When explorer John Oxley passed through in 1818, he declared "it would be impossible to find a finer or more luxuriant country...no place can afford more advantages to the industrious settler!" Settlement followed soon after when in 1834, The Australian Agricultural Company took up 313,298 acres on the western side of the Peel River with 6,000 sheep. The town is sited on an old ford across the river and was originally called Calala after the aboriginal name for the Peel River being later renamed Tamworth after the town in England represented by the British Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel. Other settlers gradually built up a town on the eastern side of the river.

The discovery of gold at Hanging Rock in 1851 brought even more settlers to the area. In 1876, Tamworth became a Borough with its first Mayor, Philip Gidley King, who was Superintendent of the AA Company's Peel River Land & Mineral Company which had its headquarters at Goonoo Goonoo Station. P.G. King built a small town residence which is now part of "Calala Cottage Museum" in Denison Street; the museum now houses a great deal of Tamworth's proud history.

The Power Station Museum is a unique tribute to Tamworth, as the first municipal shire in the Southern Hemisphere to turn on electric street lighting in 1888. Tamworth is also home to The Australian Light Horse Memorial in Bicentennial Park. Created by nationally renowned artist Tanya Bartlett, the bronze sculpture acknowledges the important role the Waler horse played in the Great War.

Today Tamworth is well known as the home of the largest annual country music festival in the Southern Hemisphere. In January each year, the population swells, as the cream of Australian country music and their fans descend upon the Tamworth region for the annual event.

The country music fixation doesn't end in January, year-round visitors can take in a number of country music attractions including the award-winning Walk A Country Mile exhibit at the Tamworth Visitor Information Centre, the historical Australian Country Music Foundation featuring some of Australia's best loved artists, or the Gallery of Stars Wax Museum where you will, see your favourite stars immortalised in wax. No visit to Tamworth is complete without stopping for a photo in front of the Big Golden Guitar.

Tamworth is also an arts and cultural hub. The new Tamworth Regional Gallery in the heart of the CBD has a year-round program of local and national touring exhibitions. Weswal Gallery and café in leafy East Tamworth offers art, giftware and a delightful place for lunch. The Tamworth Regional Craft Centre specialises in all creative craft from art, to quilting, embroidery, woodturning, even blacksmithing and bonsai. The Tamworth Regional Conservatorium of Music, formerly a Dominican Convent, is now a training ground for budding musicians from throughout the district. The conservatorium, Tamworth Arts Council, Tamworth Musical Society and other arts organisations ensure a vibrant year-round performing arts program.