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The Riverina is an agricultural region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions due to the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation. This combination has allowed the Riverina to develop into one of the most productive and agriculturally diverse areas of Australia. Bordered on the south by the state of Victoria and on the east by the Great Dividing Range, the Riverina covers those areas of New South Wales in the Murray and Murrumbidgee drainage zones to their confluence in the west. Home to Aboriginal groups for over 40,000 years, the Riverina was originally settled by Europeans in the mid-19th century as a pastoral region providing beef and wool to markets in Australia and beyond. In the 20th century, the development of major irrigation areas in the Murray and Murrumbidgee valleys has led to the introduction of crops such as rice and wine grapes. Major population and service centres in the Riverina include the cities of Wagga Wagga, Albury and Griffith. Albury and Wagga Wagga are home to campuses of Charles Sturt University, the only local provider of higher education for the region. (more...)

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December 14

• 1836 – The Toledo War, the mostly bloodless boundary dispute between the U.S. state of Ohio and the adjoining Territory of Michigan, unofficially ended with a resolution passed by the controversial "Frostbitten Convention."
• 1896 – Glasgow Subway (pictured), the third oldest below-ground metro system in the world after the London Underground and the Budapest Metro, began operations in Glasgow, Scotland.
• 1911 – Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his team became the first people to reach the South Pole.
• 1918 – The German Empire's defeat in World War I, and the stated fact that none of the Allies would ever accept a German-born prince as the King of Finland, led Frederick Charles to renounce the throne.
• 1995 – The Dayton Agreement was signed in Paris to end the Bosnian War, establishing, among others, a new structure of government and political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• 2004 – The Millau Viaduct spanning the valley of the River Tarn near Millau in France, the tallest vehicular bridge in the world at 343 metres (1,125 ft), opened.

• More events: December 13 – December 14 – December 15

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