Wagga Wagga travel guide

Wagga Wagga (pronounced wogga wogga; informally called Wagga) is a city in New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, Wagga with an urban population of 44,272 people, is the state's largest and the country's fifth largest inland city, as well as an important agricultural, military, educational and transport hub of Australia. The city is located midway between the two largest cities in Australia, Sydney and Melbourne, and is the major regional centre for the Riverina and South West Slopes regions.
The central business district 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 street of Wagga is Baylis Street which becomes Fitzmaurice Street at the northern end. The city is located in an alluvial valley and much of the city has a problem with urban salinity. Wagga Wagga has four distinct seasons, with warm to hot summers and cold winters by Australian standards. Mean annual rainfall in Wagga Wagga in 557.5 millimetres and is distributed evenly over the twelve months.
The original inhabitants of the Wagga Wagga region were the Wiradjuri people. In 1829, Charles Sturt became the first European explorer to visit the future site of the city. Squatters arrived soon after, leading to conflict with the indigenous inhabitants. 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. (...) more....