Walla Walla

 

Walla Walla boasts an impressive range of industries for a town of its size, many supporting the surrounding agricultural district, as well as some that are aimed at both national and international markets.

The level of industrial activity in Walla Walla challenges many larger towns and the consistent and innovative approach to business ensures Walla Walla will continue to expand in future years.

Explorers Hume and Hovell were probably the first Europeans to see the area on their expedition south to Port Phillip, (Melbourne) and they particularly noted the extensive grass cover and the potential for grazing. The town was settled in 1868/69 when 56 German settlers arrived in 14 covered wagons and two spring carts, having travelled 1,000km from Ebenezia in the Barossa Valley in search of land.

That German heritage survives today with Walla Walla home to the Zion Lutheran Church. Built in 1924, it is the largest Lutheran Church in NSW and seats almost 600 people.

St Paul’s College, a Christian co-educational secondary school is located in Walla Walla and caters for both day students and boarders from the local area and communities across Australia and overseas. Students choose from a wide range of academic and practical subjects including Agriculture on the school farm and Horsemanship at the school’s Equine Centre.

Walla Walla engenders a real sense of community involvement led by the Community Development Committee and offers residents a uniquely Australian country lifestyle from a town located within an easy 20 minutes drive of the major regional centre of Albury Wodonga.

Just north of Walla Walla is Morgan’s Lookout, a massive white granite rock formation used by the bushranger ‘Mad Dog’ Morgan as a hideout and lookout but today provides visitors with panoramic views of the surrounding countryside.

Also worth a visit is the Gum Swamp, a high conservation wetland located in the South West Slopes bioregion. It is home to many threatened species, including the White-bellied Sea Eagle, the Fishing Bat and the Squirrel Glider. The Gum Swamp Reserve Management Committee has been successfully undertaking revegetation work, in order to promote bird diversity within the Reserve and have received funding from the Environmental Trust and NSW Murray Wetlands Working Group to continue the revegetation program.

Download the Walla Walla Town Video here.