[1] When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point, Merbein and Red Cliffs are included, the combined urban area had a population of 58,914 in 2021,[2][3] having grown marginally at an average annual rate of 1.3% year-on-year over the preceding five years.

Langtree Avenue is the main shopping and dining precinct in Mildura, with the middle section of the street a pedestrian mall.

The other major retail precinct is along Fifteenth Street in the Mildura South area, where a mid-sized undercover shopping mall and several big box stores are located.

[citation needed] A major drought in Victoria from 1877 to 1884 prompted Alfred Deakin, then a minister in the State Government and chairman of a Royal Commission on water supply, to visit the irrigation areas of California.

[20] Post war Mildura experienced a large influx of migrants particularly from European and Mediterranean countries including Italy and Greece.

[citation needed] In 2004, there was a controversial proposal by the Victorian Government to build a state-level Long Term Containment Facility (LTCF) for Industrial Waste in Nowingi, approximately 50 km south of Mildura.

The site is a small enclave of state forest surrounded by national park, and contains habitat important to a number of threatened species.

[citation needed] The Mildura Rural City Council and residents spent almost $2 million fighting the Government's proposal for the LTCF at Nowingi.

"The general rule is that people bear their own costs, that is most likely to apply in this case ... but I've indicated and I am prepared to talk to the council and mayor about the whole issue of how Mildura moves forward and I'll do that," John Thwaites said.

[25][26] The central business district (CBD) is located at the northern end of the urban area, fronting onto the Murray River.

The latter, so named after Alfred Deakin, 'the Victorian Cabinet Minister who introduced the concept of an irrigated settlement in Australia', itself runs around twelve kilometres in a south-west direction from Seventh Street before terminating in peri-urban farmland.

[34] Rainfall totals are about 280 mm a year and are spread evenly across the months and seasons with winter and spring having the most rainy days.

[citation needed] The city's situation on the Murray River makes it a hub for watersports, paddlesteamers and boat cruises.

The Australian Inland Botanic Gardens, located nearby in Mourquong is another popular attraction which draws visitors to the city.

Mildura Central is also the only fully enclosed, air-conditioned shopping centre in this area and offers a retail mix including representation from a number of national fashion stores.

It includes a large Target, a Big W to the side of Mildura Central, a 19 aisle Woolworths and a Coles supermarket across the road.

[41] There have been numerous proposals involving the state government for large scale developments and investments,[42] many ambitious and speculative that have been shelved indefinitely.

The government's plans to scrap the praised Renewable Energy Target (RET) in Australia were cited as one of the main reasons for abandoning the project.

[45][46][47][48] International scientists criticised this decision extensively, claiming Australia risks being "left behind the rest of the world" if it cuts its plans for renewable energy.

[60] In a 1960s National Anti-Mafia Directorate report by John T. Cusack (United States' Bureau of Narcotics) and Ugo Macera (assistant commissioner of police in Calabria) claims were made that the "ancient Calabrian Secret Criminal Society known as the L'Onorata Societa" and the "'Ndrangheta" were operating "throughout the State, with large segments in the fruit growing and farming areas of Mildura and Shepparton" adding that "There are reports the Society has existed in Victoria since 1930".

[61] During the 1980s, the Mildura Mafia emerged as a major crime group that dominated marijuana production in Australia and ran an Australia-wide money-laundering network.

[64] In 2016 Mildura residents Nicola Ciconte, Vincenzo Medici and Michael Calleja were convicted and sentenced in Italy for their role in a plot to smuggle up to 500 kilograms of cocaine into Australia.

[68][69][70][71][72] In 2014, a Mildura-based Comancheros Motorcycle Club member and former Australian Defence Force (ADF) sniper, Joshua Faulkhead, was arrested after being caught transporting large quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine and ecstasy between Sydney and Mildura.

[74] Later that same year, Stephen Gillard and Geoffrey Hitchen from South Penrith, were arrested for possession of $300,000 worth of methamphetamines in scrubland off the Mallee Highway at Tutye, west of Ouyen.

Local farmers uncovered plastic fruit juice bottles containing the drugs after noticing the men behaving strangely the previous day.

[75] In 2017, a joint Australian Federal Police (AFP) and United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigation lead to the seizure of $2.4 million in cash at the Mildura Airport, after 255 kilograms crystal methamphetamine were found at a storage facility in Northern California in June.

In 1905, a small group of Sisters of Mercy came from Wentworth to Mildura and established a convent in a weatherboard building on the corner of Pine Avenue and Tenth Street.

Catholic secondary education commenced in Mildura in 1906 when the Sisters of Mercy began conducting classes in rooms attached to the original convent in Pine Avenue.

The Certificate of Registration of a School, dated 31 December 1906, indicates that sub-primary, primary and secondary classes were being conducted from the convent at the time.

The college has well equipped classrooms, science and computer laboratories, creative arts and design and technology complex, religious education centre, library, sports facilities, staff and student amenities.