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New South Wales (abbreviated as NSW)
is
Australia's most populous state, located in the south-east
of the country, north of
Victoria, south of
Queensland and east of
South Australia. It was founded in 1788 and originally
comprised much of the Australian mainland, as well as Lord Howe
Island and Norfolk Island. New Zealand was not initially part of
the colony, although when Britain annexed New Zealand in 1840 it
was briefly a part of New South Wales. During the 19th century
large areas were successively separated to form the British
colonies of
Tasmania (proclaimed as a separate colony named Van Diemen's
Land in 1825),
South Australia (1836),
Victoria (1851) and
Queensland (1859).
Inhabitants of New South Wales are referred
to as being New South Welsh or New South Welshmen.
New South Wales's largest city and capital is
Sydney.
Population
The estimated 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.
NB: Content
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Wikipedia
Geography and ecology
Main article: Geography of New South Wales
New South Wales is bordered on the north by
Queensland, on the west by South Australia, on the south by
Victoria and on the east by the Tasman Sea. The
Australian Capital Territory and the Jervis Bay Territory
are Federal enclaves of New South Wales. The state can be
divided geographically into four areas. New South Wales' three
largest cities,
Sydney,
Newcastle and
Wollongong, lie near the centre of a narrow coastal strip
extending from cool temperate areas on the far south coast to
subtropical areas near the Queensland border. The
Illawarra region is centred on the city of Wollongong, with
the
Shoalhaven, Eurobodalla and the Sapphire Coast to the south.
The
Central Coast lies between Sydney and Newcastle, with the
North Coast and Northern Rivers regions reaching northwards
to the Queensland border. Tourism is important to the economies
of coastal towns such as
Coffs Harbour,
Lismore,
Nowra and Port Macquarie, but the region also produces
seafood, beef, dairy, fruit, sugar cane and timber.
The Great Dividing Range extends from
Victoria in the south
through New South Wales
to Queensland,
parallel to the narrow coastal plain. This area includes the
Snowy Mountains, the Northern, Central and Southern
Tablelands, the Southern Highlands and the South West Slopes.
Whilst not particularly steep, many peaks of the range rise
above 1,000 metres (3,281 ft), with the highest
Mount Kosciuszko at 2,229 m (7,313 ft). The relatively short
ski season underwrites the tourist industry in the
Snowy Mountains. Agriculture, particularly the wool
industry, is important throughout the highlands. Major centres
include
Armidale, Bathurst, Bowral, Goulburn, Inverell, Orange,
Queanbeyan and
Tamworth.
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There are numerous forests in New South
Wales, with such tree species as Red Gum Eucalyptus and Crow Ash
(Flindersia australis), being represented.Forest floors
have a diverse set of understory shrubs and fungi. One of the
widespread fungi is Witch's Butter (Tremella mesenterica).
The western slopes fill a significant portion
of the state's area and have a much sparser population than
areas nearer the coast. Agriculture is the central to the
economy of the western slopes, particularly the Riverina region
and
Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area in the state's south-west.
Regional cities such as Albury,
Dubbo, Griffith and
Wagga Wagga and towns such as Deniliquin, Leeton and Parkes
exist primarily to service these agricultural regions. The
western slopes descend slowly to the western plains that
comprise almost two-thirds of the state and are largely arid or
semi-arid. The mining town of Broken Hill is the largest centre
in this area.
The highest maximum temperature recorded was
50 °C (122 °F) at Wilcannia in the state's west on 11 January
1939. The lowest minimum temperature was −23 °C (−9 °F) at
Charlotte Pass on 29 June 1994 in the Snowy Mountains. This is
also the lowest temperature recorded in whole of Australia
excluding the Antarctic Territory.
One possible definition of the centre for
New South Wales is
located 33 kilometres (21 mi) west-north-west of Tottenham.
Economy
Agriculture is spread throughout the
New South Wales state,
except in the western third. Cattle, sheep and pigs are the
predominant types of livestock produced in NSW and they have
been present since their importation during the earliest days of
European settlement. Economically the state is the most
important state in Australia, with about a third of the
country's sheep, a fifth of its cattle, and a third of its small
number of pigs.
New South
Wales produces a large share of Australia's hay, fruit,
legumes, Lucerne, maize, nuts, wool, wheat, oats, oilseeds
(about 51%), poultry, rice (about 99%), vegetables, fishing
including oyster farming, and forestry including wood chips.
Bananas and sugar are grown chiefly in the Clarence, Richmond
and Tweed River areas. The world's finest wools are produced on
the Northern Tablelands as well as prime lambs and beef cattle.
The cotton industry is centred in the Namoi Valley in north
western New South Wales.
On the central slopes there are many orchards with the principal
fruits grown being apples, cherries and pears. Approximately
40,200 ha of vineyards lie across the eastern region of the
state with excellent wines produced in the
Hunter Valley with
the Riverina being the largest largest wine producer in
New South Wales.
Australia’s largest and most valuable
Thoroughbred horse breeding area is centred on Scone in the
Hunter Valley.
About half of Australia's timber production
is in New South Wales. Large areas of the state are now being
replanted with eucalyptus forests.
Since the 1970s,
New South Wales has
undergone an increasingly rapid economic and social
transformation. Old industries such as steel and shipbuilding
have largely disappeared, and although agriculture remains
important its share of the state's income is smaller than ever
before. New industries such as information technology and
financial services are largely centred in Sydney and have risen
to take their place with many companies having their Australian
headquarters in
Sydney CBD. In addition, the Macquarie Park area of
Sydney
has attracted the Australian headquarters of many information
technology firms.
Coal and related products are the state's
biggest export. Its value to the state's economy is over AUD$5
billion accounting for about 19% of all exports from NSW.
Tourism has also become important, with
Sydney as its centre but also stimulating growth on the
North Coast, around
Coffs Harbour
and Byron Bay. Tourism is worth over $23 billion to the New
South Wales economy and employs over 8% of the workforce. In
2007, the (then) Premier of New South Wales, Morris Iemma
established Events New South
Wales to "market Sydney and NSW as a leading global events
destination".
New South Wales had a Gross State Product in
2006 (equivalent to Gross Domestic Product) of $310 billion
which equalled $45,584 per capita.
On 9 October 2007, NSW announced plans to
build a 1,000 MW (megawatt) bank of wind powered turbines. The
output of these is anticipated to be able to power up to 400,000
homes. The cost of this project will be $1.8 billion for 500
turbines.
On 28 August 2008, the New South Wales
cabinet voted to privatise electricity retail, causing 1,500
electrical workers to strike after a large anti-privatisation
campaign.
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Sport
Throughout Australian history, NSW sporting
teams have been very successful in both winning domestic
competitions and providing players to the Australian national
teams. The NSW Blues play in the Ford Ranger Cup and Sheffield
Shield cricket competitions, the NSW Waratahs in the Super 14
rugby union competition and The 'Blues' represent NSW in the
annual Rugby League State
of Origin series.
As well as the
State of Origin, the headquarters of the Australian Rugby
League and National Rugby League (NRL) are in Sydney, which is
home to 9 of the 16 National Rugby League (NRL) teams. (South
Sydney Rabbitohs, Sydney Roosters, Parramatta Eels,
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, Wests Tigers, Penrith Panthers,
Canterbury Bulldogs and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles), as well as
being the northern home of the St George Illawarra Dragons,
which is half-based in
Wollongong. A tenth team, the Newcastle Knights is located
in
Newcastle. The main summer sport is cricket.
The state is represented by three teams in
association football's A-League: Sydney FC (the inaugural
champions in 2005-06), the Central Coast Mariners, based at
Gosford and the Newcastle United Jets (2007-08 A League
Champions). Football has the highest number of registered
players in New South Wales of any football code. Australian
rules football has historically not been strong in New South
Wales outside the Riverina region. However, the Sydney Swans
relocated from South
Melbourne in 1982 and their presence and success since the
late 1990s has raised the profile of Australian rules football,
especially after their AFL premiership in 2005. Other teams in
national competitions include basketball's Sydney Spirit
(formerly the West Sydney Razorbacks) and the defunct team
Sydney Kings and Sydney Uni Flames, and netball's Sydney Swifts.
Sydney
was the host of the 2000 Summer Olympics and the 1938 British
Empire Games. The Olympic Stadium, now known as ANZ Stadium is
the scene of the annual NRL Grand Final. It also regularly hosts
rugby league State of Origin games and rugby union
internationals, and has recently hosted the final of the 2003
Rugby World Cup and the football World Cup qualifier between
Australia and Uruguay.
The Sydney Cricket Ground hosts the 'New
Year' cricket Test match from 2-6 January each year, and is also
one of the sites for the finals of the One Day International
series. The annual Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race begins in Sydney
Harbour on Boxing Day. The climax of Australia's touring car
racing series is the Bathurst 1000, held near the city of
Bathurst.
The popular equine sports of campdrafting and
polocrosse were developed in New South Wales and competitions
are now held across Australia. Polocrosse is now played in many
overseas countries. New
South Wales is the home to the world famous Coolmore Stud.
Cities and places of NSW
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State
of New South Wales .com 
