The central business district is focused around the commercial and recreational grid bounded by Best and Tarcutta Streets and the Murrumbidgee River and the Sturt Highway.

Thomas Mitchell, the surveyor who served under Lord Wellington, named many of the streets after Peninsular War veterans.

[30] Within a few years settlers' numbers increased greatly and before 1850 a local bench of magistrates and a place for holding petty sessions was established.

[31] The beginnings of a village formed near the ford used by most traffic passing through the area and included a crude blacksmith's shop, a hotel, and a post office.

For a short time, the arrival of faster, cheaper and more reliable riverboats allowed goods to be transported more easily to export markets.

Poor sanitation caused a horrific stench in the town and was blamed for a large increase in infectious diseases such as typhoid fever in the 1890s and early 1900s.

A free public library was opened in 1875 and the council began to establish parklands such as Bolton Park and the Town Hall Gardens.

The marchers included John Ryan, who later won the Victoria Cross for his actions in the Battle of the Hindenburg Line in 1918.

[48] Hardship as a result of the Great Depression, and the election of Jack Lang of the Labor party as Premier of New South Wales, sparked the formation of the "Riverina Movement".

The meeting called on the State and Federal governments to alleviate the concerns of producers in the district or hold a referendum to determine if the Riverina should secede.

[49] The outbreak of World War II saw Royal Australian Air Force bases established at Forest Hill in 1940 and Uranquinty in 1941.

A major Australian Army camp was constructed at Kapooka in 1942 and one year later there were 8,000 troops in training there with Wagga taking on the characteristics of a garrison town.

Suburbs such as Turvey Park and Kooringal were developed to the south of the city and in the 1960s, residential growth expanded to cover areas such as Tolland and Lake Albert.

The main commercial district also moved south to the Baylis Street end with the development of the Sturt Mall in 1979.

RAAF Base Wagga at Forest Hill also expanded, with training of defence force aircraft technicians there from 1969.

The upper quarter of the shield contains eight stalks of wheat positioned to form two capital letters W on a vert (green) field.

The lower quarter of the upper half of the flag contains a wavy blue line on gold (yellow) representing the river winding through the wheat fields.

Inside the mural crown are a yellow caduceus with black wings, and eight gum leaves arranged as two letters W. Both the supporters are crows, each with a gold (yellow) collar in the shape of the letter W. The base of the coat of arms is grassy with a river in between, indicating that Wagga Wagga is built on both sides of the river.

Both the council and ABC Riverina have promoted the use of the barking marsh frog as an alternative animal emblem for the city, originally suggested by Canberra resident Dec Browne.

Other factors include Wagga's role as a regional centre and its hosting of major defence establishments and a Charles Sturt University campus.

Coupled with Rex's major maintenance base and the Australian Airline Pilot Academy (AAPA), the Airport is one of the busiest in regional Australia.

[85] The "Wagga Effect" is a term that has been used frequently in the Australian media to describe the disproportionately large number of elite sportsmen and women that originate from the city.

[101] According to the local urban myth, at precisely 5 o'clock a giant wave moves down the Murrumbidgee River, a result of water being released from the Blowering and Burrinjuck Dams.

Between 1977 and 1995 the beach played host to the Gumi Races, where people were encouraged to make rafts from inner tubing and sabotage their competition by throwing rotten eggs and flour at them.

Located on the banks of the Wollundry lagoon and officially opened in 1927, the Victory Memorial Gardens were established amidst some controversy as a tribute to those who fought and died in World War I.

A considerable refurbishment was carried out in the 1990s and now the theatre is regarded as one of the best in regional Australia, playing host to national and international touring acts.

The museum has an important collection of memorabilia about the Tichborne Case, including a set of four rare plaster figurines depicting characters from the trial, a complete set of hard-bound court transcripts and a monumental painting entitled The Tichborne Trial painted in 1874 by Nathan Hughes, which hangs in the city's council chambers.

[113] Wagga has strong cultural ties with three international sister cities which form part of a twinning program.

[118] Wagga has been home to a number of famous Australian writers, including Frank Moorhouse who worked as a journalist on the city's daily newspaper, and the poets Mary Gilmore and Barcroft Boake.

The newspaper was established by two wealthy local pastoralists, Auber George Jones and Thomas Darlow[127] and first printed on 10 December 1868 by editor Frank Hutchison, an Oxford graduate.