This is a list of regions of Australia that are not Australian states or territories . The most commonly known regionalisation is the governmental division of the state into regions for economic development purposes.
94-492: The Riverina ( / ˌ r ɪ v ə ˈ r iː n ə / ) is an agricultural region of southwestern New South Wales , Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation . This combination has allowed the Riverina to develop into one of the most productive and agriculturally diverse areas of Australia. Bordered on
188-754: A break-of-gauge in 1883, and the Melbourne-Shepparton line was extended to Tocumwal in 1908. The number of cross border railways expanded with the passing of the 1922 Border Railways Act , with the Benalla – Yarrawonga branch line extended to Oaklands in 1938, both lines meeting standard gauge lines that were subsequently closed. Victorian Railways commenced construction of a railway from Robinvale to Koorakee and Lette in New South Wales in 1924 (the Lette railway line ), but this railway
282-551: A branch line was completed from Junee to Narrandera in 1881 and extended to Hay by 1882. Another branch pushed south from Narrandera toward the Victorian border reaching Jerilderie in 1884 and the Murray at Tocumwal in 1898. Transport links assisted the development of the Riverina economy, at the same time areas of the region found themselves under threat from robbery and murder by various bushrangers . Between 1862 and 1865,
376-577: A case the 'hinge', at which subduction starts, tend to move further seawards over time (rollback). The Tasman Line outlines the Precambrian margin of eastern Australia. The Delamerian Orogen follows this line, and the western side of the Lachlan Orogen also follows this curve. The central and east parts of the Orogen are aligned in a north–south direction. At the present time the fold belt
470-520: A decline in the diversity of native flora and fauna in the area. Aboriginal people are thought to have inhabited the Riverina for at least 40,000 years. The Wiradjuri people were the original inhabitants of much of south western New South Wales including much of the Riverina region along the Murrumbidgee and Lachlan rivers. Other groups living along the Murrumbidgee included the Nari-Nari on
564-803: A diverse range of backgrounds and nationalities. In particular, the Italian community prospered in the Area, owning nearly half of all the farms around Griffith by 1954. Later, further irrigation was developed for areas in the Murray valley starting with the Wakool Irrigation District in 1932, then the Deniboota and Denimein Irrigation Districts in 1938, the Berriquin Irrigation District in 1939 and
658-574: A leading role in the lifestyle of the Aboriginal people, acting as a source of food and a means of communication and trade. Murray cod and shellfish were gathered for food and bark canoes were used for travel along the rivers. Scars on many trees alongside the rivers are evidence of this extensive use of canoes. In the summer it is likely that the Bangerang and Wiradjuri joined the Monaro groups in
752-448: A member of the bank staff and returned to Victoria £2,000 richer. The close geographic and cultural ties between the Riverina and northern Victoria, combined with continuing frustration with inter colonial tariffs, made the Riverina a fertile area for ideas for uniting the various colonies in an Australian federation . This would see the southern Riverina in particular take a leading role in bringing about federation. Prior to federation,
846-472: A new Woolshed was constructed, only 10 stands were being used. The Estate of D & W Gibb sold "Cocketgedong in 1972. Moulamein , in the western Riverina, appears to make legitimate claims as the oldest town in the Riverina, and indeed to being older than Melbourne . The settlers often came into conflict with the indigenous inhabitants. In the Narrandera district, a battle took place between settlers and
940-541: A range of other regionalisations of Australia, including: See also the Bureau of Meteorology 's NSW regions map. See also the Bureau of Meteorology 's NT region map See also the Bureau of Meteorology 's Queensland region map See also the Bureau of Meteorology 's South Australia regions map See also the Bureau of Meteorology 's Tasmania regions map See also the Bureau of Meteorology 's Victoria regions map The six official regions of Victoria are: See also
1034-478: A result, the names and boundaries of regions can vary and may overlap in popular places. Not all the regions in this list have official status as an economic or administrative region. A regionalisation of Australia is a system by which Australia is divided into regions. There are a great many different regionalisations, created for a range of purposes, including political, administrative, statistical and biological. The most prominent regionalisation of Australia
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#17327720005711128-501: A salt-tolerant grass, saltbush and daisy understorey. Yellow Box ( Eucalyptus melliodora ) and Grey Box ( Eucalyptus microcarpa ) occur along with Cypress Pine ( Callitris glaucophylla ) on areas rarely subjected to flooding. The area away from the rivers often consists of treeless plains, consisting of various saltbush ( Atriplex ) species, Cotton Bush ( Maireana aphylla ) and varieties of Danthonia and Austrostipa native grasslands. Significant mammals endemic to forests in
1222-671: A segment of the coast to form the Lord Howe Rise , part of Zealandia . Around then, Bass Strait was extended moving Tasmania away from the rest of Australian Mainland. Turbidites from submarine fans, trench complexes, volcanic arcs, oceanic crust and micro continents dominate lithological components. The individual rock types are mostly sandstone and shale interbedded, with chert , and metavolcanics . Three broad subdivisions of Lachlan Fold Belt are Western, Central and Eastern. The Western Lachlan, which lies in Victoria includes
1316-605: A series of conventions and elections and finally, the inauguration of a federal constitution on 1 January 1901. Large scale irrigation commenced with the establishment of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA) in 1912 which diverted water from the Murrumbidgee River near Narrandera. The River Murray Waters Agreement of 1915 allowed 26 weirs to be constructed with locks to provide permanent riverboat access to Echuca. When riverboat transport
1410-649: A shallow marine connection through central Australia to the Canning Basin in Western Australia. Sediments formed on the continental shelf of the continent from this time appear in western Tasmania and north west New South Wales. A subduction zone consumed the Pacific crust below the Delamerian coast, but this subduction moved 1000 km oceanwards. An island arc was formed on the northern end of
1504-549: Is 367.2 millimetres (14.5 in). Drought in 2006 saw the lowest ever recorded rainfall in towns such as Lockhart , Tarcutta and Narrandera . Despite the very low elevation compared to other regions of the state known for colder winters, snow has been recorded on multiple occasions in Albury and Wagga Wagga, and on 24 July 1936 a flurry of snow was reported in Hay , which at just 90 metres (300 ft) above sea level would make it
1598-777: Is a large region in the Central Lachlan between the Kancoona-Kiera Shear Zone and the Gilmore Shear Zone. Other metamorphic complexes are Kuark, Camblong, Cooma, and Jerangle in the eastern side. These zones made up the Eastern Metamorphic Belt, named by Vallance in 1969. In these high temperature belts, the temperature peaked at 700°C and the pressure was 350 MPa, with a thermal gradient of 65 °/km. This same high temperature regime produced migmatite and S-type granite from
1692-567: Is about 1000 km wide. However the original width was 2000 to 3000 km wide, with the excess size absorbed by folding and thrusting. Rock beds are folded in chevron folds . They are cut by thin skinned thrusts . Other faults separate the different terranes making up the orogen. Before the concept of plate tectonics was accepted, the LFB was described as the Lachlan Geosyncline . The concept of terranes has been applied to
1786-555: Is divided into local government areas , each of which is administered by a council. Other administrative regionalisations may exist within each state. For example, the whole of mainland Western Australia other than the Perth metropolitan area, is divided into regions for the purposes of administration of the Regional Development Commissions Act 1993 . For the purposes of statistical geography ,
1880-612: Is from Late Ordovician and contains conglomerate . The Wagga Belt rocks are thrust eastwards over the top of the Junee-Narromine Volcanic Belt of the Macquarie arc. The upper crust contains chevron folded turbidites. The lower crust contains duplexed oceanic lithosphere , and magmatic underplating . Structures in the Eastern thrust belt are oriented north–south. It has thick-skinned deformation in
1974-872: Is home to a campus of Charles Sturt University and two major Australian Defence Force establishments. La Trobe University has a campus in Albury–Wodonga , located just across the state border in Wodonga , Victoria . The delineation of the Riverina region varies by government agency or body. Common official boundaries include the Australian Bureau of Statistics ' Statistical Area Level 4 Riverina region, Australian Electoral Commission 's Federal Election Boundary called Riverina, Natural Resource Management Regions Riverina region, Regional Development Australia's Riverina region and Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia's Riverina region. In common usage
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#17327720005712068-564: Is linked to fauna and flora ecosystems . The Riverina bioregion is an area of land that comprises part of the larger Riverina area but also extends into Victoria. It has been defined by the New South Wales Parks and Wildlife Service as extending from Ivanhoe in the Murray Darling Depression Bioregion south to Bendigo , and from Narrandera in the east to Balranald in the west. 74.03% of
2162-678: Is now to the east and south of the Macquarie Arc. All its boundaries with the Macquarie Arc are faults, indicating that this is a separate terrane, also known as the Adaminaby Superterrane. In the Late Ordovician the turbidites were overlaid by a black shale. The back arc region was extended at this time. Between 447 to 443 million years ago in the Ordovician to Silurian , the arc collided with
2256-598: Is on the top of the LFB around Sydney and Wollongong on the east coast of New South Wales. In Victoria the western limit of the LFB is defined by the Stawell-Ararat Fault. Westwards of this fault is the Moornambool Metamorphic Complex. The orogen is of the accretionary or 'Turkic' type. It has also been classified as a 'Carpathian' type orogen, i.e. one where subduction rate is greater than that of plate convergence. In such
2350-537: Is the division into the various states and territories . For electoral purposes, the Australian Senate uses states and territories, but the Australian House of Representatives breaks the country into Divisions . Each state is similarly divided into electoral "regions", "districts" or "provinces", each of which elects members to the house or houses of the state's parliament. Finally, the country
2444-859: The Australian Bureau of Statistics uses the Australian Standard Geographical Classification , a hierarchical regionalisation whose coarsest level is the states and territories, then statistical divisions , statistical subdivisions , statistical local areas , and finally, census collection districts . Until recently, most biogeographical and phytogeographical regionalisations of Australia were individually defined for each state and territories; for example: Gwen Harden's botanical regionalisation of New South Wales ; Orchard's "natural regions" regionalisation of Tasmania ; and John Stanley Beard 's division of Western Australia into Botanical Provinces and Botanical Districts. More recently, two regionalisations that cover
2538-644: The Bogong moth feasts in the alpine country to the east. The first European explorer in the Riverina was John Oxley in 1817 following the Lachlan River to what is now the town of Booligal . Oxley was followed by Charles Sturt , who followed the Murrumbidgee downstream to Lake Alexandrina in South Australia between 1828 and 1831 and Major Thomas Mitchell in 1836 on his way to the Wimmera and
2632-483: The Bureau of Meteorology 's Western Australia regions map. The Western Australian system of regions defined by the Government of Western Australia for purposes of economic development administration, which excludes the Perth metropolitan area , is a series of nine regions. The nine defined regions are: Lachlan Fold Belt The Lachlan Fold Belt ( LFB ) or Lachlan Orogen is a geological subdivision of
2726-520: The Edward River , an anabranch of the Murray. Much of the water carried by these streams is diverted. In 2001–2002, 52% of the Murray and Murrumbidgee water runoff was diverted, 77% of which was used for irrigation . The Bureau of Meteorology classifies the Riverina in the Hot Dry Zone (with cooler winters) climatic zone. Places in this zone can be very hot in the summer months while in
2820-760: The Tasmanides . North of the Lachlan Fold belt is the Thomson Orogen in the north east and centre of Queensland. Sometimes the Lachlan Orogen is included with the Thomson Orogen and known as the 'Lachlan-Thomson Orogen'. The Great Artesian Basin has been laid down over the top of the LFB in northwestern New South Wales and western Queensland and the Murray-Darling Basin covers the southwest of New South Wales. The Sydney Basin
2914-645: The Western District . Pastoral settlement followed soon after, with grazing runs established along the Murray and Murrumbidgee as far west as Hay by 1839. At the time, the area was known as the Murrumbidgee District . "Cocketgedong" Station, between Jerilderie and Urana, was established in the 1840s by Messrs Brock & Hardie. A map, dated 1864, held by the State Library of Victoria shows them still in possession. At that time, there
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3008-469: The bioregion as an area comprising 9,704,469 hectares (23,980,270 acres), with biogeographic sub-regions covering each of the Lachlan, Murrumbidgee, Murray Fans, Victorian Riverina, Robinvale Plains and Murray Scroll Belt. The NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service has divided New South Wales into 17 distinct bioregions. Bioregions are quite large areas of land that capture a geophysical pattern which
3102-591: The confluence of the Murray and Murrumbidgee is the beginning of the more arid Far West region. In general, the Riverina is an alluvial plain formed by deposition carried from the Great Dividing Range by streams between 30,000 and 15,000 years ago. The terrain includes rolling hills to the east but then becomes flatter to the west with most of that plain reaching less than 200 metres (660 ft) above sea level. The western Riverina consists largely of featureless saltbush plain. The geology of
3196-460: The 20th century, the development of major irrigation areas in the Murray and Murrumbidgee valleys has led to the introduction of crops such as rice and wine grapes . The Riverina has strong cultural ties to Victoria, and the region was the source of much of the impetus behind the federation of Australian colonies. Major population and service centres in the Riverina include the cities of Wagga Wagga , Leeton , Griffith and Albury . Wagga Wagga
3290-748: The 900 km long trench. This was the Macquarie Volcanic Arc. Between the continent and the island arc or trench, deep water sediments in the form of turbidites appeared in the Central Lachlan Orogen. These were derived from the western Delamerian Orogen and from the south west Ross Orogen, which is now left behind in Antarctica. The Ordovician volcanoes of the arc are now found around Parkes, Wellington, Molong and east of Condobolin , Cowra and Boorowa . The east Lachlan Orogen containing Adaminaby Group Turbidites
3384-680: The LFB with the term Lachlan Superterrane being used for the Lachlan Mudpile . Geomagnetic poles cannot be reliably determined for Devonian or older rocks thanks to the folding. In Victoria van den Berg used the terms Whitelaw Terrane for the Western Lachlan, and Benambra Terrane for the Central and Eastern Lachlan. Other terrane subdivision have included Melbourne, Stawell, Howqua, Girilambone Terranes, as well as Cowra, Tumut and Hill End Troughs; and Parkes and Molong Zones; and
3478-621: The Leeton and Yanco district in 1924, expanding to Wakool during World War II , the Denimein and Deniboota Irrigation Areas in the 1950s and Coleambally and Finley in the 1960s. In recent years, rice is also grown in the Hay, Carrathool and Hillston areas. Historically, well over one million tonnes of Australian rice has been produced each year and exported to over 70 countries, generating A$ 500 million in export income and supporting 63 towns in
3572-651: The Murray River. The Riverina region is one of the most prosperous grape growing regions in Australia (particularly in Griffith), along with the Barossa Valley in South Australia . The region grows 55% of wine grapes in New South Wales and 15% of the total grape production within Australia and 80% of wine/grape production of New South Wales; the region is Australia's largest producer of wine. Over 50% of
3666-826: The Narooma Chert prove the age of the terrane to be from late Cambrian to middle Ordovician. The Narooma Terrane exposure is between Narooma and Eurobodalla and also between Burewarra Point and Durras around Batemans Bay on the south coast of New South Wales. The western parts under New South Wales and Queensland are mostly heavily weathered and or covered in younger sediments of the Great Artesian Basin or Great Australian Basin and Murray-Darling Basin . The underlying structure can still be explored through magnetic, gravity and seismic geophysical measurements. About 84 million years ago The Tasman Sea started to form by seafloor spreading. This split off
3760-636: The Ordovician sediments. Blueschist formed by intermediate to high pressure metamorphism is found in melange at Port Sorell and the Arthur Lineament in Tasmania, and Howqua Melange and Heathcote Melange in Victoria. Slate has been formed in other parts of the fold belt indicating intermediate pressure and low temperature. Granite plutons have formed in many parts of the LFB where there has been significant heating. They were formed at
3854-532: The Peppin-developed sheep. The Riverina is home to many Merino studs and the saltbush plains are regarded as one of Australia's best wool growing regions. The Riverina produces the vast majority of rice grown in Australia, particularly in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA), but also around the Finley , Coleambally and Deniliquin areas. The first commercial rice crops in the Riverina were grown in
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3948-526: The Riverina and northern Victoria. More recently, drought has drastically reduced this quantity to less than 30,000 tonnes with resultant economic effects. Recent rains however will see this volume increase. The headquarters of Ricegrowers Limited , who trade under the SunRice name, is located in Leeton, Australia's rice capital. Major rice mills are located in Leeton , Coleambally and the largest rice mill in
4042-685: The Riverina comprises several troughs and sedimentary basins . The western Riverina is presumed to be a continuation of the Ballarat and Bendigo geological zone while eastern sections are underlain by western portions of the Lachlan Fold Belt . There is potential for the Riverina to host several mineral deposit types including coal , petroleum , coal seam methane , gypsum , orogenic gold, Cobar style polymetallic systems, heavy mineral sands and possibly diamonds in these fold belt rocks and basins. Riverina soils are generally sandy along
4136-486: The Riverina generally comprises the agricultural and pastoral areas of New South Wales, west of the Great Dividing Range and in the drainage basin of the snow-fed Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers . The northern boundary beyond the Riverina is determined by the Lachlan River catchment area and is referred to as the Central West . Along the Murray to the south, the Riverina borders the state of Victoria . West of
4230-630: The Riverina often includes parts of the Murray SA4 region, as of 2016 the population of Murray was 115,803, 3.4% of the population were indigenous and 17.7% were born outside of Australia. The Riverina includes two cities; Wagga Wagga and Griffith . Other large towns include Leeton , Finley , Deniliquin , Cootamundra , West Wyalong , Narrandera , Junee and Temora . Wagga Wagga is the largest inland city in New South Wales with an estimated resident population of 56,675 people in 2019 and serves as an important employment, educational, cultural, social and entertainment centre for surrounding towns throughout
4324-427: The Riverina's wine production is exported. As a producer of specialist wine grapes, its wine style of international importance is Botrytised Semillon and the outstanding speciality made from these grapes is a " sauternes -style" dessert wine . Irrigation made it possible to grow grapes for wine. The first grapes were planted at Hanwood in the spring of 1913 by John McWilliam and his eldest son Jack who had come to
4418-419: The Riverina. Wagga Wagga's facilities are of metropolitan standards with shopping, cafes, recreational facilities and nightlife present within the city. The two largest centres in population in the region after Wagga Wagga are Griffith and Leeton and they provide advanced services to the outlying farming regions. Parts of the Riverina experienced substantial population growth in the late 1990s and early 2000s; in
4512-400: The Stawell and Melbourne Zones. The eastern boundary of the Western Lachlan is the Mount Wellington—Mount Useful Fault Zone (east of Melbourne). The Central Lachlan includes the Tabberabbera Zone and the Wagga-Omeo Metamorphic Belt. The Eastern Lachlan extends to the east of the Gilmore Fault Zone, a shear zone on the edge of the WOMB. The Macquarie Volcanic Arc formed about 1000 km off
4606-423: The Tullakool Irrigation Area in 1942. The Coleambally Irrigation Area, established in 1968, was the last of the major government-sponsored irrigation developments in New South Wales. The high soil fertility and abundance of water in the Riverina floodplain has made the Riverina region one of the most productive farming regions in Australia with rice, wheat, maize , canola , citrus and wine grapes being grown in
4700-502: The Wagga Omeo Belt. Most of the LFB was greatly affected by the Late Ordovician to Early Silurian Benambran Orogeny (also led to the formation of the Wagga-Omeo Zone). The Middle Devonian Tabberabberan Orogeny affected the entire LFB and terminated the precratonic stage of its development. The Carboniferous Kanimblan Orogeny was the terminal event and converted the LFB into a neocraton. There are two high temperature low pressure regions of metamorphism . The Wagga Omeo Metamorphic Belt
4794-441: The area. The Riverina contains many irrigation schemes including the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area . 182,000 hectares (450,000 acres) are under irrigation in the region. For the first few decades following the 1830s, European pastoral activity focused in the main on cattle production but by the 1860s sheep were the predominant stock. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the region's agricultural and horticultural production
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#17327720005714888-421: The back arc, ending the Benambran Cycle. The turbidites were deformed, biotite formed, and the arc was thrust over or under the turbidites. In the Middle Silurian, the Pacific plate boundary moved a few hundred km to the east. A new subduction zone dipping westwards lasted from the end of the Silurian into the Late Devonian. The whole of the Lachlan Fold Belt became a back arc area with a new volcanic arc formed to
4982-451: The bioregion include various species of glider, such as Sugar Gliders ( Petaurus breviceps ), Feathertail Gliders ( Acrobates pygmaeus ) and Squirrel Gliders ( Petaurus norfolcensis ) as well as Koalas ( Phascolarctos cinereus ) A wide variety of birdlife makes its home in wetlands in the Riverina, including many migratory species. Competition from introduced species and the effect of clearing, grazing and pasture improvement has led to
5076-471: The bioregion is in New South Wales, the remainder in Victoria. In another mapping the World Wildlife Fund has made this area part of the larger Southeast Australia temperate savanna ecoregion that covers the western plains of New South Wales. River channels in the region support River Red Gum ( Eucalyptus camaldulensis ) and River Cooba ( Acacia stenophylla ) communities. Nearby higher areas contain Black Box ( Eucalyptus largiflorens ) woodlands and
5170-466: The bushranger shot dead a policeman in cold blood near Tumbarumba . The reward placed on his head reached £1,000 before, in April 1865, he was shot dead near Wangaratta , Victoria . The infamous Australian bushranger, Ned Kelly , made possibly his most daring raid in the Riverina, at Jerilderie in 1879. After riding overland from north east Victoria, Kelly and his gang in a brazen move captured two local policemen and stole their uniforms. Impersonating
5264-440: The coast. The Yarrimbah Formation is exposed west of Parkes . It consists of siliceous siltstones , formed in deep water. It is the most western part of the Arc. The Rockley–Gulgong Volcanic Belt. Budhang Chert Member is found near Oberon . The Molong Volcanic Belt lies between Cowra and Boorowa . The Adaminaby Group, from another terrane, was thrust northwards over the top of the Molong Volcanic Belt. The Kenyu Formation
5358-586: The competitiveness of these towns supplying the Melbourne and Adelaide markets. In addition, crossing the border on the Murray River was a tiresome experience as each border crossing had customs posts inspecting goods and luggage to ensure all duty was paid and to reduce smuggling, a popular activity. Another item of concern was the lack of adequate river crossings. Along the Riverina the Murray was—and remains—part of New South Wales, who had no interest in assisting border residents to access goods and services in Victoria that may otherwise have been sourced from Sydney. In
5452-643: The differences between the squatters on one side and the small farmers and townspeople on the other causing its objectives to become obscured by other associated issues such as inter-colonial tariffs and rail links. From 1853, the Riverina was linked to markets through a series of riverboats along the Murray and Murrumbidgee to the river ports of Mannum and Goolwa in South Australia and from 1864, to Echuca connected by rail to Melbourne . Riverboats reached as far upstream as Gundagai and Albury and towns such as Darlington Point , Narrandera and Moulamein became important river ports. The riverboat era peaked in
5546-429: The district from their winery in Junee. Irrigation was by carting of water until the irrigation channels were opened a few months later. The first grapes were picked in 1916 and sent to Junee for processing. Penfolds established its winery in the region in 1919. At the 2016 census , the population of the Riverina (ABS SA4 Region) was 155,934, 5.4% of whom were indigenous and 18.4% born outside Australia. In common usage
5640-410: The early 1890s, for mainly patriotic reasons, the Australian Natives' Association helped establish the Federation League, a society dedicated to the creation of a federal nation. Following a series of addresses by the future Prime Minister , Edmund Barton to large crowds, some 15 League branches were established in the towns along the southern border. One of these towns, Corowa , was the location for
5734-438: The east coast of the Delamerian Orogen in western New South Wales, Western Victoria and Western Tasmania. In the early Ordovician there was a shallow marine shelf called the Gnalta Shelf, over the top of the Koonenberry Belt near Broken Hill . At the same time there were marine conditions in Amadeus Basin where Horn Valley Siltstone was formed, and Georgina Basin where the Coolibah Formation deposited. The Larapintine Sea formed
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#17327720005715828-399: The east in what is now the New England Orogen. Extension stretched the LFB forming rifts, and shelves, along with intrusion of granites and volcanism. This was the Tabberabberan Orogeny. Deformation happened in the west 450 to 395 Mya and in the east 400 to 380 Mya. Extensional basins occur in the central and east parts of the fold belt. Oceanic subduction (or underthrusting) is evidenced for
5922-408: The east part of Australia. It is a zone of folded and faulted rocks of similar age. It dominates New South Wales and Victoria , also extending into Tasmania , the Australian Capital Territory and Queensland . It was formed in the Middle Paleozoic from 450 to 340 Mya . It was earlier known as Lachlan Geosyncline . It covers an area of 200,000 km . The Lachlan Fold Belt is bordered on
6016-410: The eastern Riverina between Wagga Wagga and Albury saw the depredations of Dan "Mad Dog" Morgan . Having previously been convicted of armed robbery, Morgan came to the attention to authorities in the Riverina when he bailed up a police magistrate, Henry Baylis , near Urana in 1863. In 1864, Morgan bailed up Round Hill station , a large sheep farm near Morven , killing a station hand. Later that year,
6110-461: The eastern fringe. Because the region is situated on the upwind side of the Great Dividing Range , winter would receive the most rainfall in the year, with areas in the southern Riverina (around Albury ), having the wettest winters, while in the north rainfall patterns are fairly consistent throughout the year. Corowa , in the south eastern Riverina has an average rainfall of 539.4 millimetres (21.2 in) per year while mean annual rainfall at Hay
6204-411: The entire country have been put in place. The World Wildlife Fund 's regionalisation of the world into 825 terrestrial ecoregions created 40 ecoregions in Australia . Within Australia, however, the de facto standard regionalisation is now the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA). This divides Australia into 85 bioregions, which are further divided into 404 subregions. There are
6298-602: The estimated resident population of Temora has now expanded to 6307 people. The Riverina is politically conservative and leans towards the National Party on both the federal and state level. List of regions in Australia Others regionalisations include those made for purposes of land management , such as agriculture or conservation; information gathering, such as statistical or meteorological . Although most regionalisations were defined for specific purposes and give specific boundaries, many regions will have similar names and extents across different regionalisations. As
6392-416: The first conference of the Australian Federation League in 1893. At this conference, Dr John Quick , a delegate from Bendigo, proposed a resolution calling for the colonial legislatures to pass an act providing for the election of representatives to a convention to develop a federal constitution . This has been seen as the turning point in the push for Federation. The momentum generated from this point lead to
6486-425: The five-year period between 1996 and 2001, Griffith's population increased by 10.8%. Until recently Wagga Wagga's population was declining slowly and ageing with strong growth in age groups 40 and over. This has now changed and Wagga Wagga has become one of Australia's leading examples of the "sponge" city phenomenon, attracting residents from smaller towns in the Riverina such as Urana . In the year ended 30 June 2006,
6580-478: The land which seemed a desert was actually good fattening country. In the 1860s and 1870s, German settlers from the Barossa Valley travelled upstream to settle in the eastern Riverina. Because of their religious distinctiveness as Lutherans , they preferred to form clustered German settlements . In 1867 and 1868 several land parcels were taken up in the Jindera area. 56 German farmers, in 1869, took six weeks to travel six hundred miles in covered wagons to establish
6674-410: The leasehold was resumed for Soldier Settlement blocks, leaving "Cocketgedong" with 36,000 acres and "North Urana" 9000 acres divided by several holdings. The latter part was sold in the early 1950s, leaving the approximate area originally taken up by Brock & Hardie, held by the D & W Gibb Estate. The Woolshed constructed in 1910 consisted of 20 stands, although by 1970 when it was demolished after
6768-509: The local Narrungderra clan at a location now known as Massacre Island, reportedly leaving only one survivor. Cattle raising was the major industry in the 1840s with sheep becoming predominant in the 1860s. At this time many Victorians settled in the Riverina to breed sheep and cattle to feed the miners taking part in the Victorian Gold Rush . The herds were considered inferior at first, but these pastures were good for stock, and
6862-698: The lowest altitude that snow has ever been observed to in New South Wales. In Narrandera it last snowed in June 1908, July 1901 and August 1899. The most recent occurrence of snow in the Riverina proper was at Junee in August 2019 – excluding the mountainous parts of the South West Slopes . One method of classification of boundaries for the Riverina is the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia that defines
6956-605: The movement strongest in Deniliquin and Albury , Dunmore Lang, squatter and parliamentarian Gideon Lang (unrelated) and other influential pastoralists joined with local newspaper editors, George Mott and David Jones in the campaign. This culminated in presenting petitions to the Governor of New South Wales , Sir John Young and the Colonial Secretary , Edward Cardwell . Soon after the movement fell apart due to
7050-564: The police, they then proceeded to rob the Bank of New South Wales and held the town captive for several days. While in Jerilderie, he sought to have his manifesto published, the famous Jerilderie letter, a rambling 8,000-word condemnation of the colonial administration in Victoria and specifically the treatment of the Irish . Being unable to find the local newspaper editor, he left the letter with
7144-448: The population of Wagga Wagga grew by 1.3%, driven by its role as the regional centre for the Riverina and its hosting of a campus of Charles Sturt University and Australian Defence Force bases. The Local Government Area of Temora experienced a population decline in the early 2000s, dropping from 6288 people in 2001 to a low of 5936 in 2009. Since then the LGA has grown steadily. As of 2019
7238-423: The river channels, with more saline grey and brown clays found on rarely flooded areas on the perimeter of the floodplain. As the Murrumbidgee passes downstream, the water and soil become more saline. The Riverina is drained by the large Murray-Darling Basin . Rivers and streams in the Riverina generally flow east to west. As well as the Murray, Murrumbidgee and Lachlan, other streams include Billabong Creek and
7332-658: The section beyond Murrabit after 1932 and it was closed about 1943. Standard gauge rail services from Sydney came with the extension of the Main Southern line to Cootamundra and Junee in 1878 and the construction of the Murrumbidgee River Railway Bridge in 1881 allowed the line to be extended past Wagga Wagga to Henty and Albury later that year. A branch line was constructed to Temora in 1893 and extended to Barellan in 1908, Griffith in 1916 and Hillston in 1923. Further south,
7426-567: The south by the state of Victoria and on the east by the Great Dividing Range , the Riverina covers those areas of New South Wales in the Murray and Murrumbidgee drainage zones to their confluence in the west. Home to Aboriginal groups including the Wiradjuri people for over 40,000 years, the Riverina was colonised by Europeans in the mid-19th century as a pastoral region providing beef and wool to markets in Australia and beyond. In
7520-661: The southern hemisphere in Deniliquin. The area generally known as "the Riverina" is broader than the area legally defined as the Riverina wine region Australian Geographical Indication (AGI) as registered in the Register of Protected GIs. The Riverina GI is centred on Griffith and is roughly circular with towns on the boundary including Mossgiel , Condobolin , Temora , Junee , Culcairn , Berrigan , Finley , Deniliquin and Moulamein . It does not extend as far south as
7614-444: The southwest of the region would feature the semi-arid ( BSk ) climate and those in the east would have a humid subtropical ( Cfa ) climate, though still with Mediterranean climate tendencies when it comes to the rainfall pattern. Rainfall levels in the Riverina are generally low with the median annual rainfall over most of the region between 250–500 millimetres (9.8–19.7 in), rising to between 500–800 mm (20–31 in) on
7708-419: The time of extension, when hot asthenosphere rose towards the surface. Granites cover 61000 km . There are 875 lithological units of granite. There are 100 volcanic units derived from the same magma as the granites. The basement of the belt is Cambrian oceanic crust which was formed in a back arc basin or a fore arc basin. An ancient shoreline of Australia, called the cratonic margin existed off
7802-635: The town of Walla Walla . Nearby Holbrook was originally named Germantown after these settlers until changing its name in 1914 as a result of tensions caused by World War I . The name "Riverine", coined from the Entre Ríos Province (between two rivers) in Argentina, South America, was in use as early as 1857: a long letter under the caption "Riverine Colony" appeared in the Albury Border Post of 24 January that year. The name
7896-414: The twenty years from 1870 to 1890, declining with the coming of the railway and finally ending with the disruption to the workforce caused by World War I. From Melbourne, broad gauge railway lines opened to Deniliquin in 1876 and west to Moulamein and Balranald in 1926. The Moulamein–Balranald section closed in the 1980s. The North East line reached Wodonga in 1873, and was connected to Albury at
7990-423: The various Australian colonies could, and often did, charge tariffs on goods from the other colonies, ostensibly for the protection of their domestic manufacturing industries, mainly based in the larger cities such as Sydney and Melbourne. For a border community such as the southern Riverina, these tariffs were a sore burden, making goods purchased from Melbourne, the closest large city, more expensive and reducing
8084-744: The west by the Delamerian Orogen from the early Palaeozoic (550 to 470 Mya). On the east side is found the Narooma Accretionary Complex (or Narooma Terrane ) from 445 Mya, and the New England Orogen from late Palaeozoic to early Mesozoic . These boundary orogens along with the Lachlan Orogen make up the Tasman Orogenic System In Australia, which along with the extension into the neighbouring parts of Gondwana make up
8178-585: The western and central parts by slivers of ophiolite and blueschist metamorphism. These are known as Coolac serpentinite , and Honeysuckle Beds east of Tumut; The Kiandra Beds north of Batlow and the Tumut Pond Serpentinite Belt on the west side of Talbingo Dam . The Narooma Terrane migrated 2500 km westwards on the moving Pacific plate and became attached to the Adaminaby Superterrane in Silurian times. Conodont fossils in
8272-839: The western plains where the town of Hay , the Muthi-Muthi along the Lowbidgee, Gurendji and the Yida-Yida of Oxley. Along both sides of the Murray River lived the Yorta Yorta people inhabiting the area of the Riverina as far east as the present day city of Albury and as far north as the Finley and Deniliquin districts. The Murray was also home to other groups such as the Bangerang , Baraba-Baraba , Wemba-Wemba , Wadi-Wadi, Dadi-Dadi and Paarkantji communities. The rivers played
8366-739: The winter, nights can be considerably cold with cool to mild days. Mean daily maximum temperatures in the Riverina range from 31.0 °C (87.8 °F) in January and 12.4 °C (54.3 °F) in July in Wagga Wagga to 33.2 °C (91.8 °F) in January and 14.8 °C (58.6 °F) in July in Hillston . Under the Köppen climate classification , the region predominantly falls in the hot-summer Mediterranean climate ( Csa ) zone, although areas in
8460-477: Was coined by Dunmore Lang who translated it from the Spanish. Dunmore Lang was also involved with the short-lived Riverina secession movement which was active in the 1860s. The movement was inspired by the success of the Victorian and Queensland secession movements and motivated by a desire to draw more public funds to the region and maintain the favourable land tenure the " squatter " pastoralists enjoyed. With
8554-658: Was little fencing and the sheep were brought back to camps each night by the shepherds. The camps named on the map include Stockyard Camp, Mick's Hill Camp, Columba Camp, The Gums Camp, Coonong Camp, and Sydney Gate Camp. Messrs Watt & Thomson, the owners of an adjoining property, "North Urana", subsequently purchased "Cocketgedong" from Brock & Hardie, giving them a total area of approximately 65,000 acres. In 1904 D & W Gibb, Wool Brokers in Melbourne, purchased "Cocketgedong" which comprised 45,000 acres freehold and approximately 20,000 acres Crown Leasehold. After World War I,
8648-423: Was never completed. The Murray River bridge between Robinvale and Euston was instead converted to a road bridge, which will be demolished when the new road bridge currently under construction is completed. The Stony Crossing railway line was built from Kerang to Murrabit in 1924 and Stony Crossing (originally called Poonboon) in 1928 under an agreement with New South Wales. No passenger services were carried on
8742-616: Was no longer significant, the weirs supported irrigation. Irrigation in the region continued to develop with the construction of the Hume Dam between 1919 and 1931, the Burrinjuck Dam built in 1928 and Blowering Dam built in 1968. Development and promotion of the MIA led to large scale settlement on land described by Oxley 100 years earlier as "country which, for barrenness and desolation, can I think, have no equal." Settlers came from
8836-556: Was worth more than A$ 1 billion. The region produces: In 1991–92 sheep and lamb numbers in the region were close to seven million and there were 500,000 meat cattle. The Riverina is also a significant almond growing region. Much of the dryland areas of the Riverina contain large sheep stations , producing medium class wool . The Peppin Merino sheep was first bred in the area around Wanganella . As many as 70 percent of today's Australian Merinos are said to be directly descended from
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