Everything about New England Australia totally explained
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Tamworth,
Northern Tablelands,
Lismore,
Liverpool Plains,
| fedgov =
New England
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New England is the name given to a region in the north of the state of
New South Wales,
Australia.
The two traditional centres of New England are
Armidale and
Tamworth. Armidale is the home of the
University of New England, Australia's oldest regional university, and has many beautiful parks in the city and is the gateway to the gorge country. Tamworth is now best known as the centre of Australia's
country music industry and the national equine events capital of Australia. Today, however, the fast-growing coastal centres of
Ballina,
Coffs Harbour, and
Port Macquarie are outstripping these inland centres.
The inland region contains some of Australia's richest
wool-growing areas. The coastal regions support semi-tropical agriculture such as sugarcane growing, and are also major tourist areas, particularly the far north coast towns such as
Byron Bay and
Murwillumbah.
Geography
New England has no defined boundaries, and the term has several possible definitions.
The narrowest definition of New England consists of the highland areas which form part of the
Great Dividing Range, between the
Liverpool Range in the south and the border of
Queensland in the north. This region includes substantial areas more than 800m above sea-level, with a distinctive cold climate, distinctive vegetation and a characteristic granite landscape. This highland region is often referred to as the New England Tableland, New England Plateau, or
Northern Tablelands. There are widespread high points over 1000m and the highest point at
Round Mountain is almost 1600m above sea level. This definition of "New England" includes the towns and districts of
Tenterfield,
Glen Innes,
Inverell,
Armidale and
Walcha.
A broader definition of the New England Region, includes areas beyond the highlands which can also be considered to be the
Western Slopes Region and the
Liverpool Plains. This definition includes the valleys of the westward flowing
Gwydir River and
Namoi River and their tributaries, and the foothills and spur ranges which generally form the western side of the central New England tablelands. Towns and districts such as
Moree,
Narrabri,
Gunnedah,
Manilla,
Tamworth, and
Quirindi, are included in the New England Region according to this basis. The adjacent
Granite Belt area of
Queensland, which is a geological continuation of the New England Plateau, can also be considered to be part of the region.
At its broadest definition, the New England Region has been considered to include the northern coastal lowlands of New South Wales, known as the
North Coast or Northern Rivers region, and including cities such as
Lismore and
Grafton. A
State of New England, which has been proposed at various times, included the North Coast region in the boundaries of the proposed new State. Apart from this usage, the North Coast region isn't usually considered to be part of New England.
The New England region is traversed by the
New England Highway, which links Tamworth, Armidale,
Glen Innes, and
Tenterfield, and is a major route linking New South Wales and
Queensland. The
Main North railway line following the same route to
Wallangarra, Queensland was the first railway link between the states, however
the coastal railway is now used and the New England line is disused north of Armidale. The
Oxley Highway,
Gwydir Highway, and
Bruxner Highway traverse the New England Region from west to east.
The topography of the region is dominated by the
Northern Tablelands plateau. The eastern side of the plateau is drained by the various headwaters and tributaries of the
Clarence River and the
Macleay River. In many places these rivers form deep gorges and waterfalls. Notable waterfalls include
Ebor Falls and
Wollomombi Falls which are both east of Armidale. These gorges fragment the eastern side of the plateau, which in some areas such as
Dorrigo, New South Wales approach quite close to the coast. There are many National Parks along the rugged eastern fringes of the highlands which includes
New England National Park, which includes the region's second highest peak,
Point Lookout.
The western side of the plateau is somewhat less rugged, and is drained towards the west by the tributaries of the
Severn River, the
Gwydir River and the
Namoi River. These rivers form part of the Murray-Darling Basin. There are large dams at
Copeton Dam on the Gwydir and at
Keepit Dam,
Chaffey Dam and
Split Rock Dam in the Namoi catchment. The
Nandewar Range is a major western spur of the highlands, culminating in
Mount Kaputar near
Narrabri.
National Parks on the rugged eastern fringe of the region include
Pre-History
The region has been occupied by
Indigenous Australians for thousands of years, notably in the west were the
Kamilaroi people. In the highlands, the original languages, which are now extinct, were Anaiwan (or Nganaywana) to the south of Guyra and Ngarrabal and Marabal to the north of Guyra.
History
The first European person to explore the New England area was
English explorer
John Oxley, who crossed the southern part of the New England Range and discovered and named
Port Macquarie in
1818. In
1827 Allan Cunningham traveled north along the western edge of the Range until he reached the
Darling Downs in
Queensland. The area was opened up for settlement in the 1830s, although the semi-tropical coastal areas remained undeveloped for many years.
New State Movement
New England has been the home of Australia's most persistent attempt to form a
new state within the Australian commonwealth. Many New England people long resented being governed from
Sydney, especially when, as is usually the case, there's a
Labor government in New South Wales, dominated by urban interests. In the 1930s and again in the 1960s, the
New England New State Movement campaigned for New England to be separated from New South Wales. The movement was closely allied with the
Country Party, which could have expected to form the government of such a new state.
On
29 April 1967 a referendum in the region on the creation of a new state in northern NSW returned a 'no' vote of 54%.
Chapter VI of the
Australian Constitution allows new states to be formed, but only with the consent of the Parliament of the state in question. It has never been likely that the
New South Wales Parliament would consent to the separation of New England.
Image gallery
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| Aerial view of the city Tamworth |
View over the city of Armidale |
Orchard near Tamworth |
Drovers taking sheep through Warialda |
Further Information
Get more info on 'New England Australia'.
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