Fitzmaurice Street, Wagga Wagga, looking south in the early 1900s.The Post Office is prominent on the hill to the left. Also visible on the right is Meurant Blake which still trades in this location as R H Blake and Co Stock and Station Agents.

Take a look at what was going on in Wagga this time 20 years ago. There are lots of familiar faces – is yours one of them?

It is due to the efforts of 16,000 Riverina women that Wagga was able to build the 2WG Old People’s Home, now known as The Haven, located in Bourke Street, Mt Austin.

Wagga Public School has had several different names since it was first occupied in 1872. It was known as Gurwood Street Public when this photo was taken in 1969. Picture: CSURA RW157

The Willis Bricks chimney is being demolished after standing over the city for 76 years. From 1935 to 2004 more than 200 million bricks were produced by the business, the chimney was built in 1939.

City Engineer, Colin Knott, Federal Member, David Fairbairn, Mayor, Morris Gissing and others inspecting the 1974 Wagga Flood. Click through to see more historic Wagga flood photos.

An amphibious Army DUK outside the Duke of Kent Hotel in Fitzmaurice Street during the flood of June 1952. (Picture: Sherry Morris Collection)

Cafes were a huge part of the community in the first part of the 20th century. More than just providers of food and drink, cafes were meeting places, landmarks for giving directions to events or other businesses, and they hosted events and parties of all kinds. 

The name of this now important town, often abbreviated to Wagga, is said by the earlv settlers of the district to have been derived from the cry of the crow.

IT’S been 150 years this month since a butcher from Wagga tried to grab a slice of British aristocracy. But that wasn’t the start and certainly wasn’t the end of a story with more twists than a string of snags.