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Geography
These tablelands are the largest highland area in Australia. There are widespread high points over 1000 metres and the highest point at Round Mountain is 1,584 metres above sea level. The now closed railway station at Ben Lomond, was the highest railway station in Australia. This elevation means cool summers (rarely over 32°C) but winters are cold with occasional snowfalls and many frosty mornings. Winter minimums can go as low as -10°C around Guyra, Woolbrook and Walcha during frosty mornings, but this usually results in clear sunny days.
The eastern escarpment of the Tableland has spectacular gorges, rainforests and waterfalls, protected in several National Parks and also with a World Heritage listing under Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves (CERRA). Oxley Wild Rivers National Park, one of the largest national parks in NSW is accessible from the Oxley Highway at Walcha and via Waterfall Way east of Armidale and south of Hillgrove. The New England National Park is located in the south-eastern part of the region.
History
Walcha was the first part of the Northern Tablelands to be discovered in 1818, by the explorer, John Oxley. In 1832 Hamilton Collins Semphill, a settler from Belltrees on the Hunter River, formed a station in the upper Apsley Valley and named it Wolka (Walcha) from the local Aboriginal language. Soon others followed, seeking new lands away from the influence of the Australian Agricultural Company, which dominated resources in the Hunter valley, and settled around the present Armidale district. Armidale was then gazetted as a town in 1849. Squatters soon settled the tablelands with their large sheep runs before Glen Innes and Tenterfield were surveyed in 1851. Armidale is the only city on the Tablelands and is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands region.
Captain Thunderbolt the famous bushranger (Frederick Wordsworth Ward, 1836-1870) who escaped from Cockatoo Island came to the Northern Tablelands, where he robbed properties, mail coaches and hotels in the region. In 1866 the Colonial Secretary's Office posted a reward of £100 for his capture, which was raised to £200 by mid 1867 and £ 400 in December 1869. Many stories have been told his bushranging deeds in the area from Newcastle to the Queensland border. Thunderbolt was shot dead by Constable Walker in May 1870 in Kentucky Creek after a long chase on horseback. His grave is in the town of Uralla, NSW.
The Northern Tablelands region has the University of New England at Armidale. This public university, with approximately 18,000 higher education students, was founded in 1938. The UNE is one of Australia's major providers of awards to off-campus students.1
Agriculture
The Tablelands cover an area of approximately 3.12 million hectares including 2.11 million hectares occupied by some 2300 agricultural establishments producing agricultural commodities valued at more than $220 million.
The area around Armidale, Uralla and Walcha is noted for its superfine wool production. Many beef cattle studs and commercial cattle breeders are located across the tablelands area. Gold and antimony are mined at Hillgrove. Guyra produces prime lambs, potatoes, tulips and glasshouse tomatoes. Dorrigo, has beef cattle and dairy farms. Apples, pears and other stone fruit are grown at Kentucky. Lockheed Martin operates a satellite tracking dish near Uralla.
The Northern Tablelands is an Ovine Johne's disease (OJD) Exclusion Area (EA), which may include part or all of a Rural Lands Protection Board, that is declared a Protected Area under the Stock Diseases Act 1923, but given the name of OJD Exclusion Area.
During 2008 nine local government areas in the Northern Tablelands recorded a 12 to 35 per cent growth in property values over the last 12 months and a 13 to 22 per cent rise over the last five years according to a report from Australian Property Monitors.2
Flora and fauna
Bolivia Hill and the adjacent nature reserve are the only recorded locations of the endangered Bolivia Hill Boronia (Boronia boliviensis)3 and the shrub Pimelea venosa.4 Some rare Eucalyptus michaeliana (Hillgrove Gum) trees may be seen growing along the Long Point Road and the Big Lease, Oxley Wild Rivers National Park. These trees have a distinctive, mottled, greenish trunk with peeling yellow-brown bark.
Citations
- ^ New England Holiday, Express Print, Armidale, nd
- ^ Walcha News, Walcha Property Amongst the Best in NSW, 15 May 2008
- ^ Threatened Species of the New England Tablelands, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, 2003
- ^ Threatened Species of the New England Tablelands, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, 2003
References
The Australian Encyclopaedia, Vol. VI.
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See also
- State Electoral District Of Northern Tablelands: http://www.elections.nsw.gov.au/state_government_elections/election_results/district_index/northern_tablelands
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