350 km north of Sydney on the New England Highway. Tamworth is the country music capital of Australia, and looks upon itself as the continent’s answer to Nashville. Tennessee. It is, of course, nothing of the sort. For a start, it’s a much pleasanter place than Nashville and, needless to say, the music isn’t quite in the same class. But this is where you can hear genuine Aussie folkmusic – whose heroes tend to be much more real than many of their American counterparts. Having now offended all country music fans, no matter where they come from, perhaps best to say that the Tamworth Country Music Festival (www.tcmf.com.au) takes place over the Australia Day weekend – 16^th 25^th January. During this period, anyone with a Pom accent voicing opinions such as those above could well be placing himself in mortal danger. Just down yer beer and listen.

The Tamworth Country Centre is just south of town (you can’t miss it – there’s a huge gold guitar in front). Inside the centre there are waxwork effigies of the Oz country greats. There’s also a ‘Hands of Fame’ on the corner of Brisbane Street and Kable Avenue, and a ‘Noses of Fame’ at Tattersall’s Hotel in Peel Street. Prior to its country music fame, Tamworth used to be known as the ‘City of Lights’ – because it was the first city in Australia to install public street lighting – in 1888. The Tamworth Information Centre is at The Philip Dix Centre on Corporation Street. Here they have details of the local Heritage Walk.