North Wagga Wagga (informally called North Wagga) is an inner northern suburb of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia, located on the floodplain of the Murrumbidgee River, directly across from the city's Central Business District. North Wagga is one of Wagga's oldest suburbs, being settled at approximately the same time as Wagga. Two pubs are located within North Wagga - The Black Swan Hotel and the Palm and Pawn Hotel, as well as a public school, a public hall, a football/cricket ground and a scattering of business and churches.
Due to its flood prone nature, Wagga Wagga City Council long sought to deter development in North Wagga and aimed for its residents to relocate. For many years the level of services provided in North Wagga were inferior to the rest of Wagga, and most alterations and additions to dwellings were prohibited. In 1960, a levee bank was built around Wagga to protect it from flood inundation, however North Wagga was not included in this protection. It was during this time that North Wagga's slogan "We Shall Not Be Moved" first appeared.
It was not until the late 1970s that the Council relented on its restrictions on development and built a levee around the suburb, however to this day it is lower than the main city levee and only affords protection to flood events up to 9.9 metres (32 ft), approximately 1 in 20 year in size. In March 2012, the suburb was inundated after the levee was over-topped after the Murrumbidgee River reached 10.56 metres (34.6 ft), 0.18 metres (0.59 ft) below the 1974 flood, after record rainfall fell over a large area of the Riverina and the Murrumbidgee River catchment.
Famous quotes containing the word north:
“Ah! on Thanksgiving day, when from East and from West,
From North and from South, come the pilgrim and guest,
When the gray-haired New Englander sees round his board
The old broken links of affection restored,
When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,
And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before.
What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye?
What calls back the past, like the rich Pumpkin pie?”
—John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)