New South Wales

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"NSW" redirects here. For other uses, see NSW (disambiguation).

New South Wales

Image:Flag of New South Wales.svg
(Flag)	(Coat of Arms)

Emblems: Floral - Waratah (Telopea speciosissima); Bird - Kookaburra (Dacelo gigas); Animal - Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus); Fish - Blue groper (Achoerodus viridis)

Motto: "Orta Recens Quam Pura Nites" (Newly Risen, How Brightly You Shine)

Slogan or Nickname: First State, Premier State

Map of Australia with New South Wales highlighted

Other Australian states and territories

Capital

Sydney

Government

Const. Monarchy

Governor

Professor Marie Bashir

Premier</div>

Morris Iemma (ALP)

Federal representation

- House seats

- Senate seats

Gross State
Product (2004-05)

- Product ($m)

$305,437 (1^st)

- Product per capita

$45,153/person (4^th)

Population
(End of March 2006)

- Population

6,817,100 (1^st)

- Density

8.45/km² (3^rd)

Area

- Total

809,444 km² (5^th)

- Land

800,642 km²

- Water

8,802 km² (1.09%)

Elevation

- Highest

Mount Kosciuszko (2,228m)

- Lowest

Time zone

UTC+10 (+11 DST)

Abbreviations

- Postal

NSW

- ISO 3166-2

AU-NS

Website

www.nsw.gov.au

New South Wales (abbreviated as NSW) is Australia's most populous state, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria and south of Queensland. It was founded in 1788 and originally comprised much of the Australian mainland, as well as Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. During the 19th century large areas were successively separated to form the British colonies of Tasmania (1825), South Australia (1836), Victoria (1855), and Queensland (1859). In 1901 these colonies plus Western Australia federated to form Commonwealth of Australia.

New South Wales is known the world over for the picturesque harbour of its capital, Sydney, Australia's oldest and largest city and a centre of international finance. Two-thirds of NSW's population lives in Sydney. Sydney was the host city of the 2000 Olympic Summer Games.

An inhabitant of New South Wales is referred to as a New South Welshman or, in gender-neutral language, as a New South Welsh person.

James Cook named the area "New South Wales" as the cliffs near the Sydney Heads reminded him of the cliffs in south Wales, where he had spent part of his childhood.^{[citation needed]}

1 Timeline
2 Geography
3 Government
4 Economy
5 Sport
6 The Arts
7 External links
8 See also

[edit] Timeline

Main article: History of New South Wales

1770: Captain James Cook maps the east coast of New Holland, which he named New South Wales.
1788: Captain Arthur Phillip establishes a British penal colony in Port Jackson, in what is now Sydney.
1813: William Wentworth, Gregory Blaxland and William Lawson lead an expedition which finds a route across the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, opening up the grazing lands of inland New South Wales.

[edit] Geography

Main article: Geography of New South Wales

New South Wales' three main cities from north to south are Newcastle, Sydney, and Wollongong, which all lie along the coast. Other notable settlements include Albury, Broken Hill, Dubbo, Orange, Bathurst, Port Macquarie, Tamworth, Armidale, Inverell, Lismore, Nowra, Gosford, Griffith, Queanbeyan, Leeton, Wagga Wagga, Goulburn and Coffs Harbour.

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 enclaves: the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), and the Jervis Bay Territory.

New South Wales can be divided geographically into four sections:

A coastal strip, with climates warming from cool temperate on the far south coast to subtropical near the Queensland border, including the regions south of Sydney such as the Illawarra , the Shoalhaven near Nowra, Newcastle, the Central Coast and the North Coast.
The mountainous areas of the Great Dividing Range and the high country surrounding them. Whilst not particularly steep, many peaks rise above 1000 m, with the highest Mount Kosciuszko at 2229 m (7308 ft). This includes the Southern Highlands, Central Tablelands and the New England regions.
The agricultural plains that fill a significant portion of the state's area, with a much sparser population than the coast, includes the Riverina area around Wagga Wagga.
The arid plains in the far north-west of the state, which feature few small settlements.

Highest maximum temperature: 50.0C (122.0F), Wilcannia, 11 January 1939

Lowest minimum temperature: -23.0C (-9.4F), Charlotte Pass, 29 June 1994 (lowest temperature recorded in whole of Australia) [1]

[edit] Government

Main article: Government of New South Wales

The form of the Government of New South Wales is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1856, although it has been amended many times since then. Since 1901 New South Wales has been a state of the Commonwealth of Australia, and the Australian Constitution regulates its relationship with the Commonwealth.

Under the Australian Constitution, New South Wales ceded certain legislative and judicial powers to the Commonwealth, but retained independence in all other areas. The New South Wales Constitution says: "The Legislature shall, subject to the provisions of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, have power to make laws for the peace, welfare, and good government of New South Wales in all cases whatsoever." In practice, however, the independence of the Australian states has been greatly eroded by the increasing financial domination of the Commonwealth.

The State Parliament is composed of two houses, the Legislative Assembly (lower house), and the Legislative Council (upper house). Elections are held every four years on the fourth Saturday of March, the next being on 24 March 2007. At each election one member is elected to the Legislative Assembly from each of 99 electoral districts and half of the 42 members of the Legislative Council are elected by a statewide electorate.

New South Wales is a Constitutional Monarchy. Queen Elizabeth II is the Sovereign, represented by the Governor of New South Wales. The current governor is Marie Bashir. The Governor commissions as Premier the leader of the parliamentary political party that can command a simple majority of votes in the Legislative Assembly. The Premier then recommends the appointment of other Members of the two Houses to the Ministry, under the principle of responsible or Westminster government. It should be noted, however, that there is no legal requirement in NSW for the Government to be formed from the Parliament - merely convention. The current Premier is Morris Iemma of the Australian Labor Party.

[edit] Economy

New South Wales has a Gross Domestic Product of AU$265,966,000,000, which equalled AU$39,950 per capita, in 2003. This was equal to US$30,277, above most major European Union economies.

[edit] Sport

Main article: Sport in New South Wales

Throughout Australian history, NSW sporting teams have been very successful in both winning domestic competitions and providing players to the Australian national team. The NSW Blues play in the ING and Pura Cup 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 8 of the 16 National Rugby League (NRL) teams (Sydney Roosters, South Sydney Rabbitohs, 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 are located in Newcastle. Rugby League is the most popular "winter sport" in New South Wales. The main summer sport is cricket, and the state boasts arguably the most competitive cricket outside first class level in the Sydney Grade Cricket competition.

The state is represented by three teams in the football (soccer) A-League: Sydney FC (the inaugral premiers in 2005-06), the Central Coast Mariners,based at Gosford and the Newcastle United Jets. 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 Kings, West Sydney Razorbacks 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 Telstra 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 (soccer) World Cup qualifier between Australia and Uruguay.

The Sydney Cricket Ground traditionally hosts the 'New Year' cricket test match from 2-6 January each year, and is also one of the site 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 at the Mount Panorama Circuit near the city of Bathurst in the Western Plains.

[edit] The Arts

New South Wales is home to several artistic bodies including: Sydney Symphony (Australia's busiest and largest orchestra) and Opera Australia (head office in Sydney) both of which perform a subscription series at the Sydney Opera House. The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), houses a magnificent collection of Australian art; Sydney Jewish Museum; Museum of Sydney; Museum of Contemporary Art. Besides this Sydney is host to the Australian Ballet for its Sydney season (the ballet is head quartered in Melbourne, Victoria). Sydney is home to three Arts teaching organisations which have all produced world famous students: The National Art School, The College of Fine Arts and the Conservatorium of Music (now part of the University of Sydney). The world famous Australian Chamber orchestra has its head quarters in Sydney, however, spends most of its time touring both the world and Australia.