New South Wales

Sydney

New South Wales

New South Wales, state of southeastern Australia, occupying both coastal mountains and interior tablelands. It is bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the east and the states of Victoria to the south, South Australia to the west, and Queensland to the north. New South Wales also includes Lord Howe Island, 360 miles (580 km) east of the continent. The state capital is Sydney, the country’s largest city.

The site of the first British settlement in Australia in 1788, New South Wales is today the most populous and, after Victoria, the most industrialized state in the Commonwealth of Australia. Originally the name New South Wales was applied to all territory east of longitude 135° E. The colonies of Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria, and Queensland were successively carved out of its territory in the 19th century. The Australian Capital Territory at Canberra was ceded to the Commonwealth government in 1911, and the Jervis Bay enclave on the Pacific coast was similarly ceded in 1915 to provide a port for Canberra.

Although it is by no means the largest Australian state in area, New South Wales has the largest economy among them and, in its demographic, political, and economic variety, constitutes a microcosm of Australia as a whole. It reflects the problems of a semiperipheral country adjusting to changes in the world economy. Its formerly robust manufacturing base adjusted to competition from cheaper and better products from overseas, with heavier industries being replaced by the production of elaborately transformed goods. The state’s rural industries similarly faced world oversupply and declining prices for once-staple pastoral and agricultural exports—such as wool, wheat, dairy, and meat—and sought to develop more diverse crops and specialized markets, often with considerable success. Unemployment levels run relatively high, often above the national average and marked by considerable regional variations. The expansion of the property, financial, and business sectors accounts for much employment growth from the 1990s onward, and fluctuations in those areas similarly have an impact on the economic trends of the state overall. Rapidly expanding international tourism stimulated extensive development in services, although it has heightened vulnerability to global economic downturns, and the impact of large numbers of tourist arrivals placed strains on facilities and the environment.

Since the turn of the 21st century, the population of New South Wales has grown more slowly relative to most other Australian states, reflecting the dynamics of economic growth across the country. While most of the state’s population lives in the cities—and the great majority in Sydney—a pattern of new settlement is evident in regional centres, most often on the coast. Such settlement is driven by the greater presence of amenities in those areas, although it is also associated with concern about the degradation of the land resources of the state.

As in all the Australian states, the considerable autonomy of the state government under the terms of Australian federation in 1901 has been—especially since the 1940s—steadily limited by Commonwealth government control of the collection and expenditure of public moneys. More recently, there has been pressure to achieve greater levels of national coordination in the provision of health care, education, and the management of environmental resources and to outsource the provision of services once provided by public agencies. Even with those changes, New South Wales—by virtue of its history, diversity, and economy—exerts considerable influence over the culture and prosperity of Australia and over international perceptions of Australian society and identity. Area 309,130 square miles (800,642 square km). Population (2021) 8,072,163.