New South Wales

**New South Wales** is one of the states of Australia. It is the oldest state in Australia and is sometimes called the "Premier State". Of all Australian states, New South Wales has the most people. The capital city of New South Wales is Sydney. Sydney is the biggest city in Australia.

New South Wales was named by Lieutenant James Cook (later Captain Cook), who sailed up the east coast of Australia in 1770.

New South Wales was founded (begun) in 1788, by the British who set up a small penal colony on the land of various Aboriginal tribes  who had been there for tens of thousands of years.  The British colony of New South Wales originally included more than half of the Australian mainland, as well as New Zealand, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. During the 19th century large areas were separated to form the British colonies of Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria, Queensland and New Zealand.

### Aboriginal Australians

The first people to live in of New South Wales were the Aboriginal People who arrived in Australia about 40,000 to 60,000 years ago. Before Europeans came, there were an estimated 250,000 Aboriginal people in the state.

## Geography

New South Wales has four main geographical areas:
- A coastal strip, which runs the whole length of the coast from the Queensland border to the Victorian border. In some places this is a wide plain. In other places it is just a very narrow strip of land between mountains and the sea. The regions of the coastal strip are the North Coast (which borders with Queensland), the Central Coast, the Newcastle region, the Sydney region (which is called the Cumberland Plain), the Illawarra (which is the region around the city of Wollongong) and the Shoalhaven around Nowra.
- The climate of this area ranges from _cool temperate_ on the far south coast to _subtropical_ near the Queensland border. This whole of the coastal strip is affected by the sea. For this reason, the temperatures are often cooled in the summer by sea breezes, and warmed in the winter by the currents along the coast. This makes the climate less hot and less cold than that of the inland regions. There is also more rain than there is farther inland where it is often very dry. For this reason, the three largest cities are all on the coast. The coast also has more intensive agriculture than the inland areas, with dairy cattle and vegetables crops, as well as sugar cane and bananas in the north.
- The mountainous areas of the Great Dividing Range and the high country around them run parallel to the coast from Queensland to Victoria. This includes the New England region, the Central Tablelands, the Blue Mountains near Sydney, the Southern Highlands and the Snowy Mountains.
- The agricultural plains fill a big portion of the state's area, with many fewer people than the coast, includes the Riverina area around Wagga Wagga.
- The dry plains in the far north-west of the state, have a few small communities.

The state is bordered on the north by Queensland, on the west by South Australia, and on the south by Victoria. Its coast faces the Tasman Sea. New South Wales contains two Federal Territories: the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), and the Jervis Bay Territory.

New South Wales' three big cities are Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong which all lie along the coast. Other big towns include Albury which borders with Victoria; Broken Hill, the most westerly large town; Dubbo; Orange, Bowral, Bathurst, home of the Bathurst 1000; Port Macquarie, Tamworth, home to the country music festival; Armidale, Inverell, Lismore, Nowra, Gosford, Griffith, Queanbeyan, Leeton, Wagga Wagga, Goulburn, where a lot of Australia's fruit is grown and Coffs Harbour, a popular tourist destination.

## Demographics

The population of New South Wales at the end of June 2007 was 6.89 million people. Population grew by 1.1% over the preceding year, lower than the national rate of 1.5%.

62.9% of NSW's population is based in Sydney.

|bgcolor="#c0c0c0"|**Rank**|bgcolor="#c0c0c0"|**Statistical division/district**|bgcolor="#c0c0c0"|**June 2007 population**|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|**Sydney**|4,336,374||||
|2|Newcastle|523,662||||
|3|Wollongong|280,159||||
|4|Wagga Wagga|56,147||||
|5|Tweed Heads|50,726||||
|6|Coffs Harbour|50,726||||
|7|Tamworth|44,970||||
|8|Albury|44,787||||
|9|Port Macquarie|42,042||||
|10|Orange|37,333||||
|11|Queanbeyan|36,331||||
|12|Dubbo|36,150||||
|13|Nowra-Bomaderry|32,556||||
|14|Bathurst|32,385||||
|15|Lismore|31,865||||

## References

- australian-post-codes.com Postcode Search

## Other websites

- Postcode Tool – New South Wales

## Infobox (australia state or territory)

- **state**: nsw
- **flag**: Flag of New South Wales.svg
- **flag alt**: alt text for flag
- **coat of arms**: Coat of Arms of New South Wales.svg
- **coat of arms alt**: alt text for coat of arms
- **nickname**: The First State
The Premier State
- **motto**: Orta Recens Quam Pura Nites
(Newly Risen, How Brightly You Shine)
- **map**: New South Wales in Australia.svg
- **capital city**: Sydney
- **viceroy**: Margaret Beazley
- **chief**: Chris Minns
- **chief party**: Australian Labor Party, Labor
- **established event1**: Established as Colony
- **established date1**: 26 January 1788
- **established event2**: Responsible government
- **established date2**: 6 June 1856
- **established event3**: Became Australian state
- **established date3**: 1 January 1901
- **established event4**: _Australia Act 1986, Australia Act_
- **established date4**: 3 March 1986
- **total area**: 809444
- **area rank**: 5th
- **land area**: 800642
- **water area**: 8802
- **percent water**: 1.09
- **population year**: March 2019
- **population**: 8071071
- **population rank**: 1st
- **density**: 10.08
- **density rank**: 3rd
- **highest point**: Mount Kosciuszko
- **highest elev**: 2228
- **gsp year**: 2017–18
- **gsp**: 593275
- **gsp rank**: 1st
- **gsp per capita**: 74955
- **gsp per capita rank**: 3rd
- **timezone**: UTC+10 (Australian Eastern Standard Time, AEST)
UTC+11 (Australian Eastern Daylight Time, AEDT)
UTC+9:30 (Australian Central Standard Time, ACST)
(Broken Hill)
UTC+10:30 (Australian Central Daylight Time, ACDT)
(Broken Hill)
UTC+10:30 (LHST)
(Lord Howe Island)
UTC+11 (LHDT)
(Lord Howe Island)
- **house seats**: 48
- **senate seats**: List of Senators from New South Wales, 12
- **floral emblem**: Waratah
_(Telopea speciosissima)_
- **animal emblem**: Platypus
_(Ornithorhynchus anatinus)_
- **bird emblem**: Kookaburra
_(Dacelo gigas)_
- **marine emblem**: Blue groper
_(Achoerodus viridis)_
- **mineral emblem**: Opal, Black Opal
- **fossil emblem**: _Mandageria, Mandageria fairfaxi_
- **colours**: Sky blue
_(Pantone 291)_
- **website**: www.nsw.gov.au
- **footnotes**: Coordinates
Emblems