Border closures, bushfires, tragedy, controversy. 2020 has had it all and more on the border

But unlike 101 years ago, the NSW-Victoria border was shut twice in response to two separate outbreaks of coronavirus in each state.

The first border closure began on July 12 and lasted 138 days when triple digit daily cases of COVID-19 were being recorded in Melbourne with the state's botched hotel quarantine program.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian initially hit the button on the closure, fearing the virus spreading into her state with the Murray River chosen as the frontline in the fight to keep it out.

Permit chaos and confusion was created as daily life was severely disrupted, families forced apart and financial pain inflicted on small business.

Did someone also mention long delays stuck in traffic?

A return to some sense of normality came on November 23 when checkpoints were dismantled and freedom of movement between Albury and Wodonga returned.

But less than a month later, the Victorian government shut the border again following an outbreak in Sydney's northern beaches.

Sydney and Central Coast residents couldn't cross the border with Victoria determined to keep the virus out after a year destroyed by lockdowns and 800-plus deaths connected to the bungled hotel quarantine program.

The border region experienced first hand the devastation inflicted by COVID-19 when Corowa's Beryl Bourke died in early April after contracting the virus on a New Zealand holiday.

Her death was the only one in the region and came in the early days of a national response which saw the borders shut to international travel, businesses and schools closed down, widespread cancellations and disruptions to community events.

Long-established Albury businesses such as the Commercial Club were among those forced to close their doors for the first time in their history, students and teachers sent home to remote learn.

Sporting competitions were over before they started.

The Hume Football-Netball League was the first to pull the pin in late May, but Osborne opted to play in competition involving teams from the Riverina league.

The Ovens and Murray Football-Netball League also bowed to the inevitable with the last time no competition held being World War II.

The Albury Gold Cup went ahead, but without crowds.

Major events such as the Henty Field Days and Man From Snowy River Bush Festival weren't so fortunate.

Technically last summer's devastating bushfires began before 2020 ticked over, but their impact was felt all year.

The Upper Murray was one of the hardest hit areas in the state when a lightning strike hit on the NSW side of the border before spotting over into Victoria and spreading uncontrollably.

The bushfire battle began with tragedy when volunteer firefighter, Sam McPaul, was killed in freakish circumstances when battling the blaze at Jingellic.

Ferocious winds flipped the vehicle he was travelling in on its roof with 28-year-old McPaul suffering fatal injuries.

The fire burnt to the edge of Corryong and almost destroyed the Cudgewa Hotel before more damage came when temperatures soared about a week later.

Towong Hill Station homestead, where the late Tom and Elyne Mitchell once resided, was extensively damaged by fire in early January.

In total, 42 homes were destroyed, 5000-plus stock killed and 3300 kilometres of fencing needed to be replaced.

Towong Shire was among the areas declared a state of disaster by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews on January 2.

Albury Council found itself the subject of a national media storm when National Rugby League eventual premier Melbourne began the search for a training base to re-boot its season following the early COVID shutdown.

The Storm was blocked from heading to Yarrawonga due to strict Victorian restrictions before turning its attention to Albury.

A deal between the NSW government, Storm, the NRL and council management to use the council-controlled Greenfield Park was seemingly water tight and only requiring the official tick-off from councillors.

But the plan came unstuck when councillors voted against the move 5-4 with Darren Cameron and others claiming there was an unhealthy double standard at play in opening the doors to elite sport when grassroots competition was grounded on health grounds.

Thankfully for Storm, a Plan-B had been put in place for the team to use the Albury Sportsground under an exclusive use deal between council and Albury Tigers Football-Netball Club.

The Storm were in town for a week without a further hiccup, providing a timely fillip for local businesses including Siesta Resort at Lavington which had been hit hard by the pandemic shutdown.

The marathon stint as a Wodonga councillor and mayor by Anna Speedie came to an end when city leader for the past five years made the surprise call to call time on local government.

Cr Speedie has been a ferocious advocate for her city in 15 years and her five years as mayor is a record stint for a woman.

On bowing out, she credited the Two Cities, One Community partnership with Albury and gaining support from federal and state governments in getting the Albury-Wodonga regional deal over the line among her finest achievements.

Fifteen years in public life is also going to provide some controversies and none were bigger than the damning Victorian Ombudsman finding the city was using a waste management levy to bankroll projects outside of waste services to avoid higher general rate increases.

The findings of a two-year investigation into council by Victoria's corruption watchdog were handed down late in the year and concluded a senior employee failed to manage a conflict of interest with a consultant.

Wodonga Council went to the polls in November and voted in its first Albury resident, Kevin Poulton, along with other newcomers Graeme Simpfendorfer and Olga Quilty as John Watson, Kat Bennett, Ron Mildren and Libby Hall were re-elected.

Cr Poulton went one better and became Wodonga mayor when Cr Watson knocked back guaranteed support to take the role after making public his desire to be the city's leader once again.

The year ended with a string of tragedies.

A potential record harvest in southern NSW after a string of drought years had a horror moment when highly respected cropper, Broughton Bird, died instantly in a header accident near Daysdale.

He was 66 and the tragedy with harvest in full swing and in a mark of the respect Bird had in the area, friends, family and neighbouring property owners joined forces to dedicate a day to harvest crops on one his properties near Coreen.

Andrew Goldman operated a major earth-moving business from his home base near Yarrawonga and had just been elected to Moira Shire when he also died in a helicopter accident in the NSW Southern Highlands.

Mr Goldman was learning to fly a chopper and both he and the instructor from Goulburn were killed when the helicopter crashed near Marulan.

Then two days before Christmas Terry and Belinda Ward were killed in a car accident near Howlong and on Christmas Day hearts were also broken when two-year-old Lincoln Browne was killed in a quad bike mishap.

Despite there being no federal or state elections in 2020, border politicians had their hands full dealing with COVID-19 related dramas.

Farrer MP Sussan Ley also spent a second year as Federal Environment Minister and Indi MP Helen Haines kept chipping away at getting up a federal anti-corruption agency with some serious teeth.

Wodonga-based Senator Bridget McKenzie endured the biggest controversy when she quit Cabinet and resigned as National Party deputy leader as part of the "sports rorts" saga fallout.

Senator McKenzie breached ministerial standards by failing to declare she was a member of the Wangaratta Clay Target Club which secured $36,000 for a new toilet block under the grants program in February 2019.

But the same review cleared her handling of the contentious grant program in her former role as sports minister in an election year, prompting claims of port-barrellling in targeted seats including Indi.

Border closures dominated member for Albury Justin Clancy's first full year in politics and member for Benambra Bill Tilley ended the year having timeout after dealing with bushfires followed by border closures.

The one bit of joy the summer bushfires provided was pop music superstar Katy Perry performing at a concert at Bright in support of firefighters who joined police and other emergency service personnel in the big "thank you" crowd.

Perry was personally touched by the heartbreaking scenes coming out of the North-East fire grounds and wanted to help in a meaningful way.

Six weeks earlier, Wahgunyah's All Saints winery was the venue for an unforgettable three-hour performance from legendary singer Elton John.

Weary firefighters were also part of a 11,000 crowd at an event which had been almost 12 months in the making.

Classic songs including I'm Still Standing, Crocodile Rock, Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting, Your Song and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road were all performed by John, who had flown from Sydney to Corowa airport by helicopter for the concert appearance.