Albury Suburb Overview
Albury is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia, located on the Hume Highway on the northern side of the Murray River. It is located wholly within the boundaries of the City of Albury Local Government Area. Albury is the second major city of the Riverina and the second largest inland city in New South Wales, behind Wagga Wagga. Albury has an urban population of 53,507 people. It is separated from its twin city in Victoria, Wodonga by the Murray River. Together the two cities form an urban area with a population of more than 90,000. It is 554 kilometres from the state capital Sydney and 326 kilometres from the Victorian capital Melbourne.
Albury is situated above the river flats of the Murray River, in the foothills of the Great Dividing Range. At the airport, Albury is 164 metres above sea level.
Albury has a warm, temperate, four-season climate, with cool to mild winters and very warm to hot summers. In summer, the mean daily maximum temperature is around 30 degrees Celsius with low humidity;however, this is subject to substantial daily variation. An average of 17 days with a maximum above 35 degrees Celsius occur in this summer period. Mean winter maximums are around 14 degrees Celsius with many crisp, sunny days. Frosts are commonplace in winter, with approximately 20 days per year featuring minimums of below freezing.
Albury’s mean annual rainfall is about 701.3 millimetres , which is more than Melbourne but less than Sydney. Rain can occur all year round, but most of it falls in the winter months with July’s high mean of 82.3 millimetres comparing with the March low of 37.9 millimetres . Albury has quite a high evaporation rate, giving the environment a drier look compared to drier cities like Melbourne with the city enjoying a high amount of sunshine annually.
Central Albury comprises the central business district and lies between the railway line, the Murray River and Monument Hill. Much commercial activity is concentrated here, with Dean Street forming the axis of the main shopping and office district. A cultural precinct is centred around QE2 Square, including the Albury Library Museum, Albury Regional Art Gallery, Albury Performing Arts Centre and Convention Centre, and the Murray Conservatorium. In the same block are the Post Office, Police Station and Courthouse, as well St Matthew’s Anglican Church which was rebuilt after being destroyed by fire in 1990. The Albury City council offices are located on Kiewa Street.
Forrest Hill lies directly north west and covers the saddle between Monument Hill and Nail Can Hill, whilst west over the ridge lies West Albury. West Albury is primarily a residential area, but it is home to the First World War Memorial , Riverwood Retirement Village, Albury Wodonga Private Hospital , and the Albury sewerage treatment plant. All of West Albury was once wetland and bush. The only remnant of this is Horseshoe Lagoon to the south-west of the suburb, which has been declared a Wildlife Refuge by NSW Parks & Wildlife and incorporated into the Wonga Wetlands. To the north-west of West Albury is Pemberton Park.
East Albury lies east of the railway line/freeway from the CBD and houses cover the Eastern Hill alongside the Albury Base Hospital, while the flat land directly north of it is covered by parkland, housing and light industry, and a retail park including Harvey Norman and Spotlight franchises, as well as the city airport. The Mungabareena Reserve lies on the Murray south of the airport, and is considered an Aboriginal cultural site of some significance. Mungabareena means “place of plenty talk” in the Wiradjuri language.
South Albury is a mix of residential and industrial areas, with the floodplains south of the railway line and freeway still used for farming and grazing. Flood mitigation works in the 1990s have dramatically reduced the risk of flooding in the residential areas of South Albury.
North Albury was once covered by orchards and vineyards in the first half of the 20th century, as was a swamp where the James Fallon High School now stands, but after the second world war housing development in the area increased and Waugh Road was extended from David Street to the “Five Ways” intersection at Union Road, which ascribes the border between North Albury and Lavington. The locality of Glenroy is adjacent to North Albury, west of the Bungambrawartha Creek, and housing development was developed in the 1970s, including a significant Housing Commission public housing estate.
Lavington is the largest suburb of Albury, and the only suburb which has its own postcode . The suburb was originally named Black Range in the 1850s and 1860s, before being renamed Lavington in 1910. Originally within the boundaries of Hume Shire, it was absorbed into the City of Albury Local Government Area in the 1950s. Housing and commercial development has continued from that point until this day. Prior to 2007, the Hume Highway
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