Armidale

Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia.

Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale had a population of 24,504 as at June 2018. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands region. It is approximately halfway between Sydney and Brisbane at the junction of the New England Highway and Waterfall Way. The traditional owners of the land of Armidale are the Gumbaynggirr Peoples.

Before the British colonial settlement of New South Wales, the indigenous Anaiwan tribe occupied the area that encompasses current day Armidale.

British pastoralists first entered the region in the early 1830s, following the earlier exploration of the area by John Oxley. Oxley recommended the region for grazing, and soon squatters established large leaseholds in the locality. Armidale was initially founded in 1839 by George James MacDonald who was the Commissioner of Crown Lands and head of the local Border Police detachment in the New England district. MacDonald established his barracks on the site and named it after Armadale on the Isle of Skye in Scotland which was the ancestral home of the MacDonald clan.The James Barnet-designed heritage-listed Armidale Post Office opened on 1 April 1843. The town, which was surveyed in 1848 and gazetted in 1849, was established to provide a market and administration for the farms, but soon after gold was discovered at nearby Rocky River and Gara Gorges, and a gold rush ensued, enlarging the town rapidly in the 1850s. The gold mining settlement of Hillgrove about 40 km east of Armidale was supplied by electricity from Australia's first hydro-electric scheme, the Gara River Hydro-Electric Scheme, remains of which are still visible on the Gara River below the Blue Hole at Castle Doyle. The nearby town of Uralla holds the grave of the famous Captain Thunderbolt – outlaw Fred Ward – who caused trouble in the area in the 1860s. As with Ned Kelly, the locals have adopted him as a larrikin hero and make the most of him as a tourist attraction.

Armidale became a municipality in 1863 and was proclaimed a city in 1885.

Although it does not lie between the two major cities of Sydney and Melbourne, a site just to the south of Armidale was, in the early 1900s, considered as a potential site for Australia's federal capital. Some saw its northerly location as better suited to all three eastern mainland states, including Queensland. Later, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s, Armidale was one of the centres of separatist agitation by the New England New State Movement.Local politician, David Drummond, a strong support of the movement, successfully lobbied for Armidale to have the second teachers' college in New South Wales, and later a university, positioning the town as a potential state capital.

Armidale has a subtropical highland climate (Köppen: Cfb). Armidale's elevation gives it a milder climate than most of northern New South Wales, but the summers are still very warm. Winters are long and cool, with many frosty nights. Snowfall is rare, on average only one day in every three years.

In Armidale, the presence of four distinct seasons make it climatically unlike much of inland Australia; hence, the "New England" moniker and the autumn colours are notable features of the city. Summers are characterised by warm to very warm days followed almost always by cool, sometimes cold, nights. Thunderstorms often produce heavy falls of rain and occasionally hail in the afternoons and early evenings, also bringing a sudden drop in temperature. Unlike nearby coastal areas, Armidale does not usually experience high humidity levels making most of the summer days quite comfortable. Temperatures exceed 30 °C or 86 °F on an average of 13 afternoons per year, but rarely reach higher than 35 °C or 95 °F. The highest temperature recorded at Armidale Airport was 37.1 °C (98.8 °F), recorded in February 2017.

As the leaves turn yellow and fall, day temperatures are mostly still warm, particularly in March and April. Days are sunny, the thunderstorm season is over, and rain becomes more sporadic. Nights become colder, and residents often awake to a thick fog blanketing the Armidale valley, but by 9 am fogs have cleared to be followed by a bright sunny day. The year's first frosts usually occur in April, but they are not severe.

Winters are cold; overnight temperatures drop below -5 °C or 23 °F with frost on the ground; at the Tree Group Nursery station a reading as low as -11.2 °C or 11.8 °F was record on 30 June 2010, whilst the older station at Radio 2AD recorded -9.3 °C or 15.3 °F on 15 July 1970. These cold frosty mornings are usually followed by sunny days. Day temperatures may make it as high as 16 °C or 60.8 °F, but sometimes may not climb beyond 10 °C or 50 °F. These are typical Northern Tablelands winter days with westerly winds, bleak grey clouds, and showers of rain and very occasionally snow. Rainfall during the winter months is not infrequent but is usually light.

In spring temperatures are warmer, although occasional morning frosts still can continue well into October. September is usually a pleasantly mild but windy month, and by late October with increasing heat and humidity the thunderstorm season is starting with increasing rainfalls. The spring months produce the most variable weather of the year. A week of very warm sunny weather can be followed by several milder days with temperatures right back at winter levels before gradually warming up again. This cycle often repeats itself many times until the start of summer.

Armidale has been prone to severe hailstorms and experienced three such storms over the ten-year period from 1996 to 2006.

On 29 September 1996 hail of up to 80 millimetres (3.1 in) in diameter and southerly winds of up to 150 kilometres per hour (93 mph) were reported at the airport weather station. The area was declared a disaster zone and State Emergency Service crews were brought in from across the state. Damage was estimated to be in excess of A$200 million.On 1 January 2000 many homes were damaged by extreme weather conditions which brought large hail stones, strong winds and flash flooding.On 21 December 2006 hail stones, high winds and flash flooding damaged more than 1,000 homes and destroyed the Armidale Livestock Exhibition Centre which collapsed entirely under the weight of accumulated hail. The city was declared a state of emergency by New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma the following day.On the night of 14 October 2021 at 10pm, an intense storm producing hail and a tornado causing extensive damage occurred, tearing away roofs and turning vehicles upside down.

Armidale and Region Aboriginal Cultural Centre and Keeping Place

Oxley Wild Rivers National Park, which includes Dangar Falls and Gorge and Gara Gorge

Saumarez Homestead

New England Regional Art Museum

Cathedral Rock National Park

Waterfall Way and Wollomombi Falls

Mount Yarrowyck Aboriginal Rock Art site

Gemstone fossicking