Albury - Places to See

Another major architectural feature of the town is the Italianate red-and-white brick railway station (1881) in Railway Place which which has a 22-m clock tower, original cedar joinery and a cast-iron platform with fluted columns. It is the third-longest platform in Australia (the longest in NSW) owing to its role as changeover point. Its extravagance may owe something to the competition between the two towns. The station master's residence is also worth a look and has attractive gardens.

Albury Regional Museum

The Albury Regional Museum is housed in the former (and restored) Turk's Head Hotel (1860s), once the most popular venue in town. It is located in Wodonga Place and is open 10.30 - 4.30 seven days a week (02 6021 4550).

Bellevue and Soden's Hotel

'Bellevue' at 592 Kiewa St (c.1860) is an excellent Victorian house with impressive cast-iron decorative work and the primary school (1881), at the corner of David and Smollett Sts, is also a noteworthy addition to the cityscape. At the south-east corner of David and Wilson Sts is Soden's Hotel Australia which has fine wrought iron awnings with glass panels.

Entertainment for Children

Frog Hollow Recreation Park in Olive St has mini golf, lawn snooker, a giant maze, theatrical performances, a water playground, a picnic/barbecue/playground area and a cafe (02-6041 1117). There is a performing arts centre in Swift St and Haberfields Mill Dairy Shop, at 482 Hovell St, offers tours and tastings by arrangement during business hours (02-6021 3455). Children may enjoy a trip across the river on the Wymah Ferry, about 1.5 hours drive north-east of Albury.

Parks in the area

On the northern riverbank, off Wodonga Place, are a series of parklands - Oddies Creek Park, Noreuil Park, Hovell Tree Park, the Sportsground, the Botanic Gardens, Mates Park and Padman Park. Here are a kiosk, barbecue and picnic facilities, swimming spots, walking tracks and the Hovell Tree. The original inscription has disappeared beneath new growth but a bronze plaque contains a facsimile.

Also in the parklands is a nineteenth-century iron waterwheel from the Tallandoon goldfield, where it powered a stamp battery. It is very rare as most were made of wood and hence have been destroyed. The wheel was purchased by local farmers, the Harper Brothers, who used it until 1948 to power farm equipment. It has a 5-metre diameter with capacity for 60 attached buckets.

P.S. Cumberoona

The P.S. Cumberoona, a replica of an 1886 paddle steamer which once used to visit Albury, offers one-hour tours of the Murray every day in season (02 6041 5558). Near its mooring point in Noreuil Park a reproduction Cobb & Co. coach.

Botanical Gardens

The Botanical Gardens (1871) has some interesting trees, including a 30-m Queensland kauri, several river red gums grown from seeds of the Hovell Tree and a pine which grew from a seed taken at Lone Pine in Gallipoli. Also in the gardens is the Hume Monument which was built in America and erected in place of the destroyed Hume Tree in the late 1850s. In 1884 it was moved to the gardens from its original site by the riverbank as it was being misused as a mooring point by riverboats. The band stand was built in 1890.

Monument Hill Lookout

On the northern side of the Riverina Highway, opposite Mates Park, is the panoramic view available from the lookout at Western Hill, now known as Monument Hill due to the 30-m war cenotaph there. Rising 90 m above the city, the hill offers a views right down Dean St. To the south lie Wodonga and, on the horizon, the Victorian Alps.

Eastern Hill looks north and east with the Snowy Mountains and Hume Dam in the distance. Directly below the hill is Mungabareena Reserve. Here, at this precise location, the Aboriginal tribes from the high plains met for centuries to celebrate spring. They laid aside their arms and their differences, celebrated, then travelled north to Mt Beauty and Mt Buffalo where they feasted on the bogong moth. In its place the Bogong Moth Festival is now held on the last weekend of November. It is a time for the exploration of Aboriginal culture. There is painting, folklore, traditional foods and dance and a wealth of Aboriginal talent. There is also a journey to the high country.

The Hume Dam

The Hume Dam, 16 km east of town, built between the end of World War I and 1936, arose out of the River Murray Agreement. At the time it was the largest dam in the southern hemisphere and one of the world's largest. Its surface area is 20 190 ha, its total length 1.6 km, its capacity nearly three million megalitres and it covers 343 km of shoreline.There are 29 regulating gates, each 6 x 8 m, and a hydro-electric station has been established to best utilise the volume.

Spanned by Bethangra Bridge Lake Hume is used for swimming, sailing, water skiing, paragliding, fishing, sailboarding, jetskiing and canoeing. There are picnic, barbecue and children's play facilities, a spectacular dam wall, scenic countryside, swimming beaches, boat ramps, stores, canoe hire, camping and a holiday resort which houses a giant waterslide.

Hume Weir Trout Farm

Hume Weir Trout Farm nearby has thousands of rainbow trout from fingerlings to adults which can be hand-fed or fished. Fish food, bait and rids are supplied. There are waterfalls, landscaped gardens and a kiosk. It is open daily from 9-5 (02-6026 4334).

Albury Airport

The airport, off the Riverina Highway, has a large DC2 aircraft as a monument to recall the occasion, in 1934, when the people of Albury helped a distressed Dutch airliner lost in fog while it was competing in an international race. They assembled at the local racecourse (adjacent the current airport) and turned on their headlights to successfully guide the plane down. 300 volunteers helped pull it out of its bogged position the next day. After it went on to claim second place the people of the Netherlands took out a public subscription for a monument which was sent to Albury.

Ettamogah

12 km north-east of Albury, on the Hume Highway, is Ettamogah Wildlife Sanctuary, established to care for sick, injured or orphaned animals. Open daily there are also barbecue facilities and a kiosk.

The central attraction of Ettamogah, however, is the Ettamogah Pub. Cartoonist Ken Maynard, who lived in Albury, wrote a comic strip in which he depicted the goings-on at an imaginary hotel called the Ettamogah (suitably it is considered to be an Aboriginal word meaning 'place of good drink'). In 1987 an actual pub was made that was an exact replica of the cartoon pub , complete with seemingly impossible design - outward leaning walls and verandahs, a tree that stands in the middle through two floors, a jalopy on the roof and signs everywhere. It is situated on the Hume Hwy, at the corner of Table Top Rd, 16 km north of Albury (02-6026 2366). Cooper's Ettamogah Winery is 400 m from the pub. A little further south on the highway is the Norske Skog, a newprint mill which offers tours by appointment (02-6058 3111).

Talmalmo

In Talmalmo the Dora Dora pub (02-6037 3221), once a stopover for Cobb and Co coaches, is still standing 130 years on, though the village has gone. It can be found 26 km south-east of Woomargama, which lies on the Hume Highway 15 km south of Holbrook.

Wodonga

In Wodonga the National Museum of Australian Pottery at 66 South St, open Sundays and public holidays from 10.00 am - 4.00 pm, features a collection of 19th-century Australian pottery. Edwards Tavern at 1 Moorefierld Park Rd (02-6056 1356) has an historic photograph display and Sumsion Gardens has a lake, barbecues, picnic facilities, birdlife, walking paths and a children's playground. 5 km south-east of Wodonga at Bandiana is the RAAOC Museum (02-6055 2525). Open seven days a week it has a large collection of material on Australian history as well as barbecue, picnic and playground facilities. Schmidt's Strawberry Winery is located at Allans Flat (02-6027 1454). Follow the signs from Wodonga. Continue along the Kiewa Valley Highway past Bandiana, take the Yackandandah turnoff and follow the signs.

Hume and Hovell Walking Track

Lovers of walking can truly get their fill on the Hume and Hovell Walking Track which follows the explorers' path from Albury to Gunning, 370 km north-east. It is a 22-day trek but it is possible to opt for half or whole-day and weekend walks. Contact the Department of Lands, 22-23 Bridge St, Sydney (02-9228 6111).

Other Attractions

There is plenty of good fishing in the area for trout, redfin and Murray cod. Albury also has a golf club and Wodonga has the largest tennis complex in the southern hemisphere. Day tours of the area, bush walking, winery tours, horse riding and ballooning can be arranged by phoning the Gateway Information Centre. A.W. Backpackers, at the corner of David and Smollett Sts, furnish two-day camping and canoeing tours along the Murray as well as combined canoeing-winery tours (02-6041 1822).