Tamworth was founded in 1824 and grew into a town by 1850. In 1888, Tamworth became the first Australian town to have electric street lights. The town was named after the town of the same name, Tamworth, in Staffordshire , England . The Peel River was named after Sir Robert Peel , who then represented Tamworth (England) in the British Parliament.
The city is an important center for agriculture. Grain, fruit and tobacco are grown and cattle is raised. Every year there is a country music festival with up to 50,000 visitors a day. For this reason the "Big golden guitar" was built here, an oversized golden guitar that can be viewed from the highway at the city entrance. Tamworth has a small airport and is on the Oxley Highway and the New England Highway . The city can also be reached by rail on the route from Dubbo or Newcastle to Toowoomba .