Discussions on the history and historiography of Australia's New England

Sunday, April 29, 2007

The Changing Meaning of New England



Photo: Bruxner Highway, Tenterfield.

A short note on the changing meaning of the words "New England".

When European settlers first arrived on the Northern Tablelands they called the place New England because it reminded them of home. They then planted English trees, creating landscapes such as that shown in the photo.

At this stage the broader New England was known simply as the North, defining itself in relation to Sydney. The people called themselves Northerners. We can see this in the early names of the news state movement, the Northern Separation Movement.

In 1931 the new state movement adopted the name New England at its Maitland Convention. New England was now defined as an entity in its own right.

This name spread. We can see an early example of this when G A Robinson called his new Lismore based airline New England Airways.

In 1967 with the loss of the new state plebiscite and the decline of the new state movement use of the name New England began to shrink again. Today common usage has shrunk back towards the Tablelands.

I use the name New England in its broader sense because I am interested in the history of New England as an entity, not just little New England.

In a post on the New England Australia blog I referred to the way in which official and media use of language was starting to emasculate Newcastle's separate identity. This is a local example of a broader problem.

As best I can, I will try to preserve knowledge and understanding of New England's identity.

Saturday, April 28, 2007

New England Timelines




Photo: Boys, The Armidale School, 1950s

There is debate in history about the importance of dates. Personally, I find dates invaluable as pegs and in ensuring that I do not make silly mistakes about the relationships between events.

So I have created this page as another entry point to various New New England time lines.

The pages are broken into three parts:

  • Dates relevant across New England.
  • Local or regional time lines.
  • Topic specific time lines.

New England Time Lines

Location or Regional Time Lines

Topic Specific Time Lines

To be added.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

New England Dictionary of Biography


Photo: Sir Earle Page, New England politician

So far I must have mentioned more then 100 people in my various posts with New England connections. They make up part of the rich New England tapestry. My only problem? I am losing track of them all!

I have created this page as an entry point to what will I hope become a resource, an embryo New England Dictionary of Biography. I will add supporting pages over time. I cannot hope to write cameo biographies of thousands. I can aim to give links.

Pages

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z

Friday, April 06, 2007

New England's Aborigines - list of former missions/reserves

The NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs has prepared a series of regional reports. These include details of discrete Aboriginal communities located at former missions and reserves.

I have used these to generate the following list grouped by New England regions as defined by the Department for later follow up.

New England/North West: Boggabilla, Jubullium Village, Mehi Crescent, Minnon, Mungindi, Narwon Village, Stanley Village, Toomelah, Walhallow Reserve.

North Coast: Baryulgil, Bellbrook, Bellwood, Bonalbo, Box Ridge, Burnt Bridge, Cabbage Tree Island, Corindi, Greenhill, Malabugilmah, Muli Muli, Old Burnt Bridge, Purfleet, Tabulam.

Hunter Valley: Not identified.

Murdi Paaki (part): Not identified.