[2] Constructed over a 17-year period between 1919 and 1936,[3] the Hume Dam is located approximately 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) east of the city of Albury.

The dam was built, involving a workforce of thousands, by a consortium of NSW and Victorian government agencies that included the Water Resources Commission of New South Wales, the Public Works Department of New South Wales, and the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission of Victoria.

The dam wall is constructed of rock covered with clay and other earth and is designed to carry vehicular traffic.

[citation needed] The dam wall was extended during the 1950s, and completed in 1961,[7] necessitating the wholesale removal of Tallangatta township and its re-establishment at a new site 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) west of the original,[8] as well as the raising of the Bethanga Bridge.

[10] Traffic was banned from the spillway, and remedial work began involving, in part, the construction of a secondary earth wall behind the original to take the strain.

These works include the installation of an improved filter and drainage system on the junction between the concrete spillway and southern embankment, construction of a concrete buttress on the southern training wall, and possible modifications to improve the ability of the dam to manage extreme floods.

[13][14] Originally named the Mitta Mitta Dam site, following representations from the Municipal Council of Albury, on 17 February 1920 the River Murray Commission decided to honour Hamilton Hume, who, in company with William Hovell, was one of the first Europeans to see and cross the Murray River in 1824.

It is also popular for water skiing, and several holiday resorts catering for fishing and skiers are dotted around the upper reaches of the lake.

[6] An annual Canoe marathon race the 'Frank Harrison Classic' is run on the river beginning below the dam each February and attracts competitors from across Australia.

Once a year, on the first weekend in November, AWYC runs SailCountry, a large regatta which attracts entrants from all over Australia.

Before the construction of the Hume Weir, 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 snow-melt in the Murray and its tributaries' alpine headwaters.

[17] This flow reversal, temperature depression, and removal of the spring flood peak, has led 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[18][19] and the freshwater catfish, which can no longer be found downstream of the dam as far as Yarrawonga, where it had previously been recorded up until the 1960s.

The club initially played in the Albury & Border Football Association from 1921 to 1923, wearing black and white striped jumpers.

As part of being admitted into the O&MFL in 1924, Hume Weir agreed to play their home games at the Wodonga Racecourse Oval.

Immediately after the World War II recess, Albury played in the 1946, 1947 and 1948 O&MFL grand finals.