For thousands of years, the area surrounding the New South Wales-Victoria border at Albury was populated by the Wiradjuri, Waveroo, Jaitmatang and Bangerang people. Although the tribes occasionally crossed paths, they only formally met once a year in November at Mungabareena, a flat bend in the Murray River. The word "Mungabareena" is literally "place of plenty talk" in the Wiradjuri language.
This was an important gathering where intertribal law was discussed and various ceremonial practices were performed and celebrated. Weapons were laid to rest, ongoing disputes were settled, goods traded, marriages performed. Following these meetings, indigenous men and boys of initiation age travelled up into the surrounding mountains in search of the Bogong Moth, a reliable and protein rich summer food source. This tradition is still commemorated each November in the Ngan-Girra Festival.
Mungabareena Reserve lies east of the Albury CBD on the Murray River, near the airport. It is still a popular fishing spot, basic campground and swimming hole. There is nothing better to do on a summer's day than to take an inner tube and float all afternoon from Mungabareena to Noreuil Park in the centre of Albury, and enjoy the languid river and majestic eucalypts.