Hay

Postcode: 2711

Hay is a town in the western Riverina region of south western New South Wales, Australia. It is the administrative centre of Hay Shire Council Local Government Area and the centre of a prosperous and productive agricultural district on the wide Hay Plains.

Located on the main route approximately midway between the large cities of Sydney and Adelaide at the junction of the Sturt, Cobb and Mid-Western Highways, Hay is an important regional and national transport node. The township itself is built beside the Murrumbidgee River, part of the Murray-Darling river system; Australia's largest. The main business district of Hay is situated on the north bank of the river.

At the 2001 census Hay township had a population of 2,692, of which 4.3% were of indigenous origin. Residents of Hay are mostly Australian-born and English-speaking: 89.9% and 92.9% respectively. 26.4% of the population are over 55 years of age compared to 22% in Australia as a whole.

The most common religious groupings in Hay are Catholics (36.3%) and Anglicans (32.3%), with 6.8% stating no religion. 'Agriculture' is the main industry of employment in Hay, followed by 'Accommodation, Cafes and Restaurants', 'Government Administration', 'Education' and 'Food Retailing'.

Aboriginal communities in the western Riverina were traditionally concentrated in the more habitable river corridors and amongst the reedbeds of the region. The district surrounding Hay was occupied by at least three separate Aboriginal groups at the time of European settler expansion onto their lands. The area around the present township appears to have been a site of interaction between the Nari-Nari people of the Lower Murrumbidgee and the Wiradjuri who inhabited a vast region in the central-western inland of New South Wales.

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