Wangaratta, Victoria

Infobox Australian Place | type = city
name = Wangaratta
state = vic

---

caption = Aerial view from the south-east, Hume Freeway bypass at bottom, rivers to the right
pop = 15,683 (2006)Census 2006 AUS | id = SSC26923 | name = Wangaratta (State Suburb) | accessdate = 2007-10-01 | quick = on]
poprank =
density =
est =
area =
timezone = AEST
utc = +10
timezone-dst = AEST
utc-dst = +11
lga = Rural City of Wangaratta
county = Moira, Delatite, Bogong
stategov = Murray Valley
fedgov = Indi
dist1 = 230
location1 = Melbourne

Wangaratta is a cathedral city of about 15,685 people in the northeast of Victoria, Australia, about 230 km (150 mi) from Melbourne along the Hume Highway, with Benalla 45 km (25 mi) to the southwest, and Albury-Wodonga 72 km (40 mi) to the northeast. It is located at the junction of the Ovens and King rivers which flow from the Victorian Alps. It is within the municipality of Rural City of Wangaratta.

History

Gold was found in the surrounding area during the 1850s and this is reflected in the name of a nearby town of Eldorado where the remains of an old dredge can still be seen today. The Post Office in the area opened on 1 February 1843 as Ovens, and moved to the township and was renamed Wangaratta in 1854. Citation
last = Premier Postal History | title = Post Office List | url = https://www.premierpostal.com/cgi-bin/wsProd.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=VIC&country= | accessdate = 2008-04-11 ] The nearby small town of Glenrowan located some 10km away is known as the site of the final shootout that led to the capture of Australia's most famous bushranger, Ned Kelly.

Geography and landmarks

The geographical layout of the city is unusual in that the business district is located at the north-eastern extremity of the urban area, with outlying suburbs extending only to the south and west. The reason for this arrangement is that the area beyond the rivers, to the north and east of the business district, was until the 1990s prone to flooding and so unsuitable for building. Levees were constructed in the 1990s to alleviate the flooding, however development in this area has been slow.

Wangaratta is the closest city or town of any size to Falls Creek and Mount Hotham, two of Victoria's three major snowfields.

Notable buildings include the Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral and its Cathedral Close, St. Patrick's Catholic Church and the eccentric art déco courthouse.

Industry

There is a considerable wine and gourmet food industry in the nearby Milawa and King Valley region.

Culture and sport

The main annual event is the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz, which has been attended by thousands each year since 1990.

There are three 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 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 & District Cricket Association Clubs in Wangaratta include Wangaratta Rovers United, Wangaratta Magpies and City Colts.Fact|date=November 2007

Education

Wangaratta has three secondary schools: Galen Catholic College (private), Cathedral College (private) which has two campuses and Wangaratta High School which has three campuses.

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 Christensen Lane campus on the outskirts of Wangaratta is the home for the National Centre for Equine Education as well as providing courses in horticulture.

Nomenclature

Historically, there was disagreement about whether the first syllable should be pronounced 'Wong' or 'Wang', the latter pronunciation being perceived as slightly less cultured, at least by those within the city itself. The 'Wong' pronunciation was never used by a majority of the population, and never received any wide currency outside the district. It was officially disavowed by the Wangaratta City Council's declaration in favour of the 'Wang' pronunciation in the 1980s. Some locals, particularly the elderly, continue to use the 'Wong' pronunciation.

The city's name may be informally abbreviated to "Wang", analogously to "Shep" (Shepparton) and "Yarra" (Yarrawonga).

Transport

The station is on the main railway line between Sydney and Melbourne and is served by V/Line services between Melbourne and Albury as well as a twice daily Countrylink XPT service in both directions between Melbourne and Sydney. Two railway gauges run in parallel to Melbourne and Albury; the Victorian broad gauge of 1600 mm (5' 3") and the standard gauge of 1435 mm (4' 8½").

There was a branch line commenced in 1873, running east to Beechworth, reaching the town in September 1976, but this was closed in January 1977. (Larsen, "MayDay Hills Railway"). Another branch line ran to Bright until its closure. This has since been converted into a cycling and walking track, known as the Murray to the Mountains Rail Trail. Another short branch line ran west to a wheat silo located on the north side of the Ovens River at Boorhaman.

A second rail branch was a narrow gauge (762 mm, 2' 6") line from Wangaratta to Whitfield constructed during the late 1890s and opened in 1899. The line operated until 1953 and was famous for its special engines imported from Baldwin Locomotive Works in the USA. Some of these 2-6-2T locomotives now operate on the Puffing Billy Railway outside Melbourne. [ (Oberg, pp.90-91) ] A book, "Focus on Victoria's Narrow Gauge", with photos, maps along the line and of Wangaratta station with its dual track gauges was published in 2002 [ John E. Thompson,"Focus on Victoria's Narrow Gauge Whitfield Line", Puffing Billy Society, Belgrave, 2002.]

Wangaratta is also serviced by a small regional airport, Wangaratta Airport. A city bus service runs every half an hour during the day on weekdays and on Saturday mornings on a route covering Wangaratta's West End, the business district and Yarrunga.

Radio stations

*ABC Classic FM 104.1 FM/96.1 FM
*3WPR Community FM 101.3
* The Edge 102.1 FM (commercial)
*Triple J 103.3 FM/94.5 FM
*ABC Goulburn Murray 106.5 FM/97.7 FM
*ABC Radio National 990 AM/756 AM
*3NE 1566 AM (commercial)

:"See also: List of Australian radio stations"

Famous residents and former residents

*Sir John Bowser, premier of Victoria 1917-1918.
*William Ah Ket, Chinese Australian barrister, 1876-1936
*Nick Cave, popular musician.
*Sir Edward "Weary" Dunlop 1907 - 1993
*Steve Johnson, Australian rules footballer with Geelong.
*Ben Reid, Australian rules footballer with Collingwood.
*Alipate Carlile, Australian rules footballer with Port Adelaide.
*Dean Woods, former Olympic Cyclist.
*Isobelle Carmody, award winning author, born 1958

Bibliography

* Larsen, Wal. "The Mayday Hills Railway", Wal Larsen, Bright, 1976.
* O'Callaghan, Bill and Bill Findlay (1984). "Wangaratta, 1959–1984: A Silver City", City of Wangaratta.
* O'Brien, Antony. "Shenanigans on the Ovens Goldfields: the 1859 Election", Artillery Publishing, 2005.
* Oberg, Leon. "Railways of Australia", Reed, Sydney, 1975.
* Thompson, John E. "Focus on Victoria's Narrow Gauge Whitfield Line", Puffing Billy Society, Belgrave, 2002.
* "Wangaratta: Capital of North Eastern Victoria", (1927) Committee of the Back to Wangaratta Celebrations.
* Whittaker, D. M. (1963). "Wangaratta: Being the History of the Township that sprang up at Ovens Crossing and grew into a modern City", Wangaratta City Council.
* "Why Wangaratta", and "Moments in Jazz" (books on the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and Blues).

References

* [http://www.fallingrain.com/world/AS/7/Wangaratta.html FallingRain Map - elevation = 147m]

Maps

* Dept of Minerals and Energy, "Wangaratta, 8125", 1:100,000 (1971)(shows the district as it was in the 1960s with railways and before major sub-division redevelopments)

External links

* [http://web.archive.org/web/20040417035617/www.arts.monash.edu.au/ncas/multimedia/gazetteer/list/wangaratta.html Australian Places: Wangaratta]
* [http://www.travelvictoria.com.au/wangaratta/photos/ Photographs of Wangaratta]