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Tamworth
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TAMWORTH
is the first city on the New England Plateau proper, a fair-sized place that's proud of its public buildings, parks and gardens. It also likes to refer to itself as the "City of Lights", having been the first in Australia to be fitted with electric street lighting, in 1888. To most Australians, however, Tamworth means
country music
- it's a sort of antipodean Nashville. The twelve-metre-high golden guitar in front of the
Golden Guitar Complex
(daily 9am-5pm; $5.50;
www.big-golden-guitar.com.au
), on the southern edge of town, sums up the town's role as the C&W capital of Australasia. Inside the centre, you'll find waxwork figures of the great Australian country stars such as Chad Morgan, Buddy Williams, Smoky Dawson and his horse Flash, Slim Dusty, Reg Lindsay and Tex Morton. There's also a slightly incongruous collection of gems and minerals from the region - no rhinestones though. Afterwards, the
Longyard Hotel
next door is a handy place to weep in your beer for a while and, once a year, for a week at the end of January, it becomes the focus of the
Tamworth Country Music Festival
when fans from all over the country descend, packing out camping spots. Every pub, club and hall in town hosts music gigs, record launches and bush poetry, culminating in the presentation of the Australian country music awards - further information and bookings from Rural Press Events (tel 02/6762 2399,
www.countrymusic.asn.au
) or the visitors centre. The final piece of the country puzzle is found at the corner of Brisbane Street and Kable Avenue, where the
Hands of Fame
cornerstone bears the palm-prints of more country greats. A glorious spoof, the Noses of Fame memorial, can be savoured over a beer at the
Tattersalls Hotel
on Peel Street.
Don't give up on Tamworth entirely if country music isn't your thing. The Powerstation Museum at 216 Peel St (Tues-Fri 9am-1pm, Sat & Sun by arrangement; free), celebrates those pioneering street lights, and there are numerous art galleries and crafts studios around town: the Tamworth City Gallery , housed in the Guy Kable Building on Marius Street (Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat 9-11.30am, Sun 1-4pm; free) has a surprisingly good permanent exhibition. Natural attractions include the Oxley Lookout and Nature Reserve at the end of White Street, with panoramic views of the city and the Peel River Valley, and Lake Keepit , 56km northwest of the city, where you can rent boats and mess about on the water.
The former gold-mining township of
NUNDLE
lies some 60km southeast of town in the "hills of gold" - people still visit with picks, shovels and sieves in the hope of striking it lucky, and you can join them for a day. You no longer need to buy a fossicking licence but it's still worth dropping by the General Store on Jenkins Street; they'll point you in the right direction to start digging. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Australia,
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