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Tenterfield, New South Wales

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2172144

Tenterfield, New South Wales

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Tenterfield, New South Wales

Tenterfield is a regional town in New South Wales, Australia, situated at the junction of the New England and Bruxner highways, along the Northern Tablelands, within the New England region. At the 2016 census, Tenterfield had a population of 4,066. Tenterfield's proximity to many regional centres and its position on the route between Sydney and Brisbane led to its development as a centre for the promotion of the federation of Australia.

Tenterfield is located at the northern end of the New England region, at the intersection of the New England and Bruxner Highways. The town is the seat of the Tenterfield Shire. The closest nearby large town is Stanthorpe, Queensland, being 56 km north via the New England Highway. Tenterfield is three hours from Brisbane, Queensland (276 km), three hours from Byron Bay, New South Wales (205 km), two hours from Armidale, New South Wales (188 km) and eight hours from Sydney (663 km). The town is on the north-western stretch of the Northern Tablelands plateau, a spur of the Great Dividing Range, and is nestled in a valley beneath Mount Mackenzie (1,287m elevation), one of the highest points along the Northern Tablelands.

Tenterfield's first inhabitants were the Jukembal people who travelled the area from near Glen Innes to Stanthorpe, Queensland.

In 1841, Sir Stuart Donaldson was running 18,000 sheep on a property that he named Tenterfield Station, after a family home, Tenterfield House, in Haddington, Scotland. Donaldson was the first premier of NSW and made biannual trips to Tenterfield to inspect his holdings there, which covered 100,000 acres (400 km2) of unfenced land.

Tenterfield Post Office opened on 1 January 1849 and the township was gazetted in 1851 with allotments being sold in 1854.

In 1858 gold was discovered at Drake (Fairfield) and shortly afterwards at Timbarra and Boonoo Boonoo. During 1859 an AJS Bank opened and an Anglican church was built the following year. In the 1860s the Tenterfield Chronicle was published, the district court was established; the building of a hospital commenced and a public school was opened. In 1870 the population was less than 900, but the town had five hotels, a school of arts and three churches. The existing Tenterfield Post Office was constructed in 1881.

On 1 February 1919, the presence of cases of Spanish flu in New South Wales resulted in Queensland closing its borders. Travellers bound for Queensland on the Main North railway line were forced to disembark at Tenterfield railway station, the last stop before the train would close the border. The Tenterfield showgrounds were turned in a temporary quarantine camp occupied by up to 700 people. Some people chose to return to Sydney while other spent a week in the camp after which they could enter Queensland.

During World War II, Tenterfield was earmarked as a key battleground if the Japanese should invade Australia. During 1942 thousands of soldiers were set up in emergency camps, unbeknown to the locals, to cope with such an event. Overgrown tank traps and gun emplacements can still be seen on the Travelling Stock Route near the New England Highway. The highway was until the early 1950s the only all-weather road from Sydney to Brisbane.

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