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 New Zealand, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. During the 19th century large areas were successively separated to form the British colonies of Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria, Queensland and New Zealand.

An inhabitant of New South Wales is referred to as a New South Welshman. New South Wales' largest city and capital is Sydney.

It is not clear whether New South Wales refers to the area being named after South Wales, or a New Wales in the Southern Hemisphere.[1]

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

Geography

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 1,000 metres (3,280 ft), with the highest Mount Kosciuszko at 2,229 metres (7,308 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.
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's three major cities are Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong which all lie along the coast. Other notable settlements include Albury, a large town which borders with Victoria; Broken Hill, the most Westerly large town; Dubbo; Orange, 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 large proportion of the Australia's fruit is grown and Coffs Harbour, a popular tourist destination.

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

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

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It uses material from the Wikipedia article "New South Wales"

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