Jennings, New South Wales

Jennings
New South Wales

Hotel and NSW Agriculture warning
Jennings
Population: 130[1]
Established: 1888
Postcode: 2372
Elevation: 875 m (2,871 ft)
Location:
LGA: Tenterfield Shire
State District: Northern Tablelands
Federal Division: New England
Mean max temp Mean min temp Annual rainfall
20.8 °C
69 °F		 8.6 °C
47 °F		 773.7 mm
30.5 in

Jennings is a town on the Northern Tablelands 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]

History

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] A Jennings Railway Station Telegraph Office opened on 16 January 1888. In 1904 it was renamed by a Wallangarra Receiving Office[5]. The Wallangarra Post Office in Queensland was opened in 1885.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8]

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.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). "Jennings (State Suburb)". 2006 Census QuickStats. http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/ABSNavigation/prenav/LocationSearch?collection=Census&period=2006&areacode=SSC17589&producttype=QuickStats&breadcrumb=PL&action=401. Retrieved 2007-08-25. 
  2. ^ "Jennings". Tenterfield Shire Council. http://tenterfield.local-e.nsw.gov.au/about/2401/2406.html. Retrieved 2007-08-25. 
  3. ^ a b "Wallangarra Railway Station and Complex". Queensland Heritage Register. Environmental Protection Agency (Queensland). Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. http://web.archive.org/web/20070930045735/http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/projects/heritage/index.cgi?place=601242&back=1. Retrieved 2007-08-25. 
  4. ^ "Wallangarra Railway Station". NSWRail.net. http://www.nswrail.net/locations/show.php?name=NSW:Wallangarra&line=NSW:main_north:0. Retrieved 2007-08-25. 
  5. ^ Premier Postal History. "Post Office List". Premier Postal Auctions. https://www.premierpostal.com/cgi-bin/wsProd.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=NSW&country=. Retrieved 2011-05-26. 
  6. ^ Premier Postal History. "Post Office List". Premier Postal Auctions. https://www.premierpostal.com/cgi-bin/wsProd.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=QLD&country=. Retrieved 2011-05-26. 
  7. ^ "Our School History". Jennings Public School. Archived from the original on 2007-09-01. http://web.archive.org/web/20070901131306/http://www.jennings-p.schools.nsw.edu.au/html/history.html. Retrieved 2007-08-25. 
  8. ^ Dunn, Peter. "Advanced Ordnance Depot (3 AOD) Wallangarra Logistics Support Area, QLD and 1 Advanced Ammunition Depot (1 AAD)Jennings, NSW, during WW2". Australia at War. Archived from the original on 2007-09-20. http://web.archive.org/web/20070920043549/http://www.sandgate.net/~dunn/ausarmy/3aod&1aad.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-25. 
  9. ^ "State and Territory Borders". Geoscience Australia. Archived from the original on 2007-08-22. http://web.archive.org/web/20070822070519/http://www.ga.gov.au/education/facts/dimensions/borders.htm#. Retrieved 2007-08-25.