A Weekend in the Country around Tamworth

This weekend was spent exploring a bit of the countryside around Tamworth and let me tell you, there definitely are some differences between here and Toronto - or even more generally, here and any big city!  That being said, there's still lots of fun to be had!

Saturday's travels took me to Armidale, but on the way I passed through a little village called Moonbi.  Although Moonbi only has a population of about 400 people, the village is renowned as a centre for the poultry industry with many large poultry farms and associated industries located around the area.  In honour of this, Moonbi is the home of the "Big Chicken" - a large fibreglass chicken in recognition of the poultry industry centered here.

Just north of Moonbi, in the first Moonbi Hill (and yes, there is a second Moonbi Hill), is the Moonbi Lookout perched on a huge granite outcrop with some beautiful views of Moonbi and the surrounding Cockburn Valley.

Continuing on the way to Armidale and another little town we passed through was Uralla.  Uralla was home to the famous Captain Thunderbolt - outlaw Fred Ward - who caused trouble in the area in the 1860s.  As with Ned Kelly, the locals have adopted him as a larrikin hero.
Frederick Wordsworth Ward (aka Captain Thunderbolt) (1835–1870) was an Australian bushranger renowned for escaping from Cockatoo Island (a penal establishment).  He was also known for his reputation as the "gentleman bushranger" and his lengthy survival, being the longest roaming bushranger in nineteenth-century Australian history.  Thunderbolt's Rock (near Uralla) is the spot where, at one time, Captain Thunderbolt and his gang waited to ambush the mail, and they were spotted by troopers.  In the ensuing gunfight, Ward was shot in the back of the left knee, an injury that left a critical identifying mark that helped to identify his body after his death.  Thunderbolt's Rock still remains today but unfortunately has become a canvas for graffiti.

This is the countryside that Captain Thunderbolt would have been looking out over as he waited to ambush the mail.

My destination of Armidale is a city just over an hour's drive north of Tamworth.  Armidale was first settled in the early 1830s, following the earlier exploration of the area by John Oxley.  It was named after Armadale on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, but seemingly the city fathers were not good spellers. The town, which was surveyed in 1848 and gazetted in 1849, was established to provide a market and administration for the farms, but soon after gold was discovered nearby and a gold rush ensued, enlarging the town rapidly in the 1850s.  Armidale was proclaimed a city in 1885 and now is known as a cathedral city, being the seat of the Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops of Armidale. 

St Peter's Anglican Cathedral was designed by the Canadian architect, John Horbury Hunt and opened for worship in 1875.

The Catholic Cathedral of St Mary and St Joseph was consecrated in 1912.

Although I didn't know it when I first got there, this weekend was the Autumn Festival in Armidale, which is a popular annual event in April.  A main feature of the festival is a street parade, promoting Armidale's autumn colours as well as it's diverse culture.  Armidale is home to the University of New England and UNE contributes to Armidale's position as a city of culture and diversity, with a vibrant artistic and cultural element.

The Armidale Courthouse was built in the 1850s and is a prominent feature in the town's CBD.

Across from the Courthouse is the Post Office, built in 1880,

and across the street is what was the New England Hotel, built in 1857.

The UNE is built around the old mansion of Booloominbah, which is now used for administration offices..  Booloominbah was also designed by Canadian John Horbury Hunt, in 1882, and was built by local building contractors.  Booloominbah reflects the Gothic revivalist influences of the 'Queen Anne' style that emerged in England in the last half of the 19th century.  The building has National Trust classification, as well as being listed on the Register of the National Estate.  It has been described as being "perhaps Hunt's greatest achievement in the field of domestic architecture."  It also has a New South Wales heritage listing.

Today I headed east of Tamworth and the first stop was at Chaffey Dam.   Chaffey Dam's main purposes are regulating the flow of the Peel River and to augment the water supply of Tamworth.
The dam has a capacity of 62,000 megalitres, a catchment area of 42,000 hectares, and its main wall is 54 metres high.  Water sports such as swimming, sailing, boating and fishing are popular activities on the lake, and there are beautiful parks and reserves around the dam where bushwalking and picnicking can be enjoyed.

Nundle was established at the foot of the Great Dividing Range when gold was discovered at "The Hanging Rock" in 1852.  By 1865 the population was around 500 and Nundle was declared a town in 1885.  This is a scenic village, with many historic buildings.  The Primitive Methodist Church, built in 1882, in an example.

Also in Nundle is the Nundle Woollen Mill which was established in 2001 and has had a significant impact on the historic gold mining village.  Fourteen truck loads of spinning and weaving machinery, some built in England and Germany as early as 1915, was purchased from a small boutique mill at Tamworth and brought to this new location in Nundle.  An observation deck allows visitors to view the working factory, right from opening and picking bales of wool, to spinning, twisting, and dyeing the yarn.

As I was leaving Nundle I just happened to see this very Australian scene - a Blue Heeler (an Australian cattle dog) waiting for its master outside the local pub.

Hanging Rock is a gold mining village (population approx. 200), about 10 km away from Nundle, and it took its name from a huge cliff face that overlooked the valley below.  The Hanging Rock Historic Cemetery was surveyed in 1869 and today contains only 4 of the original headstones.  Thanks to the work of a local historian however, there are now plaques listing the names of all known burials at this site - those who died on the Hanging Rock/Nundle goldfield.

Hanging Rock's elevation is about 1100m and Hanging Rock Lookout offers a scenic vantage point with excellent views of the Nundle valley below.

And then on the way home I just happened to notice this dilapidated old house on the side of the road and I had to stop and take a couple of photos.  I love the way the countryside is literally growing up and over the house.  One has to wonder what will be here in another 20 years?