Griffith, New South Wales

History

Griffith was established in 1916 as part of the New South Wales State Government's Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA) project to supply irrigation from the Murrumbidgee river in western New South Wales to be used for farming. The main dam was the large Burrinjuck Dam between Gundagai and Canberra, which stored water to be released down the river for irrigation. Berembed Weir, near Narrandera, was built across the Murrumbidgee River, from which flows the Main Canal. The Canal, almost a river in its own right, flows through the MIA to Griffith, supplying water to the entire area, and petering out to the northwest of the city in rice farms.

The water supply was further enhanced with the construction of the Snowy River scheme by the Australian Federal Government in the 1950s and 1960s. The Blowering Dam, a large dam near Tumut stores a significant amount of water to be released down the Murrumbidgee for irrigation around Leeton, Griffith and the newer Coleambally area south of the Murrumbidgee and Griffith.

From the start of the MIA, citrus and other fruit and vegetables were grown in abundance around Griffith. In the 1950s the irrigation area expanded to include large rice farms. Vineyards were established early, and wineries followed, beginning with McWilliam's Wines at Hanwood and Yenda, two villages just outside the city.

From its earliest days, the MIA was populated by Italian workers, some of whom were initially employed by Australian farmers to run steamboats on the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers. Approximately 60% of today's Griffith population claim Italian background. These include the initial settlement of Italians from the boat crews and other Italians who came out to Australia in the Depression, or from a second wave of immigrant Italians who came to Griffith in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

In the 1970s, Griffith was often associated with drug distribution (particularly marijuana) and organised crime, as depicted in 2009 by Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities. However, Griffith is now associated with good wine and food, primarily as a result of its diverse population, with notable contributions by Italian-Australians. Griffith's multi-ethnic population is now absorbing new national groups, including a significant Sikh Indian community. The city is sister city with the Italian city of Treviso in the Veneto Region. Many Italians in Griffith are from the Veneto Region or the Calabria Region of Italy.

The Italian influence expanded the range of fruit and vegetables, and also significantly increased the number of wineries and the range of wines produced by the existing wineries in the region, such as McWilliam's. De Bortoli, Rosetto and other wineries were established by Italian immigrants, and today they are well known around Australia. In recent times they have been joined by one of the country's best known wine labels, Yellow Tail, produced by Casella Family Brands. Casella, DeBortoli, McWilliam's, Warburn and Berton Vineyards are now among the top 20 wine producers in Australia.

Griffith is the cathedral city of the Anglican Diocese of Riverina. The foundation stone of the Parish Church of St Alban the Martyr was dedicated in 1954. It was proclaimed as a cathedral in 1984.

The city of Griffith had contained no traffic lights up until February 2010 when the first set of traffic lights was installed at the intersection of Burrell Place and Wakaden Street.

Climate

Griffith has a semi-arid climate (BSk) under the Köppen climate classification with hot summers and cool winters. A record high temperature of 46.0 degrees was reached on 23 Jan 2001, while a record low of –6.0 degrees was recorded on 17 July 1977.

Commerce

Griffith is the regional service centre for the vast Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area - one of the most productive agricultural regions in Australia. Thanks to irrigation Griffith is rich in agriculture and the city is also known as Australia's "Wine and Food Country".

Commercial

Griffith has experienced strong commercial growth in recent years. Griffith's main streets are Banna Avenue and Yambil Streets but commercial growth has occurred throughout the city. Shopping centre developments include:

Industrial

Griffith is home to the Riverina's largest employer, the Baiada Group. Griffith also has several wineries, including De Bortoli Wines and Casella Family Brands (makers of Yellow Tail wine).

Residential

The suburb of Collina has been constructed to the north west of the city. Other housing development has occurred in North Griffith, Mayfair and Pioneer.

Demography

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics the estimated urban population of Griffith in 2015 was 19,540 with a population density of 0.16 persons per hectare.

In 2011, 14% of people in Griffith came from countries where English was not their first language.

A total of 2,857 people were born outside Australia, of whom 1,279 were born in Italy and 826 were born in India. Of the total population, 31% declared themselves to be of Australian ancestry, 27% of English ancestry, 26% of Italian ancestry, 8% of Irish ancestry and 7% of Scottish ancestry. Respondents could nominate up to two ancestries.

Education

Griffith is the third largest centre for education in the Riverina after Wagga Wagga and Leeton. Griffith is home to three high schools:

Griffith also has 13 primary schools and various day care and pre-school facilities. Griffith has one of the largest campuses of Riverina Institute of TAFE. There has been recent plans to construct a fifth campus of Charles Sturt University in Griffith.

Transport

Griffith Buslines operates buses through Griffith and surrounding towns and villages.

Griffith is a major junction for the Kidman Way, Burley Griffin Way and Irrigation Way. Griffith is located 550 km west of Sydney via Burley Griffin Way and Irrigation Way and 450 km north of Melbourne via the Kidman Way. Griffith has daily bus services to the major metropolitan areas. Griffith Airport operates daily flights to Sydney (Melbourne in the past, but not currently).

The railway reached Griffith on 3 July 1916 and since that date has provided a service transporting passengers and goods into and out of the area. Regular goods trains continue, making it a unique railway centre.

Griffith railway station is served by a weekly NSW TrainLink Xplorer service from Sydney. NSW TrainLink also operates a daily road coach service from Mildura to Wagga Wagga stopping at Griffith. This service connects at Wagga Wagga with NSW Trainlink rail services to Sydney and Melbourne.

V/Line operates a daily rail/road coach service between Melbourne and Griffith, changing with the train at Shepparton. Melbourne (Southern Cross Station) to Griffith (Bus Terminal at Visitors Centre) is an evening service (daily); Griffith to Melbourne service is overnight (Mon to Sat) / afternoon (Sunday). Travel time is approximately six and a half to seven hours.

Events

for more events see www.griffith.nsw.gov.au/event.asp

Radio

Griffith is serviced by a number of commercial, community, narrowcast and ABC stations

Local radio stations broadcasting from Griffith include ABC Riverina, AM radio commercial station 2RG, FM radio commercial station Star FM and a rebroadcast from sports station Sky Sports Radio. Other local stations include Christian radio station Vision Radio Network and the community station 2MIA FM. The ABC's national stations ABC Radio National, ABC Classic FM, ABC NewsRadio and Triple J and the multicultural network SBS Radio are broadcast into Griffith.

ABC Riverina, is the local ABC station in Griffith, servicing the entire MIA region. It broadcasts a local breakfast show and a local morning show each weekday broadcast from the ABC studios in Wagga Wagga. Wednesday and Saturday's local morning show is also broadcast to each station on the ABC Local Radio network enabling listeners from outside of the local listening area to call into the popular gardening talk back program. ABC Riverina also has a local news service, produced by local journalists. As well as rural reports, The station also airs a local Saturday breakfast show, which is followed by a local Saturday morning sports program. Apart from local programming, ABC Riverina takes national programs like AM, Conversations, The World Today, PM, Nightlife, Overnights, Grandstand, Saturday Night Country and Australia All Over along with a mid-afternoon program, an evening show and a weekend morning program, all broadcast from Sydney, along with a drive program, broadcast from regional NSW. Other national ABC services that are available in Griffith on separate FM frequencies include Triple J, RN, ABC Classic FM and ABC NewsRadio.

2RG is the Griffith-based commercial FM station owned by Southern Cross Austereo broadcasting from Griffith studios during the day, and then taking networked programming sourced from 2GB Sydney, Gold FM on the Gold Coast, Authentic Entertainment Sydney and Triple M. 2RG in Griffith also produces a local news service with a journalist based at the station, compiling and recording local news bulletins for 2RG and sister station 99.7 Star FM.

Star FM, also owned by Southern Cross Austereo, is a commercial FM station servicing Griffith on a local FM frequency, although its local breakfast show is broadcast from a studio in Griffith. Star FM is skewed towards the younger listeners with a Top 40/pop music format. Following the local breakfast show, the station takes Hit Music Network programming sourced from Southern Cross Austereo's hub at Sea FM on the Gold Coast or from metropoliton stations such as 2Day FM Sydney and Fox FM Melbourne.

2MIA is the local community station, broadcasting local programs, presented by radio announcers. The station is skewed towards the older demographic and plays a lot of music. All programs are locally produced apart from the regular programming the station takes from the national community radio network.

Television

Griffith is served by five television stations, three commercial television stations (WIN Television, Seven Network and Nine Network) which are regional affiliates of the three Australian commercial television networks (Ten, Seven and Nine), and public broadcasters the ABC and SBS.

The town receives the commercial networks' digital channels (7Two and 7mate from Seven, 9Go! and 9Gem from Nine and One and Eleven from WIN Television), as well as TVSN, Gold, ABC2/ABC Kids, ABC3, ABC News 24, SBS 2, Food Network and NITV. Foxtel provides subscription satellite television services.

MTN carries programming from Seven Network, MDN carries programming from Nine Network and AMN carries programming from Network Ten, WIN also broadcasts the Riverina and MIA WIN News bulletin each weeknight.

Regional news coverage of the Griffith and MIA area is provided on all three commercial networks with WIN Griffith airing 30-minute local news bulletins at 6pm each weeknight. WIN News are produced from newsrooms in the city but presented from studios in Wollongong.

Newspapers

The Area News is a daily newspaper published in the city each weekday, as well as national newspapers such as The Australian, The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, The Weekly Times and The Age.

Attractions

Griffith has many tourist attractions. These include Pioneer Park, a 510-seat Regional Theatre, the Italian museum, the Griffith Regional Art Gallery, craft and antique shops, and its many high standard restaurants. Many of the Griffith wineries also have wine tasting at the cellar door, notably De Bortoli Wines, McWilliams, Beelgara Estate (formally Rossetto Wines), West End Wines, Berton Vineyards and Warburn Estate. Griffith is famous for its botrytis including Debortoli's Noble One and its fortified wine such as McWilliam's Hanwood Port. Ecotourism is also available in Griffith. Scenic Hill has various walking trails, lookouts and is home to the famous Hermit's Cave. Nericon Swamp, part of the Griffith Wetlands Important Bird Area, is an important site for migratory birds. Nearby Cocoparra National Park offers walking trails and there are opportunities to explore along the Murrumbidgee River and Lake Wyangan.

Twin towns – Sister cities

Griffith, is twinned with:

Notable people