New England (Australia)
New England is the name of a region in the north of the Australian state of New South Wales . New England has no hard and fast boundaries and so many possible definitions. In the most concise terms, New England can be defined as the area that stretches from the Queensland border south to Quirindi and does not include the coastal areas of northern New South Wales, nor the area west of the Inverell - Gunnedah line . A broader definition would include the area between Queensland and the Pacific in the north, the coastal areas in the east and the area up to the line Boggabilla - Moree - Narrabri - Coonabarabran in the west .
history
The Kamilaroi Aboriginal tribe had lived in this area for several thousand years, especially in the west . In the highlands, the original languages were Anaiwan (or Nganaywana) in the south (south of Guyra ) and Ngarrabal and Marabal in the north. These languages no longer exist today.
The first white man to explore New England was John Oxley , who crossed the southern part of New England and discovered and named Port Macquarie in 1818 . In 1827 the botanist Allan Cunningham traveled north to Darling Towns in Queensland in western New England . In the 1830s the area was opened for settlement, although the semi-tropical coastal areas remained poorly developed for many years.
geography
The two traditional centers of New England are Armidale and Tamworth . Armidale is home to the University of New England , Australia's oldest regional university. Tamworth is known as the center of the Australian country music industry. Today, however, the coastal centers of Ballina , Coffs Harbor and Port Macquarie outstrip these inland centers.
The inland region includes some of Australia's richest wool producing areas. The coastal areas support semi-tropical agriculture, such as sugar cane cultivation, and are also important tourist destinations, particularly the northern coastal cities such as Byron Bay and Murwillumbah .
New England is crossed by the New England Highway , which connects Tamworth, Armidale, Glen Innes and Tenterfield and is a main route between Queensland and New South Wales. The New England rail line follows the same route and was the first rail line to connect the two states. Nowadays the coastal railway line is mainly used, the New England railway line north of Armidale is out of service. The Oxley Highway , the Gwydir Highway and the Bruxner Highway traverse New England from west to east.
The New State Movement
New England was home to Australia's most persistent attempt to create a new state in the Australian community. Many New England residents long resented being ruled from Sydney , especially when, as was usually the case, New South Wales was ruled by a labor government dominated by urban interests. In the 1930s and again in the 1960s, the New State Movement called for the separation of New England from New South Wales. The movement was closely allied with the Country Party, which expected to form the government of such a new state.
Chapter VI of the Australian Constitution allows the formation of new states, but only with the consent of the parliament of the state concerned. The Parliament of New South Wales never gave this approval.