Place:Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia

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Tamworth is a city and administrative centre of the north-western region of New South Wales, Australia. Situated on the Peel River within the local government area of the Tamworth Regional Council, it is the largest and most populated city in the region, with a population of 63,920 in 2021, making it the second largest inland city in New South Wales. Tamworth is from the Queensland border and is located almost midway between Brisbane and Sydney.

The city is known as the "First Town of Lights", being the first place in Australia to use electric street lights in 1888.^[1] Tamworth is also famous as the "Country Music Capital of Australia", annually hosting the Tamworth Country Music Festival in late January; the second-biggest country music festival in the world after Nashville. The city is recognised as the National Equine Capital of Australia because of the high number of equine events held in the city and the construction of the world-class Australian Equine and Livestock Events Centre, the biggest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

The Kamilaroi people, from whose language comes the word "budgerigar", inhabited the area before European contact. In 1818, John Oxley passed through the Peel Valley and commented, "it would be impossible to find a finer or more luxuriant country than its waters...No place in this world can afford more advantages to the industrious settler than this extensive vale". In 1831, the first sheep stations and cattle stations were formed, and in the same year, the Australian Agricultural Company was granted a lease of of land at Goonoo Goonoo, south of the present location of Tamworth, extending to present-day Calala.

In the 1830s, a company town began to develop on the Peel's southwest bank, the present site of West Tamworth. In 1850, a public town was gazetted on the opposite side of the river from the existing settlement.^[2] This town became the main town, called "Tamworth" after Tamworth, Staffordshire, represented at the time in parliament by Robert Peel. The town prospered, and was reached by the railway in 1878.^[3] The first streetlights used in Australia were commercially owned in Waratah Tasmania in 1886, but on 9 November 1888, Tamworth became the first location in Australia to have electric street lighting powered by a municipally owned power station, giving the town the title of "First Town of Light".

Gaol history

The first record of correctional facilities being established in Tamworth was on 17 December 1864 when the local Police Magistrate was appointed as the Visiting Justice at the Tawmorth Gaol. A gaoler and sheriff were appointed in 1868. At the commencement of 1920, there were 11 prisoners detained. During that year, 201 prisoners were received with 183 discharged leaving 29 in prison by 31 December 1920. Almost 20 per cent of the prisoners were aged under 21 years. The Tamworth Gaol ceased to exist on 25 March 1943, and this was ratified by a proclamation from 8 April 1943.

Prior to its opening as an adult male correctional centre in 1991, the facility (known variously as the Tamworth Institution for Boys, the Tamworth Boys’ Home, and Endeavour House) was a male juvenile justice centre that pre–dated the establishment of the Kariong Youth Correctional Centre which opened in September 1991.

Timeline

• 1818 – Explorer John Oxley passes through the area on his exploration mission. Names the river that now runs through the town: Peel River, after British Prime Minister Robert Peel.
• 1831 – First sheep and cattle stations, namely Joseph Brown's 'Wallamoul' and William Dangar's 'Waldoo'. The exploring expedition led by Major Mitchell visited 'Wallamoul' in December 1831 on its way to the north-west.
• 1834 – 6000 sheep of the Australian Agriculture Company were the first to be brought to the Tamworth region.
• 1851 – The white population of the village of Tamworth was 254.
• 1852 – John Barnes built the Royal Oak Hotel.
• 1861 – Population 543
• 1866 – Tamworth Mechanics' Institute opened.
• 1882 – Tamworth railway station opened.
• 1883 – Tamworth base hospital opened.
• 1888 – Power station opened and enables the beginning of electric street lighting. The first electric streetlights in Australia.^[4]
• 1918 – A pedestal is unveiled as a memorial to the discovery of Tamworth district.
• 1926 – An anchor from the HM survey ship Sealark is erected on the pedestal.
• 1935 - Radio 2TM began broadcasting. Tamworth's first radio station.
• 1946 – Proclaimed a town.
• 1947 – East-West Airlines was established in Tamworth, flying Tamworth to Sydney.
• 1947 – Institution for Boys home for criminal youth opened.
• 1973 – The first Australasian Country Music Festival was hosted in Tamworth by radio station 2TM, which has led to the extraordinary success of the Tamworth Country Music Festival that is held every year in Summer, at the end of January, a celebration that runs continuously for 11 days.
• 1988 – A country music icon, the tall Golden Guitar is erected as a symbol of the town's country music roots.
• 1990s – The Local Council embarks on a successful campaign of urban and streetscape renewal, including the greening of Peel Street.
• 1999 – Tamworth Regional Entertainment Centre is opened.
• 2004 – A new local government area, Tamworth Regional Council, is formed from Tamworth town, Manilla Shire and parts of Parry, Nundle and Barraba Shires.
• 2006 – In December the Tamworth Regional Council voted 6 to 3 against an offer from the Federal Government to take part in a one-year trial rural refugee resettlement programme; the majority of these refugees would be Sudanese escaping civil war in their homeland. Mayor of Tamworth, James Treloar, argued that the refugees being resettled were potentially diseased and criminal. The decision resulted in national and international media attention on the town. The public outrage unleashed by his comments and the summary decision to reject the refugees forced a reversal of the bill one month later, and Tamworth took part in the resettling program.
• 2008 – The Australian Equine and Livestock Events Centre opened in September.
• 2016 – Tamworth hosted the annual City vs Country Origin rugby league match at Scully Park Regional Sporting Precinct.
• 2020 - Tamworth became the New Zealand Warriors Temporary Training and Isolation facility During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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