The Riverina has been home to Aboriginal groups for over 40,000 years. It was first settled by Europens in the mid-19th century as a pastoral region growing beef and wool for markets in Australia and overseas. In the 20th century, the building of major irrigation areas in the Murray and Murrumbidgee valleys has led to the introduction of crops such as rice and grapes. The Riverina has strong links to Victoria, and the region was the source of much of the push behind the federation of Australian colonies.
The major cities and towns in the Riverina include Wagga Wagga, Albury and Griffith. Albury and Wagga Wagga are home to campuses of Charles Sturt University. Wagga Wagga is home to two major Australian Defence Force bases.
The area of the Riverina region is not fixed, but it usually includes the farming and pastoral areas of New South Wales, west of the Great Dividing Range and in the drainage basin of the snow-fed Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers. The north edge of the Riverina is the Lachlan River catchment area known as the Central West. Along the Murray to the south, the Riverina border is the state of Victoria. West of where the Murray and Murrumbidgee meet, is the beginning of the drier Far West region.
In general, the Riverina is an alluvial plain formed by soil carried from the Great Dividing Range by streams between 30,000 to 15,000 years ago. The landscape includes rolling hills to the east but then becomes flatter to the west with most of that plain reaching less than above sea level. The western Riverina is mainly flat saltbush plain.
The geology of the Riverina has several troughs and sedimentary basins. The western Riverina is thought to be the end of the Ballarat and Bendigo geological zone. The eastern part is over the top of the western part of the Lachlan Fold Belt. It is possible that the Riverina has mineral deposits including coal, petroleum, coal seam methane, gypsum, gold, Cobar style polymetallic systems, heavy mineral sands and possibly diamonds in these fold belt rocks and basins. Riverina soils are generally sandy along the rivers, with more saline grey and brown clays found on rarely flooded areas on the edge of the floodplain. As the Murrumbidgee flows downstream, the water and soil become more saline.
The Riverina is drained by the large Murray-Darling Basin. Rivers and streams in the Riverina generally flow east to west. As well as the Murray, Murrumbidgee and Lachlan, other streams include Billabong Creek and the Edward River, an anabranch of the Murray. Much of the water carried by these streams is taken out for other uses. In 2001–2002, 52% of the Murray and Murrumbidgee water was taken, with 77% of that water used for irrigation.
Phylogeny
A phylogeny is a proposal of how organisms are related by their evolutionary history. It is based on the evidence that all living things are related by common descent. The evidence for phylogeny comes from palaeontology, comparative anatomy, and DNA sequence analysis.
The main product of phylogenetics is a phylogenetic tree or tree of life. This is a diagram showing a pattern of ancestor/descendent relationships. Information may be related to geological periods or estimated dates. A biological classification is another type of product.
Asana
Asana is a body position in Yoga. It can mean where a person sits, and the way that they sit. It helps to balance the mind and body. It is meant to be firm, yet comfortable.
All the many different body positions in Yoga are "Asana"s: they all have their own names and every name ends with "asana", such as sav"asana" (correct lying). Many have names of animals, such as bujang"asana" (cobra). Others have names that describe the position, such as shirsh"asana" (head).
Fedora
A fedora is a hat. The name of the hat comes from a play called Fédora by Victorien Sardou, named after the main character. Popular in the early 20th century, it has become a stereotype for gangsters or private investigators (PIs).
They mainly come in black, sometimes with a band of coloured fabric around the rim.
Some people, such as Jack Abramoff and Richard W. Lariviere, become known for wearing fedoras.
Black Francolin
The black francolin ("Francolinus francolinus") is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds.
Giant Gippsland earthworm
The giant Gippsland earthworm ("Megascolides australis") is one of Australia's 1,000 native earthworm species. These Giant earthworms average at 100 cm long and 2 cm in diameter and can reach 3 m in length. It is difficult to measure length, as the worms will stretch, so scientists use weight to estimate the size. The average weight of a fresh adult worm is about 200 grams. They have a dark purple head and a blue-gray body.
The worms are found in the Bass River Valley of South Gippsland, near Korumburra and Warragul. They are only found in a small area, of about 100,000 hectares. They live in small pockets of blue-grey clay close to water. They live in burrows about 500mm deep, and can burrow as deep as 1.5m.
The habitat the worms used to live in was tall eucalypt forests. Most of this has been cleared for farming, but the worms have continued to survive because they live deep underground. They have been listed a vulnerable species because of these changes. The worms only lay a single egg, between 4-7cm in size. These can take up to one year to hatch, and the worms take several years to become adults, and be able to reproduce. This slow rate of growth, also makes them a vulnerable species.
Himalayan monal
The Himalayan monal ("Lophophorus impejanus"), also known as the Impeyan monal or pheasant, is a bird in the pheasant family, Phasianidae. Its discoverer, Latham, wrote in his "General History of Birds" (1821): "[the monal] inhabits India, but is not common, being brought from the hills in the northern parts of Hindustan to Calcutta, as a rarity. Lady Impey attempted, with great prospect of success, to bring some of them to England, but after living on board for two months they caught a disorder from the other poultry, and died".
It is the national bird of Nepal, where it is known as the danphe (or Danfe), and is mentioned frequently in Nepali songs. It is also the state bird of Uttarakhand, India. In Kashmir, it is the state/regional bird of the disputed territory.
The Himalayan monal is a relatively large-sized pheasant. The males of this species look quite different from the females of the species. The male Himalayan monals have bright and colorful feathers of blue, green, purple, and red. They have a white patch of feathers underneath the base of their tail, but the rest of their underside is black. The males also have a crest (several feathers) on top of their heads. Both the male and female of the species have blue circles of skin around their eyes. The females and the young birds (chicks) have an overall brown appearance. Their feathers also have white and black strips on certain parts. The females have a white throat.
The male chicks look like the females chicks until a little after a year when they begin to become more colorful. Before then you could tell the young male and females apart because of their larger size and black feathers, instead of white feathers, on the throat.
Himalayan Snowcock
The Himalayan snowcock ("Tetraogallus himalayensis") is a snowcock in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds.
Kashmir nuthatch
The Kashmir nuthatch ("Sitta cashmirensis") is a species of bird in the Sittidae family.
Snow Partridge
The snow partridge ("Lerwa lerwa") is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds.
Richard Baer
Richard Baer (September 9, 1911 - June 17, 1963) was the third German commander of the concentration camp Auschwitz.
Black-throated loon