New South Wales Travel
The state also encloses the Australian Capital Territory, the location of the Australian national capital of Canberra, in its south-east. NSW is bordered by three other Australian states: Victoria to the south, South Australia to the west, and Queensland to the north. The home of a large number of Aboriginal tribes for thousands of years, New South Wales was only settled by Europeans - spreading outwards from Sydney - from the early 19th century. Inland settlement was at first impeded by the rugged Blue Mountains for a time: Sydney was established in 1788, but settlers did not cross the mountains until 1813 and the first inland town of Bathurst was only founded in 1815.Geography of New South Wales
New South Wales is the most populous state in Australia. Most of that population is concentrated in Sydney, which has 4.2 million of the state's 6.7 million inhabitants. The next largest cities are (in order) Newcastle and Wollongong - after that the larger towns are merely moderately-sized country towns of 40,000-50,000 people. Hence, many of the cultural sights are concentrated in Sydney and nearby. That isn't true of historical or natural sights though. Many of the state's most beautiful natural sights, obviously enough, lie well outside the Sydney metropolitan area. Australian history and identity is to some extent tied up with rural settlement and lifestyle, and thus you will find many of the outlying regions of New South Wales base their tourism industry around pioneer and rural history.
New South Wales Regions of Most Interest to the Tourist
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New South Wales (NSW) is one of Australia's
south-eastern states and with a population of 6.7 million,
the country's most populous. As the core territory of the
first British colony on the Australian continent (settled
in 1788), NSW is home to the country's oldest and largest
city, the state capital of Sydney.
The home of a large number of Aboriginal tribes
for thousands of years, New South Wales was only settled
by Europeans - spreading outwards from Sydney - from the
early 19th century. Inland settlement was at first impeded
by the rugged Blue Mountains for a time: Sydney was
established in 1788, but settlers did not cross the
mountains until 1813 and the first inland town of Bathurst
was only founded in 1815.
In common with most Australians, the people of
NSW have a tradition of great sporting rivalry with
neighbouring states. This is expressed each year, for
example, in the State of Origin Series of Rugby League
matches between NSW and Queensland (NB: Rugby League,
somewhat distantly followed by Rugby Union, is the winter
ball sport of choice in NSW, as opposed to most of the
rest of Australia - apart from Queensland - which follows
Australian Rules football).
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