Greater wealth came to Armidale

Mallam House is Armidale's best surviving example of a mid-Victorian fashionable house. Built in 1870 for Henry Guy Mallam to service the high end rental market, its first tenant was Bishop Timothy OMahony, Armidale's first Catholic Bishop.This is the second in a series exploring the rise, fall and slow recovery of the city of Armidale 

Four things contributed to Armidale’s growth over the second half of the nineteenth century: mining, agriculture, the coming of the railway and the city’s role as an administrative, religious and educational centre.

The first gold discovery came in 1851 at Swamp Oak Creek near Tamworth, followed by multiple rushes across the New England. Then came tin from 1871-72, diamonds (1875), copper (1876) and silver (1878)

From an Armidale perspective, the most important rushes were Rocky River (from 1852) and Hillgrove (from 1881), although there were a series of smaller rushes near Armidale.

Mining created demand for beef and other agricultural products and increased wages. Local demand increased. As it did, towns grew including Armidale and Uralla. 

Fortunes were won and lost in mining, more lost than won, but the extra capital generated by mining helped fund new building. Armidale’s Imperial Hotel (1890) was built from Hillgrove profits.

The Great Northern Railway reached Armidale in 1883.

The original plans for the railway had bypassed Armidale. The town and district (Armidale did not become a city until 1885) had sufficient political influence to redirect the line through Armidale.

It was a critical decision. Apart from direct jobs, the railways became Armidale’s biggest single employer, the north-south rail connection reinforced the new city’s position as an educational and administrative centre. Armidale as we know it could not have developed without the railway.

Construction of the line triggered a building boom that began in advance of the arrival of the line and continued for a decade after.

West End (now West Armidale) had already emerged as an industrial area, but now expanded near the new line as cottages were built to house railway and other workers.

Elsewhere in the city, greater wealth led to the construction of new homes, schools and commercial and official buildings. The Victorian city that still forms the architectural heart of the old city was in creation.

At the 1901 census, Armidale’s population had reached 4,249, rising to 4,736 at the 1911 census. There was great civic pride in the city’s progress. However, Armidale had begun to fall behind in relative terms.

Armidale had been the second largest town outside the Lower Hunter. Grafton as the main Northern port after Morpeth had then passed it. By 1901, Armidale had fallen to fifth in population rankings, to sixth in 1911. 

Armidale’s greatest growth lay ahead, but that growth would come not from the city’s local or regional marketplace, but from the city’s role as an educational centre.

Note to readers: This post was prepared as a column for the on-line edition of the Armidale Express. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because they are not all on line outside subscription. You can see all the Belshaw World and History Revisited/History Matters columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012, here for 2013, here for 2014, here for 2015,  here for 2016, here  2017, here 2018, here 2019, here 2020, here 2021