| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
The region has been occupied by Australian Aborigines for thousands of years. The first white person to explore the New England area was John Oxley, who crossed the southern part of the New England Range and discovered and named Port Macquarie in 1817. In 1827 Allan CunninghamAllan Cunningham ( July 13, 1791 June 27, 1839) was an English botanist and explorer. Allan Cunningham is primarily known for his travels in New South Wales to collect plants. He went to Brazil between 1814 and 1816, arriving in Australia in December of t travelled north up the line of the Range until he reached the Darling DownsThe Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. It is in the drainage basin of the Condamine River and its tributaries. The landscape is dominated by rolling hills covered by pastu in Queensland. The area was opened up for settlement in the 1830s, although the semi-tropical coastal areas remained undeveloped for many years.
The two traditional centres of New England are ArmidaleArmidale (population 22,000) is a university city in northwestern New South Wales, Australia, and is the administrative centre for the New England region. It is located approximately half way between Sydney and Brisbane on the New England Highway, nationa and TamworthTamworth is a large regional centre (population: 35,000) in the southern New England area of New South Wales, Australia. The city is well known as the "Country Music Capital" of Australia. Geography Tamworth is located on the banks of the Peel River which. Armidale is the home of the University of New EnglandThis article is about the university in Australia. For the Australian university, see University of New England, Maine. The University of New England UNE to its friends and alumni) was originally formed in 1938 as the New England University College a Coll, Australia's oldest regional university. Tamworth is now best known as the centre of Australia's country musicCountry music once known as Country and Western music is a popular musical form developed in the southern United States, with roots in traditional folk music, spirituals, and the blues. Vernon Dalhart was the first country singer to have a nation-wide hit industry. Today, however, the fast-growing coastal centres of BallinaBallina is a town on the North Coast, New South Wales, Australia. Located on the Pacific Highway, Ballina (named after the Irish town of Ballina), was established on the northern shore of the Richmond River near Cape Byron, Australia's most easterly point, 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.
New England has been the home of Australia's most persistent attempt to form a new state. Many New England people long resented being governed from Sydney, especially when, as is usually the case, there is 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 camapigned 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.
Towns in 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 New England railway line following the same route 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.
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.