Corowa

Corowa is a town in the state of New South Wales in Australia. It is on the bank of the Murray River, the border between New South Wales and Victoria, opposite the Victorian town of Wahgunyah. Corowa is the administrative centre of Corowa Shire. The name could have derived from an Aboriginal word referring to the curra pine which yielded gum used by Aborigines to fasten the heads of spears to the shafts. Another translation is rocky river.

There are two bridges over the Murray to Wahgunyah in Victoria: the heritage-listed John Foord Bridge and the Federation Bridge (opened on 2 April 2005). The town in conjunction with nearby town Rutherglen has an Australian Rules football team (Corowa-Rutherglen) competing in the Ovens & Murray Football League.

History

The Bangerang Tribe

The traditional Aboriginal people from the area are the Bangarang Tribe. The tribe of aborigines that inhabited the Corowa area were called, in their own language, the Bangerang Tribe. The name has various spellings in English, varying all the way from Bandjalang through Panderang to Pinegorine.

Foord's punt

John Foord settled on the Murray River near the Ovens junction in the early 1840s. In about 1843 Foord and a man named Bould examined the country about the present site of Wahgunyah and recommended it to John Crisp, who was the first European to settle in the area. Later Crisp sold his land to John Foord. With the development of steamer transport on the Murray River in the mid-1850s, Foord purchased a punt which was brought up to Wahgunyah by the steamer Leichhardt. Foord built two extensive warehouses which he let to river navigation companies. Traffic was attracted to Foord's punt, leading to the establishment of Corowa township, opposite to Wahgunyah.