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Wangaratta ( ) is a city in the northeast of Victoria, Australia, from Melbourne along the Hume Highway. The city had a population of 29,808 per the 2021 Australian Census.
The city is located at the confluence of the Ovens River and King rivers, which drain the northwestern slopes of the Victorian Alps. Wangaratta is the administrative centre and the most populous city in the Rural City of Wangaratta local government area.
The first European explorers to pass through the Wangaratta area were Hume and Hovell (1824) who named the Oxley Plains immediately south of Wangaratta. Major Thomas Mitchell during his 1836 expedition made a favourable report of its potential as grazing pasture. The first squatter to arrive was Thomas Rattray in 1838 who built a hut (on the site of the Wangaratta RSL) founding a settlement known as "Ovens Crossing".
The Post Office in the area opened on 1 February 1843 as Ovens. The Ovens office, and the Kilmore office which opened the same day, were the fifth and sixth to open in the Port Phillip District and the first two inland offices.
The name Wangaratta was given by colonial surveyor Thomas Wedge in 1848 after the "Wangaratta" cattle station, the name of which is believed to have been derived from an indigenous language and meaning "nesting place of cormorants" or "meeting of the waters". The first land sales occurred shortly afterward and the population at the time was around 200. The first school was established by William Bindall on Chisholm Street with 17 students.
Gold was found nearby at Beechworth in February 1852 and by the end of the year more than 8,000 prospectors rushed the fields of Ovens and Beechworth. Wangaratta became a major service centre to these goldfields. As a result, the first bridge over the Ovens was completed in early 1855.
A seven-member council incorporated the Borough of Wangaratta on 19 June 1863.
The 1870s saw the settlement establish a number of key infrastructure and services including the first water supply. Wangaratta hospital was opened in 1871 and the fire brigade was established in 1872. The railway to Melbourne was opened on 28 October 1873.
In 1884, the railway was connected through to Sydney.
The population at the turn of the century reached 2,500 and the centre had developed an imposing streetscape of hotels, commercial public and religious buildings.
The Duke of Gloucester visited Wangaratta during his tour of Australia in 1934.
Bruck textile mills was established in 1946, employing over a thousand workers.
Wangaratta was proclaimed a city on 12 April 1959 with a population of 12,000 people. and the eccentric Art Deco courthouse.
Rain falls as thunderstorms in the summer, and in winter with cold fronts. Occasional severe are caused by hot, dry air from the central deserts of Australia moving over the area. Temperatures of and slightly above occur 2–4 times a year on average; however, heatwaves are often succeeded by cold fronts, which cause a significant drop in the temperature. Wangaratta has cool nights and mornings in the summer, due in part to its south-western location exposing it to cold airmasses off the Southern Ocean. The city gets 105.1 clear days annually, which is akin to Sydney and Wollongong, however the distribution is wildly different; Wangaratta being much sunnier from December to March, but the inverse from May to September.
Rainfall averages out to a year, most of which falls in winter with cold frontal showers; however, these can occur at any time of year; and the main form of rainfall in late spring and summer is that from thunderstorms. Extreme temperatures have ranged from on 3 January 1990 and again on 7 February 2009 to on 14 June 2006.
In September 2013 the council was sacked by the state government. Victorian Local Government Minister Jeanette Powell said this was because " Council has failed to provide effective leadership and service for the community". The council will be replaced by an administrator who will serve until the 2016 local government elections.
In state politics, Wangaratta is located in the Legislative Assembly district of Ovens Valley currently held by the National Party of Australia. Tim McCurdy is the current Member of Parliament for the Ovens Valley district.
In federal politics, Wangaratta is located in a single House of Representatives division—the Division of Indi. The Division of Indi was seen as a safe Liberal Party of Australia seat from 1977 until 2013, when the sitting member, Sophie Mirabella was defeated by independent candidate Cathy McGowan. Dr Helen Haines is currently the federal Member of Parliament for the Division of Indi, making history as the first independent candidate to succeed another independent, namely Cathy McGowan, in Federal Parliament.
Previously multi-national IBM manufactured computers in Wangaratta. IBM
There are four Australian rules football clubs in Wangaratta.
The Wangaratta Football Club, the Wangaratta Rovers Football Club, both competing in the Ovens and Murray Football League, and the North Wangaratta Football Club, which competes in the Ovens and King Football League. The close proximity of the Rovers and Wangaratta grounds reflects the historical sectarian split in membership of the clubs; Rovers membership being predominantly Catholic and Wangaratta being predominantly Protestant.
The city hosted several games for the 2005 Australian Football International Cup event, with several countries competing in the sport of Australian rules football. The event was played at the City Oval and Showgrounds and set the attendance records for the tournament to date.
Cricket in Wangaratta is organised by the Wangaratta and District Cricket Association. Clubs include City Colts, Wangaratta-Magpies & Rovers United Bruck.
Wangaratta City Football Club is a soccer club based at South Wangaratta Reserve. Founded in 1951, they compete in the Albury Wodonga Football Association.
Wangaratta Knights play rugby league in NRL Victoria.
Wangaratta has a horse racing club, the Wangaratta Turf Club, which schedules around eleven race meetings a year including the Wangaratta Cup meeting in April.
The Wangaratta Greyhound racing Club, which held regular meetings at the same venue, has been discontinued. Avian Park is no longer used.
Golfers play at the course of the Wangaratta Golf Club on Yarrawonga Road, or at the course of the Jubilee Golf Club at Wangandary nearby. A nine-hole course is at Boorhaman to the north of Wangaratta.
Between 1953 and 1956, the North Eastern Car Club ran motor racing meetings on the gravel and earth airstrip located on Wangarratta Common, south of the town centre.
The North East Windsport Club regularly sail "Land Yachts" called Blokarts (Blo-karts) at their sailing site at the nearby town of Springhurst, Victoria,
The city is home to the Northeast Bushrangers who play in the Big V basketball league. They play their home games at the Wangaratta YMCA.
Wangaratta also has its own specialist school for people with disabilities, Wangaratta District Specialist School
The Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE has two Wangaratta campuses. The Docker street campus offers a broad range of courses from business studies to music with a central area containing a cafeteria, library and student services. The Christensens Lane campus on the outskirts of Wangaratta is the home for the National Centre for Equine Education as well as providing courses in horticulture.
In 2015 the Christensens Lane campus moved to a bigger site in Tone Road. And in 2016 Charles Sturt University also added a campus there. The old Christensens Lane campus was then dismantled to make way for a new housing estate.
Rail transport services both passengers and freight. Wangaratta railway station is on the North East railway line, the main railway line between Sydney and Melbourne. It is served by the Albury V/Line rail service thrice-daily as well as the NSW TrainLink XPT service twice-daily in both directions.
Historically, Wangaratta was the busy junction of several railway branch lines including; the broad gauge 5' 3"Yackandandah railway line, a narrow gauge 2' 6" Whitfield railway line and the broad gauge 5' 3" Bright and Beechworth railway line, all of which have since closed. Another short 5' 3" gauge branch line ran west to a wheat silo located on the north side of the Ovens River at Boorhaman. The current rail line through the town is the 4' 8" standard gauge rail opened in 1962.
The Murray to the Mountains Rail Trail is a shared cycling and walking track that follows the way of the former Bright railway line. The Hume Freeway runs directly next to Wangaratta.
Wangaratta is also serviced by a small regional airport, Wangaratta Airport.
The smell was due to Van Hessen's private wastewater treatment system which included desludging activities and upset conditions in the wastewater treatment pond. The company exceeded its licence boundary and received several notices from EPA to prevent further smell and maintain stable conditions.
In December 2023, Van Hessen was found guilty in court and was ordered to provide $75,000 to an environmental improvement project in South Wangaratta.
Of the three commercial networks, WIN Television airs a half-hour WIN News bulletin each weeknight at 5.30 pm, produced from a newsroom in the city and broadcast from studios in Wollongong.
Short local news updates and weather updates are broadcast by Network 10 throughout the day, produced and broadcast from its Hobart studios. The Seven Network airs short local news and weather updates throughout the day, produced and broadcast from its Canberra studios.
Some stations from nearby centres such as Albury–Wodonga and Shepparton can be heard across the region.
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