Wodonga

Wodonga is a city in northeastern Victoria, Australia, on the south bank of the Murray River facing Albury in New South Wales. Together the two form the twin city of Albury–Wodonga, joined by bridges over the river.

Wordonga, the name in the Waywurru language, is a plant with edible nuts that grew in the river lagoons. Wodonga began as a customs post facing Albury, collecting duties on goods crossing the river between the colonies of Victoria and New South Wales. The first bridge over the Murray opened in 1860, and the town grew on the road and later the railway between Melbourne and Sydney. For several years the town was called Belvoir, until the name Wodonga returned in 1869.

Cattle from the high country and the Kiewa Valley are sold at the livestock exchange near the city, and dairy farms of the valley send milk to factories in the region. Henri's Bakery in Wodonga is topped by a giant rolling pin recorded by Guinness World Records.

The Bonegilla Migrant Reception Centre, on the shore of Lake Hume east of the city, received many new arrivals from Europe in the late 1940s and the 1950s and is kept as a heritage site where former migrants and their families can trace their first days in Australia. Lake Hume, formed by the Hume Dam on the Murray, is used for sailing, waterskiing and fishing. HotHouse Theatre, a professional theater company of the twin city, stages new Australian plays in a theater beside the river.