Armidale, a City of Culture and Learning

Armidale NSW, pop 25,000, is about halfway between Sydney and Brisbane on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in the New England region.  At 1,000m above sea level it has four distinct seasons and can get pretty cold in the winter.  Autumn is beautiful here.  There are many autumn trees and they are all changing colour at the moment.  There are avenues of poplar, claret and golden ash, pistacia, pin oak, japanese maple, and liquidamber, and they all look fantastic.  Armidale is home to New England University, the first university outside of a capital city when it was established as a college of Sydney University in 1938, now a university in its own right.  There are also a number of private boarding schools.  Armidale is a city of culture with many museums and active theatre groups.

We've done a bus tour of the City, a council freebie.  The Armidale City Heritage Tour is highly recommended, it's a 3 hour tour that leaves daily from the Information Centre at 10am (book in at the Info Centre) and includes a knowledgeable volunteer tour guide and morning tea.  Donations for the morning tea and tour are appreciated.  We toured the streets of Armidale and stopped off at the Art Museum (15 minutes), Railway Station (morning tea) and historic Booloominbah (30 minutes) before returning to the Information Centre at about 1pm.

The Armidale Teachers College, now a campus of the UNE, has been a prison and a lunatic asylum.  It was demolished and rebuilt using the original bricks.  Sited on top of a hill there are commanding views of the city.  The museum at the railway station was established by the railway work gangs to preserve their trades.  There is a 1/8th model of a railway bridge, complete in all details and detailed plan drawings of trains and rolling stock.

Booloominbah was built as a gentleman's residence in 1886-1888.  These days it is home to the administration of the UNE.  It has magnificent stained glass windows reflecting each room's use and wood carving.  These and the grounds and gardens kept our cameras busy while we were there.

We've had great weather so have walked around the city centre looking at the lovely old buildings and the intricate iron lacework.  The historic buildings are all well maintained in good condition.  Armidale has 2 cathedrals (Anglican and Catholic) and many churches.

One place we particularly wanted to see is the Aboriginal Culture Centre and Keeping Place.  We were interested to see that they have souvenirs and furnishings from the same fabrics we have used to furnish our caravan.

There are many scenic places near Armidale.  We're still close to the World Heritage listed Gondwana National Parks.  About 15km from the city is Gara Gorge.  There are a couple of picnic areas and some walking tracks.  Near the Blue Holes area is the dam which was part of the hydro electricity scheme which was operational here from about 1870s-1920s.  The flume line which channelled the river water to the pumping station can still be seen.

Watch this space for more on this lovely city and its environs as we continue to explore over the next week.