GLEN INNES, a major stop on the New England Highway about 100km from Armidale, is another pleasant town in a beautiful setting. Although agriculture is still important up here, you begin to see more and more evidence of the gemfields – sapphires are big business, as, to a lesser extent, is tin mining. In the centre, on Grey Street especially, numerous century-old public buildings and parks have been renovated and spruced up.
There’s some fine country architecture including a couple of large corner pubs, their verandahs decorated with iron lace. The Land of the Beardies Museum (Mon–Fri 10am–noon & 2–5pm, Sat & Sun 2–5pm; $4), in the town’s first hospital on Ferguson Street, takes this feeling for the past further, displaying pioneer relics, period room settings and a reconstructed slab hut. The name alludes to the two hairy men who settled the area in the last century, and it’s a title the town’s proud of, along with the Scottish connections reflected in the name of the town itself and in many of its streets, which are rendered in both English and Gaelic.
The local granite Australian Standing Stones at Martins Lookout, Watsons Drive, are based on the Ring of Brodgar in Scotland, and are intended to honour the “contribution of the Celtic races to Australia’s development”; there’s a great picnic and barbecue area with granite seats and tables, echoing the stones themselves. The strongly Celtic nature of Glen Innes is counterbalanced by the town’s department store, Kwong Sing & Co, which has been run by the same family of Chinese origin since 1886.
In early November, Glen Innes celebrates the Land of the Beardies Bushfestival, with everything from a beard-growing contest and shopping-trolley derby to dances, street parades and arts-and-crafts exhibits. More details, including help with rooms, are available from the Glen Innes & District Visitors Centre, 52 Church St, as the New England Highway is called when it passes through town (daily 9am–5pm; tel 02/6732 2397); there’s a café, The Celtic Kitchen in the centre serving soda bread and snacks, and the 24-hour bus terminal is also attached.
Good accommodation options include the air-conditioned Central Motel, Meade Street, opposite the post office; the fancier (though not air-con) Rest Point Motel on Church Street, 1km south of the centre, with a swimming pool and extensive landscaped grounds; the well-equipped Poplar Caravan Park, 15 Church St; and Blue Sapphire Caravan Park, corner of Church and Grafton streets.
For sustenance, try the unimaginatively named Tea and Coffee Shop on Grey Street, a cosy tearoom with loads of choice including Dutch pancakes, an array of interesting sandwiches, savoury croissants and hot breakfasts. The One Eighty Nine Coffee Lounge, at 189 Grey St, has a more down-to-earth menu, including hamburgers. The best Chinese restaurant is Dragon Court, at no. 173 (licensed; lunch and dinner daily).
Attraction- Australian Standing Stones, Centennial Parklands, Martins Lookout, Glen Innes, The Australian Standing Stones in Glen Innes is a special structure of Australia over the last 200 yrs by the peoples with Celtic origins. Open: 3-5 Mon-Fri & 3-12 noon Sat-Sun & Pub. Hols. Admission: No Charge.
Gibraltar Range National Park
Events
- Australian Bush Music Festival in Sept/Oct
- Land of the Beardies Bush Festival in November