About The Area

Albury

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 the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – the City of Albury. Albury has an urban population of 45,627 people.

Albury 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 80,000. It is 462 kilometres from the state capital Sydney and 326 kilometres from the Victorian capital Melbourne.

Said to be named after a town in England, Albury developed as a major transport link between the colonies of New South Wales and Victoria and was proclaimed a city in 1946.

Education

Albury is home to one of the campuses of Charles Sturt University. The original Albury campus was located in the northern part of the CBD between Kiewa and David Streets. Charles Sturt University relocated to a new purpose built campus at Thurgoona in 2009. CSU offers courses in Arts, Business, Education and Science. It plays a key role in drawing aspiring students to the area, taking candidates from all over Australia.

Riverina Institute of TAFE operates a campus in Albury. There is also a campus of the UNSW Rural Clinical School of Medicine adjacent to the Albury Base Hospital.

Albury is home to nine public primary schools (Albury Public School, Albury North Public School, Albury West Public School, Glenroy Public School, Hume Public School, Lavington Public School, Lavington East Public School, Springdale Heights Public School, and Thurgoona Public School) and three public high schools (Albury High School, James Fallon High School and Murray High School). Several non-government high schools operate in the area including Xavier High School, The Scots School Albury, Border Christian College, St Paul's College and Trinity Anglican College.

Getting around

Local public transport is provided exclusively by private bus operators, Martin's Albury and the Dyson Group who run day time bus services. The overwhelming majority of local transport is by private car, however traffic is generally moderate. The opening of the Hume Freeway bypass on 4 March 2007, has greatly eased previous traffic congestion on the Lincoln Causeway, allowing vastly better flow between Albury and Wodonga.

There is a good network of bicycle paths in the city, including one to the outlying suburb of Thurgoona and across the state border to Wodonga. A new program has built many more bike tracks, including one from the riverside parks to Wonga Wetlands.

Tourism

The region surrounding Albury provides a variety of tourist attractions, including the wine region around Rutherglen, the historic goldfield towns of Beechworth and Yackandandah, boating and fishing on the many rivers and lakes, including Lake Hume, the forests and mountains of the Great Dividing Range and slightly further afield are the snowfields Falls Creek and Mount Hotham.

Within the city of Albury itself, Monument Hill, at the western end of the CBD is the location of the city's distinctive First World War Memorial and provides a good view of the city. Wonga Wetlands, 2.5 kilometres west of the city and adjacent to the River Murray is a key feature of Albury's use of treated wastewater and consists of a series of lagoons and billabongs. Wonga Wetlands features more than 150 species of birdlife and is home to the Aquatic Environment Education Centre.