The Wagga Wagga Boat Club was first established on the 28th November 1952 and is situated on the banks of beautiful Lake Albert. The club boasts an active sailing facet. The major event of the year is the Barry Carne memorial ski race held each Mother's Day.

For further information contact the Secretary Manager on (02) 69262300,
Plumpton Road Wagga Wagga 2650.

The sailing facet of the Wagga Wagga Boat Club has approximately 40 members.
Twenty to twenty five sailors race on a regular basis.

Lake Albert (35°09′S 147°22′E) is an artificial lake near Wagga Wagga in New South Wales, Australia. Covering 125ha, the lake was built in the 1890s on what was known as Swampy Plains and was named after Prince Albert.

Surrounded by parkland, the lake is a venue for water sports, fishing, walking and bird watching. The lake is home to the Boat Club and one of the town's two golf courses, Wagga Wagga Country Club, is situated on the western shore of the lake.

Lake Albert is also the name of a suburb of Wagga Wagga on the shores of the lake. The suburb is home to three schools, Lake Albert Primary School, Mater Dei Primary School and Mater Dei Catholic College. A shopping centre located within the suburb houses Foodworks supermarket and specialty shops.

Water levels

Due to years of drought the water level at Lake Albert reached record lows and in 2005. Wagga Wagga City Council considered pumping water into the lake to prevent further fish deaths. After a thunderstorm dumped around 50mm in the area the lake reached its full depth in early November 2005.

WAGGA WAGGA

Double the surprises

Wagga Wagga is a place for the young and young at heart, enjoying the exciting and yet relaxed lifestyle that exists within the city. The geographical location of Wagga Wagga is ideal for keeping in touch with the trends that filter out of the major metropolitan cities of Sydney, Melbourne,Canberra and Adelaide. Wagga Wagga is the ideal base for exploring one of Australia’s emerging holiday destinations – the Riverina.An easy day trip in any direction can take you through the extremes of Australia’s natural and cultivated environment. To the east rises Mount Kosciuszko in the Snowy Mountains. To the west lies Griffith, the heart of New South Wales’ biggest wine producing region. An easy drive takes you to great Australian towns like, Junee, Lockhart and Temora.

Have a Google at a map of Wagga

Have a look at What's On In Wagga!

History of Wagga Wagga

In December 1829, the early colonists first sighted the land on which the flourishing City of Wagga Wagga now stands. The persons thus privileged consisted of Captain Charles Sturt, 39th Regiment, stationed in Sydney; Mr. George Macleay and six others. This party passed over the site of future Wagga Wagga on its expedition of discovery down the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers. Settlement swiftly followed.Wagga Wagga was proclaimed a town in 1849 and in the same year surveyor Thomas Townshend marked out the town. In the 1860s the population totaled approximately 700, but by 1881 it had increased to 3,975. In 1879 the railway line was extended south of the river.The name of the City is derived from the language of the Wiradjuri tribe, which was the biggest aboriginal tribe in New South Wales, embracing the Riverina area.

"Wagga", "Wahga" or Wahgam" in aboriginal dialect means "crow". The repetition of a word was the method of expressing the plural or emphasis, thus Wagga Wagga means "crows" or "the place where crows assemble in large numbers". The Murrumbidgee River which runs through the City also derived its name from the aboriginal language and means "plenty water" or "big water".

Wagga Wagga is 518km by rail from Sydney and 432km from Melbourne on the main Southern line. It is 185.6m above sea level and situated on the Sturt Highway, which joins the Hume Highway 48km to the east. It is the junction of the Sturt Highway and the Trunk road known as the "Olympic Way", which enables travelers by road to proceed to and from Sydney via Cootamundra, Cowra, Bathurst and The Blue Mountains area, instead of traveling via the Hume Highway.

The City, incorporated as a Borough in 1870 and proclaimed a City in 1946, has an area of 488,600 hectares, and at the 30th June, 1998, and estimated population of 58,000.

On 1st January, 1981, the existing City of Wagga Wagga became amalgamated with the adjoining Shires of Kyeamba and Mitchell.

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