New South Wales

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

For the historical Canadian region, see New South Wales, Canada.

New South Wales showing highways

630 lb (285 kg) gold unearthed in 1872 from Hill End during the Gold Rush

New South Wales (abbreviated as NSW) is Australia's oldest and 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. 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, South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, and New Zealand.

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.

History

Main article: History of New South Wales

Aborigines

Main article: Prehistory of Australia

The original inhabitants of the area were Aboriginal tribes who arrived in Australia approximately forty to sixty thousand years ago.

European settlement

The European discovery of New South Wales was made by Captain James Cook during his voyage along the east coast of Australia in 1770.

In the journal covering his survey of the eastern coast of the Australian continent, Cook first named the east coast of Australia "New Wales", which he later corrected in his journal to "New South Wales".

The first British settlement was made by what is known in Australian history as the First Fleet led by Captain Arthur Phillip who assumed the role of governor of the settlement on arrival in 1788 until 1792. During this time New South Wales was an entirely penal colony.

After years of chaos, anarchy and the overthrow of Governor William Bligh, a new governor, Lieutenant-colonel (later Major-General) Lachlan Macquarie, was sent from Britain to reform the settlement in 1809. During his time as governor, Macquarie commissioned the construction of roads, wharves, churches and public buildings, sent explorers across the continent and employed a planner to design the street layout of Sydney. Macquarie's legacy is still evident today.

Gold rush

A gold rush in the mid 19th century created a huge influx in the New South Wales population. Soon after the gold rush, settlers demanded a responsible government that could govern itself. The result was the New South Wales Constitution Act of 1855, steered through the British Parliament by the veteran radical Lord John Russell, who wanted a constitution which balanced democratic elements against the interests of property, as did the Parliamentary system in Britain at this time. The Act created a bicameral Parliament of New South Wales, with a lower house, the Legislative Assembly, consisting of 54 members. As the population continued to rise, separate colonies were split off from greater NSW. Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia, and Queensland were formed as self-governing colonies reducing NSW to its present area.

Federation

At the end of the 19th century, the movement toward federation between the Australian colonies gathered momentum. Conventions and forums involving colony leaders were held on a regular basis. Proponents of NSW as a free trade state were in dispute with the other leading colony Victoria who had a protectionist economy. At this time customs posts were common on borders, even on the Murray River. Travelling from NSW to Victoria in those days would have been very similar to travelling from NSW to New Zealand today. Supporters of federation included the NSW premier Sir Henry Parkes whose 1889 speech in Tenterfield was pivotal in gathering support for NSW involvement. Edmund Barton later to become Australia's first Prime Minister was another strong advocate for federation and a meeting held in Corowa in 1893 drafted an initial constitution.

In 1898 popular referendums on the proposed federation were held in NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. All votes resulted in a majority in favour, but the NSW government under Premier George Reid (popularly known as "yes-no Reid" because of his constant changes of opinion on the issue) had set a requirement for a higher "yes" vote than just a simple majority which was not met.

In 1899 further referendums were held in the same states as well as Queensland (but not Western Australia). All resulted in yes votes with majorities increased from the previous year. NSW met the conditions its government had set for a yes vote. As a compromise to the question on where the capital was to be located, an agreement was made that the site was to be within NSW but not closer than 100 miles (161 km) from Sydney. Eventually the area that now forms the Australian Capital Territory was ceded by NSW when Canberra was selected.

Early 20th century

In the years after World War I, the high prices enjoyed during the war fell with the resumption of international trade, and farmers became increasingly discontented with the fixed prices paid by the compulsory marketing authorities set up as a wartime measure by the Hughes government. In 1919 the farmers formed the Country Party, led at national level by Earle Page, a doctor from Grafton, and at state level by Michael Bruxner, a small farmer from Tenterfield.

The Great Depression which began in 1929 ushered a period of political and class conflict in New South Wales. The mass unemployment and collapse of commodity prices brought ruin to both city workers and to farmers. The beneficiary of the resultant discontent was not the Communist Party, which remained small and weak, but Jack Lang's Labor populism. Lang's second government was elected in November 1930 on a policy of repudiating New South Wales' debt to British bondholders and using the money instead to help the unemployed through public works. This was denounced as illegal by conservatives, and also by James Scullin's federal Labor government. The result was that Lang's supporters in the federal Caucus brought down Scullin's government, causing a second bitter split in the Labor Party. In May 1932 the Governor, Sir Philip Game dismissed his government. The subsequent election was won by the conservative opposition.

Japanese POW camp in Cowra, 1944, several weeks before the Cowra breakout

By the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the differences between New South Wales and the other states that had emerged in the 19th century had faded as a result of federation and economic development behind a wall of protective tariffs. New South Wales continued to outstrip Victoria as the centre of industry, and increasingly of finance and trade as well. Labor returned to office under the moderate leadership of William McKell in 1941 and stayed in power for 24 years. World War II saw another surge in industrial development to meet the needs of a war economy, and also the elimination of unemployment.

Postwar New South Wales

Labor stayed in power until 1965. Towards the end of its term in power it announced a plan for the construction of an opera/arts facility on Bennelong Point. The design competition was won by Jørn Utzon. Controversy over the cost of what would eventually become the Sydney Opera House became a political issue and was a factor in the eventual defeat of Labor in 1965 by the conservative Liberal Party led by Sir Robert Askin. Sir Robert remains a controversial figure with supporters claiming him to be reformist especially in terms of reshaping the NSW economy. Others though regard the Askin era has synonymous with corruption with Askin the head of a network involving NSW police and SP bookmaking (Goot).

In the late 1960s, a secessionist movement in the New England region of the state led to a referendum on the issue. The new state would have consisted of much of northern NSW including Newcastle. The referendum was narrowly defeated and there are no active or organised campaigns for new states in NSW beyond individuals.

Askin's resignation in 1975 was followed by a number of short lived premierships by Liberal Party leaders. When a general election came in 1976 the ALP under Neville Wran were returned to power. Wran was able to transform this narrow one seat victory into landslide wins (known as Wranslide) in 1978 and 1981.

The Sydney Opera House was complete in 1973 and has become a World Heritage Site

After winning a comfortable though reduced majority in 1984, Wran resigned as premier and left parliament. His replacement Barry Unsworth struggled to emerge from Wran's shadow and lost a 1988 election against a resurgent Liberal Party led by Nick Greiner. Unsworth was replaced as ALP leader by Bob Carr. Initially Greiner was a popular leader instigating reform such as the creation of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). Greiner called a snap election in 1991 which the Liberals were expected to win. However the ALP polled extremely well and the Liberals lost their majority and needed the support of independents to retain power.

Greiner was accused (by ICAC) of corrupt actions involving an allegation that a government position was offered to tempt an independent (who had defected from the Liberals) to resign his seat so that the Liberal party could regain it and shore up its numbers. Greiner resigned but was later cleared of corruption. His replacement as Liberal leader and Premier was John Fahey. Although personally popular, Fahey's government suffered from a series of scandals including tax evasion, illegal recording of customer conversations, sexual harassment, and death threats. In the 1995 election, Fahey's government lost narrowly and the ALP under Bob Carr returned to power.

Like Wran before him Carr was able to turn a narrow majority into landslide wins at the next two elections (1999 and 2003). During this era, NSW hosted the 2000 Sydney Olympics which were internationally regarded as very successful and helped boost Carr's popularity. Carr surprised most people by resigning from office in 2005. He was replaced by Morris Iemma who remained Premier, was re-elected in the March 2007, until he resigned from parliament in September, 2008.

Government

Main articles: Government of New South Wales and Local Government Areas of New South Wales

Executive authority is vested in the Governor of New South Wales, who represents and is appointed by Queen Elizabeth II. The current Governor is Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir (Lady Shehadie). 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 as in other Westminster systems, there is no constitutional requirement in NSW for the Government to be formed from the Parliament - merely convention. The Premier is Nathan Rees of the Australian Labor Party.

New South Wales Parliament House

Constitution

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.

Parliament

Political Party	Legislative Assembly	Legislative Council
ALP	52 (56%)	19 (45%)
Liberal	22 (24%)	10 (24%)
National	13 (14%)	5 (11%)
Independent/Other	6 (6%)	8 (20%)
Source: Parliament of New South Wales.

The State Parliament is composed of the Sovereign and 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 most recent being on 24 March 2007. At each election one member is elected to the Legislative Assembly from each of 93 electoral districts and half of the 42 members of the Legislative Council are elected by a statewide electorate.

Emergency services

New South Wales is policed by the New South Wales Police Force, a statutory authority. Established in 1862, the NSW Police Force investigates Summary and Indictable offences throughout the State of New South Wales. The state has two fire services: the volunteer based New South Wales Rural Fire Service, mainly active in small towns and the countryside, and the New South Wales Fire Brigades, a government agency responsible for protecting urban areas. There is some overlap due to suburbanisation. Ambulance services are provided through the Ambulance Service of New South Wales. Rescue services (ie. vertical, road crash, confinement) are a joint effort by all emergency services, with Ambulance Rescue, Police Rescue Squad and Fire Rescue Units contributing. Volunteer rescue organisations include the State Emergency Service (SES) and Volunteer Rescue Association (VRA).

Demographics

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.

Newcastle

Lookout from the Illawarra Escarpment above Wombarra over the northern Illawarra plain viewing Austinmer, Thirroul, Bulli, Wollongong and up to Port Kembla in the far distance.

Rank	Statistical Division/District	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

Sydney with The Rocks on the left and Darling Harour on the right

Education

File:CBD031-01.jpg

The Sydney Grammar School, established in 1854, is the oldest secondary school still in use in Sydney CBD

File:Aerial booloominbah.jpg

University of New England in Armidale

Primary and Secondary

The NSW school system comprises a kindergarten to year twelve system with primary schooling up to year 6 and secondary schooling between year 7 and 12. Schooling is compulsory until age 15.

Primary and secondary schools include government and non-government schools. Government schools are further classified as comprehensive and selective schools. Non-government schools include Catholic schools, other denominational schools, and non-denominational independent schools.

Typically, a primary school provides education from kindergarten level to year 6. A secondary school, usually called a "high school", provides education from years 7 to 12. Secondary colleges are secondary schools which only cater for years 11 and 12.

The government classifies the 12 years of primary and secondary schooling into six stages, beginning with stage 1 (years 1 and 2) and ending with stage 6 (years 11 and 12).

School Certificate

Main article: School Certificate

The School Certificate is awarded by the Board of Studies to students at the end of Year 10. Typically, students in secondary schools will have completed a course of study in accordance with the Board's requirements, and sit for the tests at the end of year 10.

The Board administers five external tests in English-literacy, Mathematics, Science, Australian History, Geography, Civics and Citizenship. Students are not given a "pass" or "fail" result. The tests are designed to grade a student on their ability. The results of this test are categorised into bands 1 through to 6 with band 1 as the lowest and band 6 as the highest.

Higher School Certificate

Main article: Higher School Certificate

The Higher School Certificate (HSC) is the usual Year 12 leaving certificate in NSW. Most students complete the HSC prior to entering the workforce or going on to study at college, university or TAFE (although the HSC itself can be completed at TAFE). The HSC must be completed for a student to get a University Admissions Index, which determines the students rank against fellow students who completed the Higher School Certificate.

Tertiary

Eleven universities primarily operate in New South Wales. Sydney is home to Australia's first university, the University of Sydney, founded in 1850, as well as the University of New South Wales, Macquarie University, the University of Technology, Sydney and the University of Western Sydney. The Australian Catholic University has two of its six campuses in Sydney, and the private University of Notre Dame Australia also operates a secondary campus in the city.

Outside Sydney, the leading universities are the University of Newcastle and the University of Wollongong. Armidale is home to the University of New England, and Charles Sturt University and Southern Cross University have campuses spread across cities in the state's south-west and north coast respectively.

The public universities are state government agencies, however they are largely regulated by the federal government, which also administers their public funding. Admission to NSW universities is arranged together with universities in the Australian Capital Territory by another government agency, the Universities Admission Centre.

Primarily vocational training is provided up the level of advanced diplomas is provided by the state government's ten Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutes. These institutes run courses in over 130 campuses throughout the state.

Geography

The characteristic blue haze, as seen in the Jamison Valley in the Blue Mountains

Byron Bay beach in Northern New South Wales

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 (3,280 ft), with the highest Mount Kosciuszko at 2,229 metres (7,308 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.

Thredbo ski fields in Southern New South Wales

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. Towns such as Albury, Dubbo, Griffith, Leeton and Wagga Wagga exist primarily to service these agricultural regions. The western slopes decend 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 50.0 °C (122.0 °F) at Wilcannia in the state's west on 11 January 1939. The lowest minimum temperature was -23.0 °C (-9.4 °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 33km west-north-west of Tottenham.

Economy

Port Kembla is notable for its steelworks industry, with many ships utilising the port.

Main article: Economy of New South Wales

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 A$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.

New South Wales had a Gross State Product in 2006 (equivalent to Gross Domestic Product) of A$310 billion which equalled A$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.

The NSW business community is represented by the NSW Business Chamber which has 30,000 members.

The Hunter Valley is known for its wineries.

Sport

EnergyAustralia Stadium in Newcastle is the homeground of the Newcastle Knights and the Newcastle United Jets

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 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 Bathurst 1000, held at Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst

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.

Culture

File:Big GoldenGuitar Tamworth.jpg

The Big Golden Guitar in Tamworth represents the cities country music culture

As Australia's most populous state, New South Wales is home to a number of cultural institutions of importance to the nation. In music, New South Wales is home to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Australia's busiest and largest orchestra. Australia's largest opera company, Opera Australia, is headquartered in Sydney. Both of these organisations perform a subscription series at the Sydney Opera House. Other major musical bodies include the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Sydney is host to the Australian Ballet for its Sydney season (the ballet is headquartered in Melbourne). Apart from the Sydney Opera House, major musical performance venues include the City Recital Hall and the Sydney Town Hall.

New South Wales is home to a number of major art galleries. The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), houses a significant collection of Australian art, while the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney focuses on contemporary art.

Major museums include the natural history-focussed Australian Museum, the technology and arts-and-crafts focussed Powerhouse Museum, and the history-focussed Museum of Sydney. Other museums include the Sydney Jewish Museum.

Sydney is home to five Arts teaching organisations which have all produced world famous students: The National Art School, The College of Fine Arts, the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), the Australian School of Film, Radio and Television and the Conservatorium of Music (now part of the University of Sydney).

See also

• States and territories of Australia
• Territorial evolution of Australia

External links

• Australia - Map of South East Australia from Geoscience Australia
• NSW Official State Website
• NSW Parliament
• NSW Police
• NSW State Law
• NSW State Library - History of Our Nation
• NSW Weather and Sydney Weather
• NSW Directory - from the Open Directory Project