Everything you need to know about Tamworth's five sister cities

But beyond its local charms, Tamworth has also been fostering connections with cities around the globe through the Sister City program, an initiative designed to promote cultural exchange and economic cooperation among nations.

Here's a closer look at the five sister cities that are a part of Tamworth's growing international family.

Gore is Tamworth's longest-running sister city.

The twin towns first entered a sister city agreement 1992, but their shared history runs back even further.

The Gore Country Music Club hosted New Zealand's first Gold Guitar Awards in 1974, one year after Tamworth hosted the first ever Australasian Country Music Awards.

Long before a sister city relationship was on the table, the two towns began a tradition of crowing a local Queen of Country Music and exchanging royal delegations.

Despite being disrupted by the pandemic, the royal visits are set to get back on track with the Gore Queen of Country Music restarting the tradition in January 2023.

Tamworth is planning to send its own Queen of Country Music to the Gore Country Music Festival in 2024, having been unable to name one in 2023.

Tamworth's second-oldest Sister City relationship is with the Chaoyang District of Beijing, China.

The two locales penned Tamworth's first sister city agreement in 1994.

Tamworth and Chaoyang also took part in a high-profile exchange of gifts more than 15 years ago, just before the district hosted part of the 2008 Olympic Games.

However, you'd be forgiven for not knowing about Tamworth's history with the Beijing borough, as the COVID-19 pandemic has limited the two towns' chances to tout their ties for several years.

READ ALSO:

Tamworth Regional Council (TRC) was also set to enter a sister city relationship with Qinglong Country in Western China back in 2016.

Chinese media outlets reported the deal was signed by former mayor Col Murray on Oct 20, 2016, however, TRC did not mention Qinglong in response to the Leader's requests for information about Tamworth's sister cities.

Instead, a spokesperson for TRC said council is in "continued discussions with several provinces in China regarding the implementation of new sister city protocols," and that "Chaoyang is included within Tamworth Regional Council's rekindling sister city conversations in China."

Chaoyang does not list Tamworth as a sister city on its website.

Next up on the list is Sannohe, Japan.

Sannohe's Sister City relationship with Tamworth was formalised in 2001, with the two sharing unofficial ties dating back to 1983.

Under the Sannohe Sister City Protocol a visit between Tamworth and Sannohe takes place once every four years on an alternating basis.

The planned 2022 visit was cancelled due to COVID, but the cities reaffirmed their ongoing commitment to one another the following year with a ceremony at Tamworth Community Centre.

Before the pandemic, a major feature of the Sannohe/Tamworth relationship was a regular student exchange between Sannohe High School and Tamworth High School.

Since 2023, that initiative has found new life through a regular Sister City story time at the Tamworth Library, where kindergarten children hear stories in both English and Japanese through a shared video link.

The next story time session is set for October 20.

Given their shared love for country music, it should come as no surprise that the Country Music Capital of Australia and the United States of America's 'Music City' are siblings.

The only surprise here is how long it took for their relationship to be formalised, with the two country music lovers signing an agreement as recently as 2013.

Nashville's annual Country Music Association (CMA) Music Festival is the only country music festival in the world bigger and older than Tamworth's.

The American city hosted its first music festival in 1972, just one year before the Tamworth Country Music Festival was born.

And while Tamworth boasted an impressive 40,000 festival attendees in 2023, its Nashville counterpart broke its all-time record in the same year, attracting a whopping 90,000 people to its annual event.

Similarly to Sannohe, the sister cities hosts regular school exchanges and other educational opportunities to promote sharing each other's culture.

Tamworth Regional Council confirmed it has recently reignited conversations with representatives from Nashville to discuss further relationship-building opportunities.

Tamworth's name sake in Staffordshire, England is primarily is known for three things:

Despite sharing a name and an extensive history - Peel Street in the CBD is named after Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, one of the UK's most famous prime ministers - no formal protocols have been established between the two cities.

In fact, while Tamworth, NSW considers Tamworth in the UK part of its extended family, the UK's problem child does not return the favour.

Instead, the English Tamworth only claims Bad Laasphe, Germany, and Vaujours, France, as its two sister cities.

Despite the lack of an official agreement, Tamworth, NSW is listed as a sister city on the English town's Wikipedia page.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: