History of Wagga Wagga - European Exploration and Settlement

European Exploration and Settlement

The first European explorer to pass over the future site of Wagga Wagga was Captain Charles Sturt and his men in 1829 during his expedition along the Murrumbidgee River. Sturt was aided by Wiradjuri guides who handed the explorers to different Aboriginal guides downstream. The first settler in the Wagga Wagga area was Charles Tompson, an emancipated convict who along with his family established the Eunonyhareenyha 'run' on the north bank of the river in 1832. Soon after another ex-convict George Best established the Wagga Wagga 'run' on the south bank, named for the Aboriginal term for the waterhole on the property where crows congregated. Other settlers followed, all of them squatting on the land illegally. By 1836 the colonial government regulated their tenure and established a licensing scheme.

The continuing encroachment by Europeans on Wiradjuri lands made conflict inevitable. Aboriginal groups attempted to drive off the squatters' stock and attacked shepherds and hutkeepers. The white residents retaliated, at first in relation to specific grievances, later fighting became more general. The ruthlessness of the settlers, combined with the effect of diseases such as tuberculosis, smallpox and influenza eventually defeated the Wiradjuri, who while retaining much of their culture lost their land and lifestyle.

As the number of settlers in the area grew, so did demand for a local bench of magistrates as the nearest ones were 100–200 miles away in Tumut and Binalong. In April 1847 it was announced that Wagga Wagga was to be a place for holding petty sessions, dispensing justice and maintaining law and order over an area up to 100 miles away. The courthouse was located with the beginnings of a village formed near the ford used by most traffic passing through the area. The village included a crude blacksmith's shop and hotel. A post office was established in January 1849 and later that year the town was marked out by surveyor Thomas Townshend and formally gazetted as a village on 23 November 1849.