 | Albury New South Wales: Encyclopedia II - Albury New South Wales - Geography
Albury New South Wales - Geography
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.
Albury New South Wales - Transport
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 ABX.
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.
Other related archives16 November, 1824, 1838, 1844, Border Mail, ABC, Albert Chalmers Borella, Albury-Wodonga, Australian Football League, Australian Taxation Office, Australian rules football, Beechworth, Charles Sturt University, Cowra, Deniliquin, Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, Electoral district of Albury, Farrer, Great Dividing Range, Haydn Bunton, Hume Dam, Hume Highway, Hume Weir, IATA airport code, Lauren Jackson, Liberal Party, Maggie Kirkpatrick, Margaret Smith Court, Melbourne, Mid-Western Highway, Murray Cod, Murray River, Murray river, National Party, New South Wales, Olympic Highway, Prime Television, Pyjama Girl Murder, QantasLink, Regional Express, Richard Roxburgh, Riverina Highway, Rutherglen, Steve Rixon, Sussan Ley, Sydney, Tim Fischer, Victoria Cross, Victorian, Wagga Wagga, Wiradjuri, Wodonga, Yackandandah, explorers Hume and Hovell, paddle steamer, platform, railway gauges, rugby league, squatters
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Geography", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
