Tenterfield, New South Wales

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Location of Tenterfield in New South Wales (red)

Tenterfield is a town and Local Government Area (see Tenterfield Shire Council), in New South Wales, Australia. It is located in the New England region of northern New South Wales. Centrally located, at the intersection of The New England and Bruxner Highways, Brisbane is a 3 hour drive, Byron Bay 2.5 hours, Armidale 2 hours, and Sydney 10 hours away. Tenterfield sits in a valley astride the Great Dividing Range at an alititude of 880m.

Tenterfield's proximity to many regional centres and its position on the route between Sydney and Brisbane led to it being a centre for the promotion of Federation of the Australian States.

Sir Henry Parkes delivered his Federation Speech here in 1889 while en route from Brisbane to Sydney, via the new Main North railway opened to Tenterfield and nearby Wallangarra on the Queensland border in the previous year, connecting Sydney and Brisbane, with a break-of-gauge at Wallangarra. The speech is credited with re-igniting the debate that ultimately leading to Federation on 1 January 1901. The railway was subsequently bypassed by the fully standard gauge North Coast line between Sydney and Brisbane, completed in 1932. The Main North line is now closed north of Armidale.

1 Local geography
2 Notable residents
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Local geography

The local geography is dominated by prominent granite inselbergs and mountains, the most famous being that of Bald Rock, which sits within the Bald Rock National Park.

[edit] Notable residents

Major J.F. Thomas, a solicitor known for his vigorous defense of Harry "Breaker" Morant. Jack Thompson portrayed Major Thomas in the 1980 film Breaker Morant.
A.B. "Banjo" Patterson.
The entertainer Peter Allen, who was born in and spent much of his childhood in Tenterfield, where he lived with his grandfather George Woolnough (see below).
George Woolnough, Allen's grandfather, a saddlemaker, the third person to own the saddlery and the subject of Allen's song "Tenterfield Saddler".

[edit] References

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