Sister City
The Gore District Council has one sister city relationship. This is with Tamworth in New South Wales, Australia.
History
The relationship was signed in Tamworth on 13 July 1992 and is founded on both towns' strong country music community. Gore is New Zealand’s capital of country music and hosts the New Zealand Gold Guitars Awards each year at Queens’ Birthday Weekend, while Tamworth has the Tamworth Country Music Festival, Australasia’s biggest country music event, in January.
What it involves
The relationship is overseen by the Gore Sister City Committee. Its members include representatives from the Council, Gore Country Music Club and Mataura Licensing Trust.
There are various exchanges throughout the year involving school, sporting and cultural groups. Council representatives from Gore visit Tamworth every second year and vice versa, during the respective country music events.
The Sister City Committee holds a speech competition each year for Gore secondary school students, with the winner travelling to Tamworth.
