TAMWORTH
Pop, 31,865; 429 km N of Sydney.
Tamworth is a prosperous
regional city which boasts of being the first place in the Southern
Hemisphere to have electric street lighting in 1888.
It is also renowned as
the nation's Country Music Capital. Towards the end of January each
year it hosts the Tamworth Country Music Festival, which attracts
more than 50,000 visitors.
There is a particularly
fine collection of paintings. Australian silver and ivory figurines
in the city's excellent art gallery.
The first mayor of
Tamworth, Phillip Gidley King, lived in Calala Cottage, which has
since been restored, and houses an excellent museum.
Overlooking the city from
250m is the Oxley Lookout, part of a 400 ha park of steep woodland,
It is also an animal sanctuary. On the Manilla Road, marking where
explorer John Oxley crossed the Peel River in 1818, is the anchor
from his ship Sealark. Oxley was a Naval officer before
turning to exploring,
Visitor
Information
Tamworth Information
Centre, Cnr Peel and Murray Streets, Tamworth, 2340.
Open 9.00am to 5.00, 7 days a week. Closed Good Friday and Christmas Day.
Tel. (02) 6767 5300; Fax (02) 6767 5312
E mail: tourism@tamworth.nsw.gov.au.
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