Tenterfield - Culture and History

The original inhabitants, the Jukembal Aborigines, reputedly called the area 'Moombillen', meaning 'place of wild honey'. The first European in the area was Allan Cunningham who passed by about 25 km west of the present townsite when returning from his exploration of the Darling Downs in 1827.

The first white settlers arrived in the late 1830s. The Deepwater station to the south was taken up in 1839 and the run later known as Tenterfield was first occupied in 1840. It has been argued that a Mr Templer was the first owner, naming the property 'Templerfield'.

Robert Ramsay Mackenzie took up the run in 1840 and was granted legal title in 1842, although he was then in business with Stuart Donaldson who acquired the property in 1844. Both men later became state premiers. Donaldson allegedly suggested the name 'Tenterfield' after the property of two maiden aunts in Scotland.

A bullock dray track to the coast was completed in 1842. By 1848 Tenterfield covered 100 000 acres. In 1851 Donaldson fought in the last known duel in Australia against surveyor-general Sir Thomas Mitchell. After three shots a draw was called and no-one was injured, though Donaldson's hat was reputedly shot off. Possibly the duel was complicated by Mitchell declaring the township of Tenterfield on Donaldson's station.

From 1847 until the late 1860s most of the wool of New England district passed through Tenterfield en route to the coast. Court hearings were established at Tenterfield in 1847. In 1849 a post office was set up and the first publican's license was issued for the Georges Inn (on the site now occupied by the Royal Hotel). A townsite was surveyed on the Tenterfield station that year. It was gazetted as Tenterfield in 1851, by which time there were some police buildings and huts. In 1854 the first land sales took place and a flour mill was built. In 1856 the population was recorded as 133.

Gold was discovered at Drake in 1858, sparking other discoveries in the district. This proved a boost to the township which acquired a bank in 1859 and an Anglican church in 1860.

The bushranger known as 'Thunderbolt' (Fred Ward) was in the Tenterfield area in 1868. It is believed he may have attended the Tenterfield races. One story claims that, after holding up a group of German musicians who were headed for Queensland and who pleaded with him not to proceed with the robbery, Thunderbolt promised that if he had luck at the horse races he would repay them with interest. He allegedly obtained their Queensland address and duly sent them their money back, with interest.

Tenterfield was declared a municipality in 1871. The town further prospered from alluvial tin mining in the 1870s with the population almost doubling. 1886 saw the arrival of the railway.

The most memorable single event in the town's history occurred at the Tenterfield School of Arts in 1889 when five-times premier of NSW, Henry Parkes delivered his famous speech calling for the federation of the Australian colonies. This is credited with setting off the chain of events which culminated in the declaration of the Australian Commonwealth in 1901.

J.F. Thomas, the man who defended 'Breaker' Morant, was a native of Tenterfield and, for 16 years, was the owner of the local newspaper, the 'Tenterfield Star' which pressed for Federation and was the first country paper to advocate the formation of the Country Party. Poet 'Banjo' Paterson was married here in 1903 in the timber Presbyterian (now Uniting) Church.