New South Wales

I

Introduction

New South Wales, state in southeastern Australia, bounded on the north by the state of Queensland, on the east by the Tasman Sea (part of the Pacific Ocean), on the south by the state of Victoria, and on the west by the state of South Australia. New South Wales, including the Lord Howe Island Group, has an area of 801,600 sq km (309,500 sq mi), or just over 10 percent of the total area of Australia. The state has 1900 km (1200 mi) of coast. The Lord Howe Island Group is located in the Tasman Sea about 700 km (435 mi) northeast of Sydney, the capital of New South Wales.

II

Land and Resources

The land of New South Wales is defined by four distinct regions. Along the Pacific coast, a long, mostly fertile strip of lowlands runs some 1500 km (900 mi) between the state’s borders with Victoria, to the south, and Queensland, to the north. The lowlands are buffered to the west by the Great Dividing Range, which makes up the second geographical region. The range extends from the southern peaks and snowfields of the Snowy Mountains to the northern New England tableland and includes the spectacularly beautiful Blue Mountains. Peaks in New England reach 1200 m (4000 ft). Mount Kosciusko (2,228 m/ 7,310 ft), in the Snowy Mountains near the border with Victoria, is Australia’s highest peak. Australia’s most important rivers—the Murray, Darling, and Murrumbidgee—rise in these ranges and flow westward, watering some of the most productive farmland in the country. Of the rivers that flow east to the Pacific, the Hawkesbury and the Hunter are two of the most important.

A third region is formed by the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range. The slopes are the site of vast wheat farms and wool ranches. Their southern end, which includes the Riverina region, is irrigated by the engineering schemes that transformed the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers. Farther west, near the New South Wales South Australia border, is the arid, outback country of the Western Plains. The outback town of Bourke, immortalized in Australian literature by short-story writer Henry Lawson, has become synonymous with distance and desolation; in Australian vernacular, there is no greater remoteness than out “the back ‘o Bourke.”

The climate of New South Wales reflects the diversity of its topography. The coast is essentially temperate, changing to hot and semitropical in the north, and to very hot and dry in the far west. Rainfall in the Western Plains averages about 200 mm (8 in) a year; droughts are common. This contrasts with the reliable, adequate rainfall on the western slopes, and with the 2000 mm (79 in) a year that falls on the northern coastal lowlands.

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III

Population

New South Wales is Australia’s most populous state, with 6,731,295 people (2004) and an average density of 8.3 persons per sq km (21.5 per sq mi). Most of the population of New South Wales lives on the coastal lowlands, with about 75 percent in the Newcastle-Sydney-Wollongong area. Between 27 and 30 percent of Aboriginal Australians live in New South Wales; however, they account for only about 1 percent of New South Wales’ total population.

Sydney is Australia’s largest city. It is also the state’s main port for general cargo and a leading cultural center. Sydney has mostly won its rivalry with the city of Melbourne (in Victoria) to become Australia’s capital for commerce, industry, and tourism. It is also one of the world’s most beautiful cities, naturally endowed with a magnificent harbor, beautiful beaches, and bushland reaching deep into the city confines. One of Australia’s major multicultural cities, Sydney has significant numbers of Italians and Lebanese.

New South Wales’ second and third largest cities are Newcastle and Wollongong, respectively. They share the southern end of the coastal strip with Sydney, with Newcastle flanking Sydney on the north, and Wollongong adjoining Sydney on the south. Initially a convict colony, Newcastle prospered as the huge coal resources of the nearby Hunter Valley were discovered and exploited. Newcastle was later bolstered by the growth of the Broken Hill Proprietary Company’s steelworks, the city’s seaport, and the wine industry in the Hunter Valley. Wollongong is also a steel town, as well as a significant seaport and coal producer. Heavily industrialized, Wollongong and Newcastle are unlike most of the rest of coastal New South Wales, where holiday resorts, fishing, surfing, retirement villages, and oyster farming predominate.

On the plains west of the Great Dividing Range, the town of Broken Hill has some of the richest resources of silver, lead, and zinc in the world. Lying near the western border of New South Wales, Broken Hill has as many ties to South Australia and Adelaide as it has to distant Sydney. Other important provincial centers include Albury, on the Murray River; the midwestern towns of Wagga Wagga, Orange, and Dubbo; Tamworth and Goulburn in the tablelands; and the eastern cities of Maitland and Lismore.

IV

Economy

The economy of New South Wales is the largest in Australia. More than one-third of Australia’s economic output comes from New South Wales, and its economy is one-third larger than that of its nearest Australian competitor, Victoria. Manufacturing, despite recent setbacks, continues to be the centerpiece of the economy. In the early 1990s it employed more than 400,000 people and contributed almost 15 percent of the state’s gross domestic product (GDP). Dairy farming along the coastal strip and wool, wheat, and beef from the interior also contribute greatly to the country’s farm output. Less vital but still important are bananas and cotton. Other important industries include wholesale and retail trade (15 percent of the state’s GDP); finance, real estate, and business services (13 percent); and transport and communications (9 percent).

A large number of Australia’s biggest corporations have established their headquarters in Sydney, which has become one of the leading financial centers in the Asia-Pacific region. The Bank of Australia, the Australian Export Finance and Insurance Corporation, and the Sydney Futures Exchange all have head offices in Sydney. Sydney is also the hub of Australia’s information technology and telecommunications industry, providing more than 40 percent of the multibillion-dollar telecommunications market.

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