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Glen Innes is located on the Northern Tablelands in the New England North West region of New South Wales.

Positioned at the intersection of the New England and Gwydir Highways, we are about four hours from Brisbane via the New England Highway;  two hours from Grafton via the Gwydir Highway; two hours twenty minutes from Moree via the Gwydir Highway; two and a half hours from Coffs Harbour via the Gwydir Highway; seven hours from Sydney via the New England Highway;  two and a half hours from Tamworth via the New England Highway.

History

In 1838, William Chandler and John Duval, both with long flowing beards, were good bushmen working as stockmen on Tilbuster Station, the most northerly station at that time.  People leaving Sydney looking for land were advised to see “the beardies”.

Chandler and Duval led Glen Innes’ first settler, Scottish barrister Archibald Boyd to the district.  The area taken up was called “Boyd’s Plains” (when Thomas Hewitt took it up for Archibald Boyd) and which afterwards became “Stonehenge Station”.

When E C Sommerlad wrote the history of the area in 1922 he coined the name “The Land of the Beardies”.

The present site was laid out in 1851 and was named after one of the station's former owner, Major Archibald Clunes Innes, former commandant of the Port Macquarie penal settlement. Glen Innes was gazetted in 1852 with the first land sales taking place in 1854.

Things To Do

Standing Stones

• The Australian Standing Stones began as an ambitious project by a small, dedicated group of citizens who wanted to mark Glen Innes's Celtic heritage.
• It was in Australia's 1988 Bicentenary Year that the Celtic Council of Australia developed the idea of erecting a national monument to honour all Celtic peoples who helped pioneer Australia. Glen Innes responded with a 46-page submission for Australian Standing Stones, inspired by the Ring of Brodgar in Scotland's Orkneys.
• The Australian Standing Stones were officially opened by the then NSW Governor, Rear Admiral Peter Sinclair, on February 1, 1992.
• Increasingly, the Standing Stones are becoming known throughout Australia because of the success of the Australian Celtic festival and continual media exposure. As well as being the national monument to Australia's Celtic pioneers, they are recognised by the Celtic Council of Australia as the national gathering point for Celtic descendants and clans.

Heritage Walk

There are more than 30 heritage-listed buildings so this is a walk with history.  As your walk gets under way and you gaze at the magnificent basalt stone court house built in 1873, just think … that was a year after the Adelaide-Darwin Overland Telegraph was completed and seven years before the first Edison-Bell telephone was installed in Sydney.

Then, as you proceed further along our main street, you view the School of Arts and, at the southern end, the impressively ornate Kwong Sing and Co department store built six and five years respectively, after the hanging of Ned Kelly.

And so it goes on .. other buildings were going up as NSW bushmen volunteered for the Boer War, Australia planned and then united in a Commonwealth.

You’ll find several buildings completed in 1914 when the flower of our youth went off to World War 1, in the roaring twenties when they frenetically celebrated peace, in the 1930’s as we weathered the Great Depression.

And yet the walk is a mere glimpse of our rich history:  there’s even more to see in our town and district drives – Federation and earlier homes, churches built by pioneers, Showgrounds dating back to 1877, tranquil villages like Deepwater and Emmaville with a romantic past and reflecting the very essence of Country.

Land of the Beardies HistoryHouse Museum

The Building - No museum can be successful without suitable premises and the Glen Innes & District Historical Society Inc (a community based organisation) is fortunate to occupy a building which is itself a museum piece. Formerly the Glen Innes District Hospital, the first section known as the Sharman wing was built in 1877. At intervals over the next 50 years or so, further sections were added until its doors finally closed as a hospital in 1956. As a hospital, which was conceived, funded, built and operated by the community, it has immense significance for the history of the town and district.

The Museum - Essentially a Folk Museum, the collection comes almost exclusively from the town and district, and mirrors the history and development of families, businesses, properties, public utilities, churches and the like. In the spacious grounds are numerous examples of early farm machinery. Several of these are very unusual and well worth a look.

Emmaville Mining Museum

See the superb local Jillett, Curnow, Trethewey, Maskey, Gilbey and Simpkins mineral collections and over 300 photographs, exhibitions and items portraying the mining history of the area.

National Parks

WashpoolNational Park is located 78 kms east of Glen Innes and 93 km west of Grafton off the Gwydir Highway.  Includes a 3km park entry road (unsealed; take care when wet). Vehicle entry fee applies. The landscape of steep gorges, clear waters and World Heritage rainforest protects some of the most varied and least disturbed forest in NSW, including the world’s largest stand of coachwood trees. There are excellent wilderness walking opportunities.

Gibraltar Range National Park is 79km east of Glen Innes and 104km west of Grafton off the Gwydir  Highway. The 9km park entry road from the Highway to Mulligans is unsealed but suitable for all weather. Vehicle entry fee applies.  Deep valleys and giant granite boulders protect rainforest of World Heritage importance.  Scenic creeks and cascades, swamps, heaths and woodlands can be explored on more than 80 km of walking track.

Kings Plains National Park is 50km north-west of Glen Innes via Wellingrove – follow the signs off the Gwydir Highway west of the town then onto the Kings Plains Road. All roads are unsealed with creek crossings that may flood briefly in wet weather.  Kings Plains Creek features still pools, rapids and waterfalls among dry rocky ridges. Wildflowers abound in spring.

Call in to the Glen Innes Visitor Information Centre on the New England Highway and pick up a brochure.

Fishing

More and more Australians are discovering Glen Innes Severn on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales as an outstanding fishing area  --  families, expert anglers, some of Australia’s leading show business personalities, television presenters and fishing writers.   Call in to the Glen Innes Visitor Information Centre on the New England Highway and pick up a brochure showing the fishing areas.

Events

In February the Glen Innes Agricultural Show, one of the best in the north.

In early March, join us for the Minerama Fossicking & Gem Show. Discover Glen Innes’ world class sapphire & other gems on the fossicking trips.  Dealers offer the best range in gems, fine jewellery, crystals, minerals, fossils and much more.  Something to suit every budget from $2 bargains to the finest investment gems.

In late April/early May, enjoy the Australian Celtic Festival which attracts clans, pipe bands, dancers and entertainers from Australia and overseas.  Street parade, various clan flag raising and dedication ceremonies, Celtic Yard Dog Trials, Ceilidhs.  Entertainment  and much much more.

The New England Wine Show and Gourmet in the Glen are events held in October .

In November the Land of the Beardies Festival celebrates local history, and the Celtic Country Dog Trials are held.

Don’t Miss

Call in at the Glen Innes Visitor Information Centre on the New England Highway for brochures/booklets  including :

• Glen Innes:  Celtic Country Tourism Booklet
• The Australian Standing Stones
• The Heritage Walk
• Fishing
• Land of the Beardies History House
• National Parks
• New England wineries
• Local accommodation providers including caravan parks, motels, home stays, B&B’s, apartments, homesteads and cottages.
• Local businesses
• Local sapphires
• Emmaville Mining Museum
• Maps
• Souvenirs

Courtesy Glen Innes Severn Council

Courtesy Glen Innes Severn Council

Courtesy Glen Innes Severn Council

Courtesy Glen Innes Severn Council

Courtesy Glen Innes Severn Council

Courtesy Glen Innes Severn Council

Courtesy Glen Innes Severn Council

Courtesy Glen Innes Severn Council