Jennings is a town on the

Northern Tablelands The Northern Tablelands, also known as the New England Tableland, is a plateau and a region of the Great Dividing Range in northern New South Wales, Australia. It includes the New England Range, the narrow highlands area of the New England regio ...

region of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The town is located in the

Tenterfield Shire Tenterfield Shire is a Local government in Australia, local government area located in the New England (Australia), New England region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire is situated adjacent to the New England Highway. The mayor of the Te ...

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

, from the state capital,

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and from

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

. It is separated by the state border from its neighbouring town of

Wallangarra Wallangarra is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Southern Downs Region, Queensland, Australia on the border with New South Wales. It is the third-most southerly town in Queensland, south west of Brisbane. Wal ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. At the , Jennings had a population of 211. The

New England Highway New England Highway is an long highway in Australia running from Yarraman, Queensland, Yarraman, north of Toowoomba, Queensland, at its northern end to Hexham, New South Wales, Hexham at Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle, New South Wales, ...

and the Main North railway line cross the state border at Jennings. The town was named for Sir Patrick Jennings, the first

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Premier of New South Wales The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster system, Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales actin ...

History

The

rail line Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Railway track or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film *Rails (film), ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini *Rail ( ...

from Brisbane reached Wallangarra in 1887, a year before the Main North railway line reached Jennings from Sydney in 1888. A

break-of-gauge With railways, a break of gauge occurs where a line of one track gauge (the distance between the rails, or between the wheels of trains designed to run on those rails) meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock generally canno ...

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

was established on the border with the north platform part of the Queensland rail network and the southern platform maintained by New South Wales. After several changes of name between the two towns, in 1904, the name of the station was confirmed as Wallangarra. A ''Jennings Railway Station'' Telegraph Office opened on 16 January 1888. In 1904 it was renamed by a ''Wallangarra'' Receiving Office. The ''Wallangarra'' Post Office in Queensland was opened in 1885. Passenger rail services to Brisbane ceased in 1972 and the New South Wales line was closed north of

Tenterfield Tenterfield is a regional town in New South Wales, Australia, situated at the junction of the New England and Bruxner highways, along the Northern Tablelands, within the New England, New South Wales, New England region. At the , Tenterfield ha ...

to rail traffic in 1989. The station, refurbished in 2001, is now listed on the Queensland Heritage Register. The Jennings Public School, still in operation and sited virtually opposite the Wallangarra School in Queensland, was established in 1889 following representations from the Officer in Charge of

Customs Customs is an authority or Government agency, agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling International trade, the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out ...

for New South Wales at Wallangarra. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, an

ammunition dump {{Commons cat Logistics Logistics logistics Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the Consumption (ec ...

was established at Jennings due to the break-of-gauge at Wallangarra railway station. The dump along with a general army store in Wallangarra still exist today. A modern survey of the Queensland/New South Wales border, conducted as a Centenary of

Federation A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

project in 2001, found an error of in the original border survey, conducted between 1863 and 1866, near Jennings. This indicates that if the border was placed where originally intended, Jennings would be located in Queensland rather than New South Wales.

References

{{authority control Towns in New South Wales Towns in New England (New South Wales) Tenterfield Shire