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Albury (postcode: 2640, 36°03′S 146°54′E) is a city in New South Wales, located on the Hume Highway on the northern side of the Murray River. Its population is 42 438 (2001 Census). It is approximately 550 km from the state capital Sydney, but only 312 km from the Victorian capital Melbourne. It is separated by the Murray from its twin city in Victoria, Wodonga.

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There are only few remainders of the indigenous population of the area. The Wiradjuri people are believed to have arrived in the area not long before European explorers arrived.

The explorers Hume and Hovell arrived at what is now known as the Murray river at Albury on 16 November 1824. They named the river the i. They inscribed a tree by the riverbank on the 17th before continuing their journey south to Westernport.

Among the first squatters to follow in the steps of the explorers and settle in the district were William Wyse and Charles Ebden.

A crossing place for the Murray became popular close to where Hovell inscribed the tree. In summer it was usually possible to cross the river by foot. An easier crossing was 10 miles upstream where the Hume Weir now is, however, the drovers' tracks led to Albury. A log punt was built in 1844.

The first buildings erected at the crossing place were provisions store and small huts. A survey for a town was commissioned in 1838.

Albury was founded mainly as a customs post when Victoria and New South Wales were independent colonies which imposed tariffs on each other's goods. Albury's proximity to Wodonga has spurred several efforts to achieve some kind of municipal governmental union (see Albury-Wodonga).

Albury is situated on the Murray River in the foothills of the Great Dividing Range.

The city is built above the river flats of the Murray River, and is 164 metres above sea level (539 feet) at the airport.

Hume Dam is situated on the Murray River upstream of Albury. It was constructed 1930s for irrigation purposes and has caused significant changes to the flow patterns and ecology of the Murray River.

Before the construction of the Hume Dam, flows in normal (non-drought) years were low in summer and autumn (though still significant overall), rising in winter due to seasonal rainfall and reaching a flood-peak in late spring due to snowmelt in the Murray and tributaries' alpine headwaters. The flow is effectively reversed now, with low flows in winter and sustained, relatively high flows in late spring, summer and early autumn to meet irrigation demands, although the spring flood peak has been virtually eliminated. In addition, the water released from the base of the Hume Dam is un-naturally cold. This flow reversal, temperature depression and removal of the spring flood peak has lead to the drying out and loss of many billabongs and has harmed the populations of native fish of the Murray River such as the iconic Murray Cod.

Sited on the Hume Highway, the main Melbourne-Sydney highway, Albury remains a major transit point of interstate commerce. It is the only major town on the Hume Highway yet to be bypassed, although construction on an internal freeway bypass has begun (scheduled to be completed by mid 2007), after much controversy amongst the city's residents regarding its route. The other minor highways which connect to Albury are the Riverina Highway, which continues west through Berrigan and Deniliquin and east to the Hume Weir; and the Olympic Highway (renamed from the Olympic Way) which diverges left from the Hume 16 km north of Albury, into the centre of NSW, passing through Wagga Wagga and terminating with the Mid-Western Highway at Cowra.

Albury is on the main Sydney-Melbourne railway line. Originally New South Wales and Victoria had different railway gauges, which meant that all travellers in either direction had to change trains at Albury. To accommodate this, a very long railway platform was needed; the covered platform is one of the longest in Australia.

The local airport has scheduled daily flights to Sydney and Melbourne through two carriers, QantasLink and Regional Express, in addition to charter services. The IATA airport code for Albury is b.

Victoria Cross recipient Albert Chalmers Borella is buried in Albury, and the road leading from Albury Airport to the city was re-named Borella Road in 1979, in his honour.

Albury serves as an administrative centre for the agricultural communities around the area, and the city is the home of a large newsprint paper mill which processes the pine logs planted in the mountains to the east, an engineering plant which produces automatic transmissions for cars, a major processing centre of the Australian Taxation Office, and other smaller secondary industries. Other large employers are: The Commercial Club, Albury Wodonga Development Corporation and Hume Building Society.

Albury's major employer was ION Automotive Group. In 2003 it employed 1100 people in the city.[1] In late 2005 it was undergoing a deed of company arrangement [2] and Powertrain Products International was a prospective purchaser. [3]

Albury serves as a regional media centre. A daily tabloid, the i, which has its offices in Wodonga, covers the area. One of the local television stations, Prime Television, also produces a regional news bulletin. The ABC produces local breakfast and morning radio programs through its local radio network, but the rest of their content consists of rebroadcasts from Melbourne, which is the source of most state-based media imported to Albury. There are also three commercial radio stations, as well a community station and a Reading for the Print Handicapped station.

Albury is home to one of the three campuses of Charles Sturt University.

Albury is a stronghold of Australian rules football; further north rugby league is the main winter sport. The local Ovens and Murray league is one of the strongest regional leagues in Victoria, and many players from it have gone on to play in the Australian Football League, including Haydn Bunton, widely regarded as one of the sport's all-time greats.

Albury is the birthplace of women's tennis player Margaret Smith Court, basketballer Lauren Jackson and cricketer Steve Rixon, among other champion sportspeople.

The Albury Gold Cup horse race is major autumn event for the district. In 2005 it attracted a record crowd in excess of 18,600 racegoers. [4]

The region surrounding Albury provides a wide variety of tourist attractions, including the wineries of Rutherglen, the historic goldfields towns of Beechworth and Yackandandah, the Hume Weir, boating and fishing on the many rivers and lakes (activities very popular with the locals), the forests of the Great Dividing Range and slightly further afield are many of Australia's snowfields. Albury itself, however, is not a major tourist destination. The paddle steamer i runs tours along the Murray during the summer months (depending on river levels), and Monument Hill (home to the city's War Memorial) provides a good view of the city.

There is a strong regional theatre scene, with the Murray River Performing Group (MRPG) being the most notable company. It spawned the Flying Fruit Fly Circus in 1979, and these days conducts many productions through the Hothouse Theatre located on the floodplain between Albury and Wodonga. Many notable actors and comics have performed with the MRPG.

Touring productions also often pass through the area.

The actor Richard Roxburgh was born in Albury.

Albury is the largest city in the Federal electorate of Farrer, of which the current representative is Sussan Ley of the Liberal Party. In State politics, the Electoral district of Albury is currently represented by Greg Aplin, also of the Liberal Party. The previous Federal MP was Tim Fischer, who was leader of the National Party and Deputy Prime Minister of Australia.

Local government is the responsibility of Albury City Council, whose area of responsibility gradually been enlarged to cover new housing estates at Albury's fringes. Arthur Fraunfelder, a local veterinarian, is the current Mayor elected by the nine-member council.

Albury's most famous crime is also one of Australia's most famous, the 'Pyjama Girl Murder'.

In 1996, a local teenager, Kim Meredith was murdered in Albury; a memorial to Kim was later placed in Queen Elizabeth 2 Square by the citizens of Albury. [5]