Тентерфилд қаласының тарихы мен географиясы

a field where tenters were kept

Tenterfield is a regional town in New South Wales, Australia, situated at the junction of the New England and Bruxner highways, along the Northern Tablelands, within the New England region. At the , Tenterfield had a population of 4,066. The closest nearby large town is Stanthorpe, Queensland, being 56 km north via the New England Highway. Tenterfield is three hours from Brisbane, Queensland (276 km), three hours from Byron Bay, New South Wales (205 km), two hours from Armidale, New South Wales (188 km) and eight hours from Sydney (663 km). The town is on the north western stretch of the Northern Tablelands plateau, a spur of the Great Dividing Range, and is nestled in a valley beneath Mount Mackenzie (1,287m elevation), one of the highest points along the Northern Tablelands.

Tenterfield's first inhabitants were the Jukembal people who travelled the area from near Glen Innes to Stanthorpe, Queensland. In 1841, Sir Stuart Donaldson was running 18,000 sheep on a property that he named Tenterfield Station, after a family home, Tenterfield House, in Haddington, Scotland. Donaldson was the first premier of NSW and made biannual trips to Tenterfield to inspect his holdings there, which covered of unfenced land. Tenterfield Post Office opened on 1 January 1849 and the township was gazetted in 1851 with allotments being sold in 1854. In 1858 gold was discovered at Drake (Fairfield) and shortly afterwards at Timbarra and Boonoo Boonoo. During 1859 an AJS Bank opened and an Anglican church was built the following year. In the 1860s the Tenterfield Chronicle was published, the district court was established; the building of a hospital commenced and a public school was opened. In 1870 the population was less than 900, but the town had five hotels, a school of arts and three churches. The existing Tenterfield Post Office was constructed in 1881. On 1 February 1919, the presence of cases of Spanish flu in New South Wales resulted in Queensland closing its borders. Travellers bound for Queensland on the Main North railway line were forced to disembark at Tenterfield railway station, the last stop before the train would close the border. The Tenterfield showgrounds were turned in a temporary quarantine camp occupied by up to 700 people. Some people chose to return to Sydney while other spent a week in the camp after which they could enter Queensland. During World War II, Tenterfield was earmarked as a key battleground if the Japanese should invade Australia. During 1942 thousands of soldiers were set up in emergency camps, unbeknown to the locals, to cope with such an event. Overgrown tank traps and gun emplacements can still be seen on the Travelling Stock Route near the New England Highway. The highway was until the early 1950s the only all weather road from Sydney to Brisbane.

The railway opened to Tenterfield on 28 October 1884 and in 1886 to nearby Wallangarra/Jennings on the Queensland border, connecting Sydney and Brisbane, with a break of gauge at Wallangarra. When the rail link to the Queensland border was completed, Sydney and Brisbane were linked by rail for the first time. The railway was subsequently bypassed by the fully standard gauge North Coast line between Sydney and Brisbane, which was completed in 1932. The Main North line is now closed north of Armidale through to Wallangarra/Jennings, and the Tenterfield railway station is now a museum. There was considerable debate about whether the break of gauge should take place at the existing town of Tenterfield, or at a whole new town at the border, which respectively became Wallangarra (Queensland side) and Jennings (New South Wales side).

Sir Henry Parkes delivered his Federation Speech, commonly referred to as the "Tenterfield Oration", in the Tenterfield School of Arts on 24 October 1889. According to the 2016 census of Population, there were 4,066 people in Tenterfield. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 5.0% of the population. 80.6% of people were born in Australia and 86.7% of people spoke only English at home. The most common responses for religion were Anglican 24.7%, Catholic 24.3% and No Religion 19.1%. Summers are moderately warm to hot, with most days during the summer months reaching or above, and not dropping below overnight. The majority of precipitation occurs as thunderstorms, which can be severe. Tenterfield's highest recorded temperature was , which was recorded on 12 February 2017. Its coldest recorded temperature was , which was recorded on 10 July 2006.

The first campdraft ever held (to rules) was held in Tenterfield in c.1885. The Australian showjumping record was broken at Tenterfield in 1926 Mrs A. A. Laidlaw's "Lookout", ridden by A. McPhee jumped 7’10¼".