourishing organic licorice and chocolate manufacturing business. More >>

About Wagga Wagga

The city of Wagga Wagga provides the central focus for a large catchment region of rural New South Wales and is the centre of administration for the Riverina region. It is home to 22 primary schools, eight secondary schools, a regional Institute of TAFE with 18 campuses and one of the four main campuses of Charles Sturt University, as well as Wagga Wagga Base Hospital, the Kapooka Army base and a separate RAAF base, adjoining the airport. Wagga is 246 kilometres from Canberra and 456 kilometres from Melbourne.
The city's name is one of Australia's unique oddities - it is spelt Wagga Wagga, it is pronounced Wogga Wogga, but is referred to as Wagga (pronounced Wogga). Wagga and derivatives of that word in the Wiradjuri aboriginal language is thought to mean crow and to create the plural, the Wiradjuri repeat the word. Thus 'Wagga Wagga' translates to 'the place of many crows'. Previous translations have also attributed the word 'wagga' to meaning, 'reeling (a sick man or a dizzy man); to dance, slide or grind'.
The central business district of Wagga is focused around the commercial and recreational grid bounded by Best and Tarcutta Streets and the Murrumbidgee River and the Sturt Highway. The main shopping streets of Wagga Wagga are Baylis and Fitzmaurice Streets. Wagga Wagga has a large catchment population as it is the administrative centre of the Riverina. Wagga Wagga draws visitors from towns in the Riverina and Southwest Slopes such as Leeton, Griffith, Narrandera, Deniliquin, Coleambally, Junee, The Rock, Coolamon and Tumut.
Wagga has a number of connections with Australia's military forces. The Australian Army base at Kapooka includes the Army Recruit Training Centre, where non-commissioned members of the Australian Regular Army undertake their initial 80 day training. There is a separate Royal Australian Air Force (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 trades school. Royal Australian Navy personnel are based at RAAF Base Wagga. The RAAF's No 1 Recruit Training Unit will also move to the base at the start of 2008.

Climate: Wagga Wagga has four distinct seasons (Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer), with hot dry summers and cold winters. Frost and fog is very common in Wagga Wagga during the winter. While snow has been reported in the past, it is a very rare occurrence.

The "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.
According to local legend Wagga's sporting success is due to a mystery nutrient in the Murrumbidgee River, washed down the river when water is released from the Blowering and Burrinjuck Dams. According to the legend it arrives at Wagga Beach as a giant wave, known as the Five O'clock Wave, which surfers can ride all the way to Narrandera.
The 5 o'clock wave is a part of local lore in some areas of Australia. In common with most similar lore, it serves primarily to confuse outsiders and amuse locals. The tale is common to rural riverine areas located downstream from major dams, particularly those with rivers that have the Snowy Mountains as their source. It is particularly associated with Wagga Wagga. The 5 o'clock wave is supposedly a large wave, several metres in height and created by the daily release of dam overflow, that is said to travel down river at high speed, and to reach the location at which the tale is being told at 5 o'clock each afternoon. Surfers are often said to ride this wave for hundreds of kilometres. This apocryphal wave is the man-made equivalent of the natural, and genuine, tidal bore phenomenon.
Consequently, Wagga is known as The City of Good Sports Its sporting greats include Scobie Breasley (Jockey); Greg Brentnall (Rugby League footballer); Wayne Carey (Australian rules footballer); Terry Daniher (Australian rules footballer); Brett Eisenhauer (Pro wakeboarding, Australian and International); Steve Elkington (Golfer); Nathan Hines (Rugby Union footballer); Brad Kahlefeldt (2006 Commonwealth Games Triathlon Gold Medallist); Paul Kelly (Australian rules footballer); Geoff Lawson (Cricketer); Cameron Mooney (Australian rules footballer); Chris Mortimer (Rugby League footballer); Peter Mortimer (Rugby League footballer); Steve Mortimer (Rugby League footballer); Tony Roche (Tennis player); Nathan Sharpe (Rugby Union footballer); Michael Slater (Cricketer); Peter Sterling (Rugby League footballer & TV presenter/sports commentator); Mark Taylor (Cricketer); Melanie Twitt (Hockey player).
As well as sports stars, Wagga Wagga is the home town of many other famous people, including Fictional Character Dame Edna Everage; Sir Thomas Blamey (World War 2 general and Australia's first and only Field-Marshal); Geoff Dixon (Qantas CEO); John Hurst Edmondson (Australia's first World War 2 Victoria Cross recipient); Dame Mary Gilmore (Socialist, Poet and Journalist); Bill Kerr (Actor); George Moore (Sydney Radio Presenter); Sam Moran (Yellow Wiggle).

History: The original Aboriginal inhabitants of the Wagga Wagga region were the Wiradjuri people. The first white people to travel over the site of present day Wagga Wagga were Captain Charles Sturt and his men in 1829.
Settlers started arriving in the Wagga Wagga area soon after Charles Sturt's expedition and by 1831 there were people living in the area. During this time the Wagga Wagga 'run' was established on the south bank of the Murrumbidgee River whilst on the north bank the Eunonyhareenyha 'run' was established. By 23 November 1849 when the settlement was gazetted as a village, a number of buildings had been erected on the Wagga Wagga 'run', including a hotel, blacksmith's shop, courthouse and lock-up.
In September 1859 local residents formed a committee for the construction of a bridge over the Murrumbidgee River. A number of proposals were examined in December 1859 and a pontoon bridge, submitted by Fowler Boyd Price, was in favour. The committee planned to establish a Pontoon Bridge Company with a capital of £4,000 in 200 shares of £20 but the engineering experts from the Roads Branch of the New South Wales Department of Public Works objected to the pontoon bridge. The local committee agree to build a pile bridge which was recommended by New South Wales Department of Public Works. After the New South Wales Government refused the pile bridge the committee decided to finance it themselves.

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