[2] The closest nearby large town is Stanthorpe, Queensland, being 56 km north via the New England Highway.

Tenterfield's first inhabitants were the Jukembal people who travelled the area from near Glen Innes to Stanthorpe, Queensland.

[3][4] Donaldson was the first premier of NSW and made biannual trips to Tenterfield to inspect his holdings there, which covered 100,000 acres (400 km2) of unfenced land.

In the 1860s the Tenterfield Chronicle was published, the district court was established; the building of a hospital commenced and a public school was opened.

On 1 February 1919, the presence of cases of Spanish flu in New South Wales resulted in Queensland closing its borders.

[7] During World War II, Tenterfield was earmarked as a key battleground if the Japanese should invade Australia.

Overgrown tank traps and gun emplacements can still be seen on the Travelling Stock Route near the New England Highway.

The railway was subsequently bypassed by the fully standard gauge North Coast line between Sydney and Brisbane, which was completed in 1932.

It sits at an altitude of 850 metres (2,790 ft) above sea level, and temperatures below freezing are common in the winter months.

The nearby Mount Mackenzie (1,287 metres or 4,222 feet elevation) generally receives light, sometimes moderate, snowfall annually.

The fire was exacerbated by dry winds and unseasonable heat due to a weather front that was sweeping across New South Wales.

Within an hour, the fire was upgraded to an emergency level threat and swept across the southern edge of the town, jumping across the New England Highway.

2 car yards, a pistol club and 12 outbuildings were destroyed and another 8 outbuildings damaged[24] A 66 year old Tenterfield local, Neville Smith, a volunteer NSW firefighter, was severely injured when the fire truck he was in was engulfed by flames while defending a property,[25] He was stabilised at Tenterfield Hospital then airlifted to Brisbane in a stable but critical condition.