Jennings, New South Wales

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Jennings
New South Wales

Hotel and NSW Agiculture warning, Jennings, NSW

Population:

130^[1]

Established:

1888

Postcode:

2372

Elevation:

875 m (2,871 ft)

Location:

718 km (446 mi) N of Sydney
256 km (159 mi) SW of Brisbane
99 km (62 mi) S of Warwick (QLD)
19 km (12 mi) NW of Tenterfield
2 km (1 mi) S of Wallangarra (QLD)

LGA:

Tenterfield Shire Council

State District:

Northern Tablelands

Federal Division:

New England

Mean Max Temp	Mean Min Temp	Rainfall
20.8 °C ^{69 °F}	8.6 °C ^{47 °F}	773.7 mm ^{30.5 in}

Location of Jennings in New South Wales

Jennings is a town in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. The town is located in the Tenterfield Shire Local Government Area, 718 kilometres (446 mi) from the state capital, Sydney and 256 kilometres (159 mi) from Brisbane. It is separated by the state border from its neighbouring town of Wallangarra in Queensland. At the 2006 census, Jennings had a population of 130.^[1] The New England Highway and the Main North railway line cross the state border at Jennings. The town was named for Sir Patrick Jennings, the first Roman Catholic Premier of New South Wales.^[2]

The rail line from Brisbane reached Wallangarra in 1887, a year before the Main North railway line reached Jennings from Sydney in 1888. A break-of-gauge station was established on the border with the north platform part of the Queensland rail network and the southern platform maintained by New South Wales.^[3] After several changes of name between the two towns, in 1904, the name of the station was confirmed as Wallangarra.^[4] Passenger rail services to Brisbane ceased in 1972 and the New South Wales line was closed north of Tenterfield to rail traffic in 1989. The station, refurbished in 2001, is now listed on the Queensland Heritage Register.^[3]

The Jennings Public School, still in operation and sited virtually opposite the Wallangarra School in Queensland, was established in 1889 following representations from the Officer in Charge of Customs for New South Wales at Wallangarra.^[5] During World War II, an ammunition dump was established at Jennings due to the break-of-gauge at Wallangarra railway station. The dump along with a general army store in Wallangarra still exist today.^[6]

A modern survey of the Queensland/New South Wales border, conducted as a Centenary of Federation project in 2001, found an error of 200 metres (700 ft) in the original border survey, conducted between 1863-66, near Jennings. This indicates that if the border was placed where originally intended, Jennings would be located in Queensland rather than New South Wales.^[7]