Albury–Wodonga

Albury–Wodonga is the broad settlement incorporating the twin Australian cities of Albury and Wodonga, which are separated geographically by the Murray River and politically by a state border: Albury on the north of the river is part of New South Wales, while Wodonga on the south bank is in Victoria.

In the early 1970s Albury–Wodonga was selected as the primary focus of the Whitlam Federal Labor government's scheme to arrest the uncontrolled growth of Australia's large metropolitan areas (in particular Sydney and Melbourne) by encouraging decentralisation. The National Urban Growth Centres initiative, which was Australia’s closet attempt to replicate the 'New Towns' strategy of post-war European models, had grand plans to turn Albury–Wodonga into a major inland city. Albury–Wodonga, it was said, was 'central to the most ambitious plan for deliberate Commonwealth government intervention in regional development since the founding of Canberra as the National Capital'.

Embarking on what was deemed 'an exciting adventure', the Albury–Wodonga pilot scheme involved three governments—the Commonwealth, NSW and Victoria. On 25 January 1973 the Premier of New South Wales, Sir Robert Askin, the Premier of Victoria, Rupert Hamer and the Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam signed the initial agreement for the accelerated development of Albury–Wodonga. According to some, it was a unique cross-border agreement that illustrated a 'spirit of cooperative federalism'.

Under Whitlam’s newly established Department of Urban and Regional Development (DURD), the ambition to decentralise Australia and promote new growth centres was further demonstrated in the budget allocations of 1973/4 and 1974/75—a provision of $33 million and $223 million for urban growth centres consecutively. In 1973/74, $9 million of the $33 million was allocated to the urban growth centre of Albury–Wodonga. The remaining $24 million was distributed between six other nominated growth centres.

However, due to the subsequent Fraser Government's repudiation of Labor's decentralisation policies, the plan to populate inland areas and cities other than the State capitals was abandoned. No other Commonwealth Government since, either Coalition or Labor, has made any attempt at repopulating inland areas. Thus the current Albury–Wodonga population is far below the 300,000 projected by Gough Whitlam in the 1970s.

The population increased by 1.1% per year on average from 81,540 in 2008 to 86,274 in 2013. Further increasing to 89,007 by the 2016 census, giving an average annual growth rate of 1.04%.

In the 2021 census, Albury-Wodonga had a population of 97,793. As of 2023, the Albury-Wodonga website describes it as having a combined population around 100,000 residents and being Australia's 20th largest city. The website Invest Albury Wodonga claims that the city has reached a population milestone and sustainable population tipping point by having 250,000 people within 100km of Albury-Wodonga.