Editing Sunraysia

{{short description|Region of Australia}}
{{About|the district in Victoria and New South Wales|the highway|Sunraysia Highway|the tertiary educational institution|Sunraysia Institute of TAFE}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Use Australian English|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox Australian place
| type                = region
| name                = Sunraysia
| state               = au
| image               = Jack De Garis promoting "Sun-Raysed", which later became "Sunraysia".jpg
| caption             = [[Jack De Garis]] promoting "Sun-Raysed", a coined word which later generated "Sunraysia".
| image2              = Outline map of the Mallee and Sunraysia regions.png
| caption2            = An image showing the outline of the [[Mallee (Victoria)|Mallee]] and Sunraysia district (red circle) which is predominantly contained within the [[Rural City of Mildura]].
| pop                 = 
| pop_year            = {{CensusAU|2011}}
| pop_footnotes       = 
| est                 = 
| area                = 
| area_footnotes      = 
| lga                = [[Rural City of Mildura|Mildura]] (Vic)<ref group=Note>The current and historically irrigated areas are most often considered to be Sunraysia.</ref>
| lga2                = [[Wentworth Shire|Wentworth]] (NSW)<ref group=Note>The Wentworth township and the irrigated areas of the Shire are most often considered to be Sunraysia.</ref>
| lga3                = [[Rural City of Swan Hill|Swan Hill]] (Vic)<ref group=Note>Only the Robinvale/Boundary Bend area is sometimes considered to be Sunraysia.</ref> 
| lga4                = [[Balranald Shire|Balranald]] (NSW)<ref group=Note>Only the Euston area is sometimes considered to be Sunraysia.</ref>
| stategov            = [[Electoral district of Mildura|Mildura]] (Vic)
| stategov2           = [[Electoral district of Murray|Murray]] (NSW)
| fedgov              = [[Division of Farrer|Farrer]] (NSW)
| fedgov2             = [[Division of Mallee|Mallee]] (Vic)
| logo                = 
| url                 = 
| near-n              = ''[[Western Division (New South Wales)|Western Division]]''
| near-ne             = ''[[Western Division (New South Wales)|Western Division]]''
| near-e              = ''[[Riverina]]''
| near-se             = Mid-Murray
| near-s              = [[Mallee (Victoria)|Mallee]]
| near-sw             = [[Millewa]]
| near-w              = [[Millewa]]
| near-nw             = ''[[Western Division (New South Wales)|Western Division]]''
}}

'''Sunraysia''' is a region located in northwestern [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]] and southwestern [[New South Wales]] in [[Australia]]. The region is renowned for its sunshine, intensive [[horticulture]] including grapes and oranges. Its main centre is [[Mildura, Victoria]].

The area of Victoria to the west of Sunraysia is known as the [[Millewa]], the main distinction being that Sunraysia is the irrigated area and the Millewa is the dryland cropping area.

Sunraysia is mostly contained in the [[Murray Darling]] wine region.

Sunraysia is sometimes incorrectly referred to as an [[Economic geography|economic]] [[Regions of Victoria|region]].<ref>{{cite web |date=2011 |title=Meaning of Regional Victoria |url=http://dsdbi.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/word_doc/0003/65235/Meaning-of-Regional-Victoria.doc |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819125756/http://dsdbi.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/word_doc/0003/65235/Meaning-of-Regional-Victoria.doc |archive-date=19 August 2014 |access-date=15 August 2014 |work=Department of State Development, Business and Innovation |publisher=Government of Victoria |type=[[MS Word]] requires download |df=dmy-all}}</ref> 

==Etymology==
The name ''Sunraysia'' derives from a contest that entrepreneur [[Jack De Garis]] held in 1919, as part of a promotion on behalf of the Australian Dried Fruits Association. The public were invited to submit a name to describe the dried fruits grown in the Mildura area. The winning name was ''Sun-Raysed'', which was modified as ''Sunraysia'' to describe the district as a whole. In 1920, De Garis started a newspaper in Mildura called the ''[[Sunraysia Daily]]'', helping to establish the name.<ref>{{cite thesis|url=http://www.canberra.edu.au/faculties/comm-international/amt/PDFs/AMT2005Kirkpatrick.pdf|title=The regional daily unafraid to stand alone|author=Kirkpatrick, Rod|date=30 November 2005|publisher=[[University of Canberra]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716234131/http://www.canberra.edu.au/faculties/comm-international/amt/PDFs/AMT2005Kirkpatrick.pdf|archive-date=16 July 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

==Pest Free Area==
The Greater Sunraysia district forms part of the Fruit Fly Free Exclusion Zone, a Pest Free Area (PFA) that was created in 2007 located between north-west Victoria and south-west New South Wales. It is renowned for the production of high value horticultural crops including citrus, table grapes and stone fruit. The PFA is aligned to this production area to provide greater [[Tephritidae|fruit fly]] control measures. The [[Department of Environment and Primary Industries (Victoria)|Victorian Department of Environment and Primary Industries]] (DEPI) and [[Department of Primary Industries (New South Wales)|New South Wales Department of Primary Industries]] (DPI) have implemented stringent legislative controls on the movement of host fruit and vegetables into the PFA to keep it free from the [[Bactrocera tryoni|Queensland fruit fly]] (QFF) and maintain high value markets, which are worth millions of dollars to local industries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pestfreearea.com.au/|title=Greater Sunraysia Pest Free Area|work=[[Department of Environment and Primary Industries (Victoria)|Department of Environment and Primary Industries]] and [[Department of Primary Industries (New South Wales)|Department of Primary Industries]]|publisher=[[Government of Victoria (Australia)|Government of Victoria]] and [[Government of New South Wales]]|access-date=16 August 2014}}</ref> The PFA enables commercial horticultural products to be marketed without postharvest chemical treatments for QFF. The PFA follows the course of the [[Murray River]] from [[Kerang]] to {{NSWcity|Wentworth}} and the [[Darling River]] from Wentworth to [[Pooncarie]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/pests-weeds/insects/qff/pfa|title=Biosecurity: The Pest Free Area|work=Department of Primary Industries|publisher=Government of New South Wales|access-date=16 August 2014}}</ref>

==Major settlements==
In addition to Mildura, the other major settlements in the district are [[Robinvale]], [[Irymple, Victoria|Irymple]], [[Red Cliffs, Victoria|Red Cliffs]], [[Merbein, Victoria|Merbein]], [[Wentworth, New South Wales|Wentworth]], [[Dareton, New South Wales|Dareton]] and [[Buronga, New South Wales|Buronga]]-[[Gol Gol, New South Wales|Gol Gol]].

==Education facilities==

The Mildura campuses of [[Sunraysia Institute of TAFE]] (SuniTAFE) and [[La Trobe University]] are located on Benetook Ave between 11th and 14th Streets. SuniTAFE has an additional site in Cardross. The Coomealla Campus of [[TAFE NSW]] is in Dareton.

==Media==
The main newspaper that services the region is the ''[[Sunraysia Daily]]'', and is published on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Sunraysia was also serviced by two free papers; the ''Sunraysia Life'' and the ''Mildura Weekly'' were published on Fridays. The ''Mildura Independent'' was another free weekly, published on Sundays from 1982 to 2007. ''My Mildura'' was a free monthly magazine. There are also a number of paid weeklies covering smaller areas within Sunraysia.

Local radio stations include [[ABC Mildura Swan Hill]], [[River 1467|RIVER1467]] (1467AM 3ML), [[Triple M|Triple M 97.9]], [[Hit Network|Hit 99.5]], and Hot FM.

Television stations in Sunraysia include [[ABV (TV station)|ABC Victoria]], [[STV (TV station)|Channel Nine Mildura]] (part of the WIN Television network), and [[PTV (TV station)|7 Mildura]].

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Fruit Fly exclusion zone.jpg|Fruit disposal bins and warning signs along the [[Calder Highway]], approaching [[Mildura]]. 
Image:Silo Merrinee.jpg|Storage silo at [[Merrinee, Victoria]].
</gallery>

==See also==
{{Portal|Australia|New South Wales}}
* [[Geography of Victoria]]
* [[Mallee (Victoria)|Mallee]]
* [[Millewa]]
* [[Regions of Victoria]]
* [[Regions of New South Wales]]
* [[Riverina]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|group=Note}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{sunraysia}}

{{coord|34|12|22.17|S|142|08|08.61|E|display=title|region:AU_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki}}

[[Category:Regions of New South Wales]]
[[Category:Regions of Victoria (state)]]
[[Category:Mildura]]