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Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian state of New South Wales, as well as Australia's largest and oldest city (founded in 1788). With a metropolitan area population of 4.3 million and a population of approximately 146,297 people in the city proper (known as the "City of Sydney"), the Sydney metropolis is the largest financial, transport, trade and cultural centre in Australia. Sydney is a significant global and domestic tourist destination and is regularly declared to be one of the most beautiful and liveable cities in the world, admired for its harbour, beautiful coastline, warm and pleasant climate and cosmopolitan culture. Sydney significantly raised its global profile in recent years as the host city of the 2000 Olympics. It is also the host of the World Youth Day 2008. The city's name is pronounced . A resident of Sydney is popularly known as a "Sydneysider". Sydney is home to the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge which are both recognized worldwide.

Geography

Sydney Harbour Bridge Sydney Harbour Bridge towards the CBD skyline; the Opera House is visible in the background on the left]] Opera House Sydney is located in a coastal basin between the Pacific Ocean to the east and the Blue Mountains to the west. The city features the largest natural harbour in the world, Port Jackson, and more than 70 harbour and ocean beaches, including the famous Bondi Beach. Sydney's urban area of 1,687 km² is similar to that of Greater London, although it has less than half of that city's population. The metropolitan area (Sydney Statistical Division) is 12,145 km², but much of this is national park and other unsettled land. The geographical coordinates of Sydney are 34 degrees south and 151 degrees east. Sydney occupies two geographical regions: the Cumberland Plain, a relatively flat or rolling region lying to the south and west of the harbour, and the Hornsby Plateau, a plateau north of the harbour, up to 200 m in elevation, dissected by forested valleys. The oldest parts of the city are located in the flat areas; the Hornsby Plateau, known as the North Shore, was slower to develop because of its hilly topography, and was mostly a quiet backwater until the Sydney Harbour Bridge was opened in 1932, linking it to the rest of the city. Much of the North Shore is upper-middle class suburban in character, with high-rise business districts at Chatswood and North Sydney. Sydney's central business district (CBD) extends southwards for about 2 km from Sydney Cove, the point of the first European settlement. Densely concentrated skyscrapers and other buildings including beautiful sandstone buildings such as the Sydney Town Hall and Queen Victoria Building are interspersed by several parks such as Wynyard and Hyde Parks. The CBD is bounded on the east side by a chain of parkland that extends from Hyde Park through the Domain and Royal Botanic Gardens to Farm Cove on the harbour. The west side is bounded by Darling Harbour, a popular tourist precinct. Central Station marks the southern end of the CBD. George St is the Sydney CBD's main north-south thoroughfare. In the southern CBD, the streets run on a slightly angled grid pattern; in the older northern CBD, the routes are less logical, reflecting the ad-hoc development of bullock tracks in the early days of the city. (See the Sydney central business district article for more detail.) Sydney's streets tend to be narrower than those of other major Australian cities, reflecting this ad hoc development. Although the CBD dominated the city's business and cultural life in the early days, other business/cultural districts have developed in a radial pattern since World War II. As a result, the proportion of white-collar jobs located in the CBD declined from more than 60% at the end of World War II to less than 30% in 2004. The five most significant outer business districts are Parramatta in the central-west, Blacktown in the west, Liverpool in the southwest, Chatswood to the north, and Hurstville in the south. Although the city does not suffer from cyclones or significant earthquakes, the El Niño Southern Oscillation plays an important role in determining Sydney's weather patterns: drought and bushfire on the one hand, and storms and flooding on the other, associated with the opposite phases of the oscillation. Many areas of the city bordering bushland have experienced bushfires, notably in 1994 and 2002. The city is subject to infrequent severe hail storms and wind storms. In recent years, the city has faced water shortages. The levels in its main water storages, chief of which Warragamba Dam have fallen to such an extent that the state government has imposed a range of restrictions intended to reduce water consumption and is currently considering the introduction of a desalinated water plant.

History

Warragamba Dam The area surrounding Sydney Harbour (called Warrane by the aborigines) has been inhabited by Aboriginal tribes, notably the Eora and Cadigal, for at least 40,000 years. Although urbanisation has destroyed most evidence of these settlements (such as shell middens), there are still rock carvings in several locations. European interest arose with the sighting of Botany Bay (now a southern suburb of Sydney) in 1770 by Lieutenant James Cook. Under instruction from the British government, a convict settlement was founded by Arthur Phillip in 1788. Phillip founded the colony at Sydney Cove on Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour). He named it after the British Home Secretary, Thomas Townshend, Lord Sydney (Viscount Sydney from 1789), in recognition of Sydney's role in issuing the charter authorising Phillip to establish a colony. Prisoners were quickly set to work to build the settlement and by 1822 the town had banks, markets, well-established thoroughfares and an organised constabulary; by 1847, convicts accounted for only 3.2% of the population. After a slow start, the town grew rapidly, with ships arriving from Ireland and England with immigrants looking to start a new life in a new country. The first of several gold rushes was in 1851, since which time the port of Sydney has seen many waves of people from around the world. With industrialisation Sydney expanded rapidly, and by the early 20th century it had a population well in excess of one million. Throughout the 20th century Sydney continued to expand with various new waves of European and (later) Asian immigration, resulting in its highly cosmopolitan atmosphere of the present day. Indeed, Sydney has the second highest immigrant population of any major world city, with 45% of the population being either migrants or children of migrants.

Historical population

Asian The majority of Sydneysiders are of British and Irish background. More recent arrivals have included Italians, Greeks, Lebanese, South Africans, Indians, Sudanese, Turks, Macedonians, Croatians, Serbs, Chinese and Vietnamese.
- 1800: 2,540 inhabitants
- 1820: 12,000
- 1851: 39,000
- 1871: 205,800
- 1901: 487,900
- 1925: 1,039,000
- 2003: 4 million
- 2050: 6 million (projected)

Timeline of events


- 1788: First European settlement established
- 1852: Sydney incorporated as a city
- 1855: New South Wales's first railway line linking Sydney with Parramatta
- 1870: Intercolonial Exhibition (1870)
- 1879: Sydney International Exhibition (1879)
- 1883: Parramatta - Intercolonial Juvenile Industrial Exhibition (1883)
- 1901: Commonwealth of Australia proclaimed in Sydney on January 1
- c. 1903: Overtook Melbourne as Australia's largest city
- 1932: Sydney Harbour Bridge completed
- 1942: Sydney attacked by Japanese submarines
- 1973: Sydney Opera House completed
- 2000: 2000 Summer Olympics

Government and politics

There is no overall governing body for the Sydney metropolitan area. There is a directly elected Lord Mayor of Sydney and an elected council, but these are responsible only for the City of Sydney, which takes in the central business area and some adjoining inner suburbs. The Lord Mayor, however, is sometimes treated as a representative of the whole city. The rest of the metropolitan area is divided into municipalities (see list of regions below). As is common in major metropolitan areas of most Australian states, these municipalities all have elected councils and are responsible for a range of functions delegated to them by the New South Wales State Government. Most citywide government activities are controlled by the state government. These include public transport, main roads, traffic control, policing, education above preschool level, and planning of major infrastructure projects. Because a large fraction of New South Wales' population lives in Sydney, state governments have traditionally been reluctant to allow the development of citywide governmental bodies, which would tend to rival the state government. For this reason, Sydney has always been a focus for the politics of both State and Federal Parliaments. For example, the electoral boundary of the City of Sydney local council area (mayoralty) have been significantly altered by state governments on at least four occasions since 1945, with advantageous effect to the governing party in the New South Wales Parliament at the time. As of 2005, the councils of the City of Sydney and the City of South Sydney are merged.

Landmarks

City of South Sydney The city's most famous landmarks are Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House, both of which are located on Sydney Harbour. Sydney's principal river is the Parramatta River, which enters Sydney Harbour from the west. While the Harbour is famous for its racing yachts, the Boxing Day start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race and 18ft skiffs, the river is used for dinghy sailing and rowing as well as recreational boating, racing small yachts, recreational fishing, and occasional Dragon Boat racing. Another famous landmark is the Sydney Tower (also known as Centrepoint Tower or the AMP Tower) which is the third tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere after Auckland's Sky Tower and the Gold Coast's Q1 Tower. Darling Harbour is also a popular tourist attraction. The Sydney Cricket Ground, which retains several beautiful 1920s-era grandstands, hosts several international cricket matches and the Sydney Swans Australian rules football team. The old adjacent showgrounds, for many years home to the Sydney Royal Easter Show, have been redeveloped as 20th Century Fox's large Sydney studios. Sydney Olympic Park, after holding a large proportion of the major events in the 2000 Olympic Games, now regularly hosts sporting and cultural events, especially at Telstra Stadium. Sydney is also known for the annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Sydney is home to the Australian Stock Exchange and the Reserve Bank of Australia. It also has 6 universities: the University of Sydney (USyd), the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Macquarie University (MaqU), the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), the University of Western Sydney (UWS), and two of the campuses of the Australian Catholic University (ACU).

Major Tourist attractions

Australian Catholic University Sydney is noted for its tourist attractions, including:
- Bondi Beach
- Chinatown, Sydney
- Chinese Garden
- Darling Harbour [http://www.darlingharbour.com/]
- Fox Studios Australia
- Hyde Park Barracks
- King Street Wharf
- New Year's fireworks
- Oceanworld, Manly.[http://www.sydneymate.com/travel_sydney_australia/Placesofinterest/ManlyOceanWorld/Manly_Ocean_World.htm]
- Powerhouse Museum, a museum of science and technology [http://www.phm.gov.au/]
- Sydney Aquarium, Darling Harbour. [http://www.sydneyaquarium.com.au/]
- Sydney Harbour, more correctly known as Port Jackson
- Sydney Harbour Bridge [http://www.bridgeclimb.com/]
- Sydney Mint
- Sydney Opera House
- Sydney Tower (aka Centrepoint Tower), CBD.[http://www.sydneyskytour.com.au/]
- Taronga Zoo, Mosman.[http://www.zoo.nsw.gov.au/]
- The Rocks The Rocks

Culture

The Rocks Sydney boasts a full roster of musical, theatrical and artistic activity through the year, from the formal - including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney Theatre Company, the Sydney Dance Company, and the Archibald Prize - to festivals, including the Sydney Festival, a celebration of free performances throughout January. Many internationally known Australian rock bands have had their conception in Sydney, which include most notably The Easybeats, AC/DC, Midnight Oil and INXS. Sydney has also been the inspiration for a very large number of Australian indie rock and mainstream pop songs from The Executives' classic 1968 "Summer Hill Road", to Paul Kelly's many songs about Sydney including "From St.Kilda to Kings Cross" and "Sydney From A 727", to John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong and songs like "King Street" and "Miracle in Marrickville" to The Mexican Spitfires "Sydney Town" and "Town Hall Steps" among many others. In fact in 2000 to coincide with the Sydney Olympic Games Sony Music released a compilation of 30 songs about Sydney called "Somewhere In Sydney" which featured the above mentioned artists as well as The Whitlams, Skyhooks, Cold Chisel, Roaring Jack and many others. See Songs about Sydney for a listing by suburb of songs about Sydney and environs. Sydney also has been home to many visual artists, from the lush pastoralism of Lloyd Rees's depictions of Sydney Harbour to Jeffrey Smart's portraits of bleak urban alienation. Sydney has four large and many smaller museums. The biggest are the Australian Museum (natural history and anthropology), Powerhouse Museum (science, technology and design), Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Sydney is also home to several large ethnic communities throughout the greater metropolitan area, and a significant gay community who host the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras along Oxford Street. To encourage sharing of cultural, trade and tourist links, the City of Sydney Council maintains sister city relations with the cities San Francisco, Nagoya, Wellington, Portsmouth, Guangzhou, and Florence.

Media

Sydney has two daily newspapers. The Sydney Morning Herald is a centrist-to-left-leaning broadsheet, and is generally regarded as a "serious" paper, with extensive coverage of domestic and international news, culture and business. It is also the oldest newspaper in Australia, having been published regularly since 1831. The Herald's competitor, The Daily Telegraph, is a Murdoch-owned tabloid. It leans to the right and is generally sensationalist in its coverage. Both papers have tabloid counterparts published on Sunday, The Sun-Herald and the Sunday Telegraph respectively. Recently, an afternoon/evening tabloid owned by Murdoch known as the MX was added to Sydney's list of free newspapers, released at 15:00 and distributed every weekday at CBD railway stations and newsagents. The three commercial television networks (Seven, Nine & Ten), as well as the government networks (ABC & SBS) each have a presence in Sydney. The ABC has a large headquarters and production facility in Ultimo. SBS have their studios at Artarmon. Foxtel and Optus both supply pay-TV over their cable services to most parts of the metropolitan area. Limited digital TV transmissions serve Sydney, including a program guide (Channel 4), ABC news, sport, and weather items (Channel 41), ChannelNSW: Government and Public Information (Channel 45), Australian Christian Channel (Channel 46), MacquarieBank TV (Channel 47), SportsTAB (Channel 48), Expo Home Shopping (Channel 49), and Federal parliamentary broadcasts (audio only). Many AM and FM government, commercial and community radio services broadcast in the Sydney area. The local ABC radio station is 702 ABC Sydney (formerly 2BL). The talkback radio genre is dominated by the perennial rivals 2GB and 2UE. Vega (radio network) is a new talk radio station on the FM band. Popular music stations include Triple M, 2Day FM and Nova 96.9. Triple J, 2SER and FBi Radio provide a more independent, local and alternative sound. There are also a number of community stations broadcasting to a particular language group or local area.

Sport

FBi Radio
- 9 teams in the National Rugby League
- Sydney Swans - Australian Rules Football ( AFL)
- Sydney FC - A-League Football
- 2 teams in the National Basketball League
- New South Wales Blues - First-class cricket
- Home of the New South Wales Waratahs - Super 14 Rugby union Team
- Sydney Blues - Australian Major League Baseball Sydney is arguably the major rugby league centre of the world. It is the headquarters of Australian Rugby League and home to 9 of the 15 National Rugby League teams. Sydney's most famous sports ground is the Sydney Cricket Ground, home to numerous sports being played for over a century, especially Cricket and Rugby. The Sydney Swans play their home game on the Sydney Cricket ground. Despite Rugby being the most dominant sport in Sydney, the Swam draw impressively large crows to their games. They had recent sucess in winning the 2005 AFL Grand Final. Sydney hosted the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Transport

2000 Summer Olympics Sydney has a good mix of public and private transport, although in line with the "new world" (US, NZ, Canada, Australia), the car is predominent due to the city's sprawl, particularly in the west. Proper freeways were not built until the early 1980s, but since then the state government has embarked on an ambitious freeway building plan, most as tolled roads (motorways -- see below). Sydney is served by extensive train, bus and ferry networks. Sydney trains are run by CityRail, a corporation of the New South Wales State Government. Trains run as suburban commuter rail services in the outer suburbs, then converge in a frequent metro-like service in tunnels under the central business district (CBD). CityRail has been under fire because of sometimes unreliable train services. Buses serve the whole metropolitan area. In the city and inner suburbs the state-owned Sydney Buses has a monopoly. Services are frequent, even outside peak hours. In the outer suburbs, service is divided up between many private bus companies. These bus services are often criticised for their relative scarcity of service and sometimes complete lack of off-peak service. Sydney Ferries, another state government-owned organisation, runs extensive commuter and tourist ferry services on Sydney Harbour and the Parramatta River. Sydney has one light rail line, the Metro Light Rail, running from Central Station to Lilyfield. There is also a monorail which runs in a loop around the main shopping district and Darling Harbour. Sydney was formerly served by an extensive tram network, which was closed progressively in the 1950's and 1960's. Sydney is serviced by an extensive network of freeways and tollways (known as motorways) and roads. The most important trunk routes in the metropolitan area form the Metroad system. The newly built Cross City Tunnel is a tunnel that runs underneath the Sydney CBD to the Eastern Suburbs. The tunnel has caused disputes because of the fees to use the tunnel. Kingsford Smith International Airport, located in the suburb of Mascot, is Sydney's main airport, and the oldest continuously operating commercial airport in the world. The smaller Bankstown Airport mainly serves private and general aviation. There are light aviation airfields at Hoxton Park and Camden. RAAF Base Richmond lies to the north-west of the city.

Regions and suburbs

The extensive area covered by metropolitan Sydney is formally divided into more than 300 suburbs (for addressing and postal purposes), and formally administered by about 38 separate local government areas (in addition to the extensive responsibilities of the New South Wales State government and its agencies). The City of Sydney itself covers a fairly small area comprising downtown Sydney and neighbouring inner-city suburbs. In addition, there are a number of regional descriptions which are used informally to conveniently describe large sections of the metropolitan area. However it should be noted that there are many suburbs which are not conveniently described by any of the following informal regional categories.

Regions of Sydney

Eastern Suburbs, Hills District, Inner West, Northern Beaches, North Shore, Southern Sydney, South-eastern Sydney, South-western Sydney, Western Sydney

Local government areas

the City of Sydney, as well as:
- Ashfield
- Auburn
- Bankstown
- Baulkham Hills
- Blacktown
- Botany Bay
- Burwood
- Camden
- Campbelltown
- Canada Bay
- Canterbury
- Fairfield
- Hawkesbury
- Holroyd
- Hornsby
- Hunter's Hill
- Hurstville
- Kogarah
- Ku-ring-gai
- Lane Cove
- Leichhardt
- Liverpool
- Manly
- Marrickville
- Mosman
- North Sydney
- Parramatta
- Penrith
- Pittwater
- Randwick
- Rockdale
- Ryde
- Strathfield
- Sutherland
- Warringah
- Waverley
- Willoughby
- Woollahra

Selected suburbs and localities

:Main articles: List of Sydney suburbs, :Category:Suburbs of Sydney & :Category:Sydney localities Cabramatta, Castle Hill, Chinatown, Sydney, Darlinghurst, Glebe, Hornsby, Hurstville, Kings Cross, Manly, Newtown, Paddington, Parramatta, Redfern, Surry Hills

Books

"Leviathan: the unauthorised biography of Sydney" by John Birmingham, Vintage Books, 2000.

References

See also


- Sydney Riot of 1879
- 2005 Sydney race riots
- Crime in Sydney
- List of cities in Australia
- List of Australian television channels
- List of Australian radio stations
- Sydney Anglicans
- Westies (people)
- Easties (people)
- Trams in Sydney

External links


- [http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/ City of Sydney Official Homepage]
- [http://www.sydney.com.au/ Sydney the Harbour City]
- [http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-33.857160,151.215048&spn=0.020262,0.030088&t=k&hl=en Sydney Opera House on Google Maps]
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- [http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/trafficreports/cameras/sydneyharbourbridge.html Sydney Harbour Bridge Webcam]
- [http://www.warrenfrost.net/webcam.php Webcam View of Sydney Harbour from the Suburb of Kirribilli]
- [http://www.metrostrategy.nsw.gov.au Sydney Metropolitan Strategy] - A NSW State Government initiative to guide growth and change in the Sydney Metropolitan Area over the next 30 years.
- [http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/wrap_fwo.pl?IDN10064.txt Sydney Weather Forecast]
- [http://www.todi-media.com Sydney Virtual Tour] Information, Animations, Photos and Videos
- [http://photosydney.blogspot.com Photos and Information on Sydney life - PhotoSydney]
- [http://www.terragalleria.com/pacific/australia/sydney/ Pictures of Sydney - Terra Galleria]
- [http://flickr.com/photos/tags/sydney Flickr: Photos tagged with sydney]
- [http://www.sydneywebcam.com.au/ A different photo of Sydney every day] Category:Australian capital cities Category:Cities in New South Wales Category:Coastal cities Category:Port cities Category:Host cities of the Summer Olympic Games Category:Metropolitan areas
- ko:시드니 ja:シドニー simple:Sydney

List of Australian capital cities

Each jurisdiction of Australia has its own regional capital, where local judicial, administrative and legislative duties are centred. In all cases, they happen to also be the most populous city in their jurisdiction: Category:Australian capital cities

Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the world's smallest continent and a number of islands in the Southern, Indian and Pacific Oceans. Australia's neighbouring countries are Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the northeast, and New Zealand to the southeast. The continent of Australia has been inhabited for over 40,000 years by Indigenous Australians. After sporadic visits by fishermen from the north and by European explorers and merchants starting in the 17th century, the eastern half of the continent was claimed by the British in 1770 and officially settled as the penal colony of New South Wales on 26 January 1788. As the population grew and new areas were explored, another five largely self-governing Crown Colonies were successively established over the course of the 19th century. On 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. Since federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and remains a Commonwealth Realm. The current population of around 20.4 million is concentrated mainly in the large coastal cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

Origin and history of the name

The name Australia is derived from the Latin australis, meaning southern. Legends of an "unknown southern land" (terra australis incognita) date back to the Roman times and were commonplace in mediæval geography, but they were not based on any actual knowledge of the continent. The Dutch adjectival form Australische ("Australian," in the sense of "southern") was used by Dutch officials in Batavia to refer to the newly discovered land to the south as early as 1638. The first English language writer to use the word "Australia" was Alexander Dalrymple in An Historical Collection of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean, published in 1771. He used the term to refer to the entire South Pacific region, not specifically to the Australian continent. In 1793, George Shaw and Sir James Smith published Zoology and Botany of New Holland, in which they wrote of "the vast island, or rather continent, of Australia, Australasia or New Holland." New Holland was established on this site.]] The name "Australia" was popularised by the 1814 work A Voyage to Terra Australis by the navigator Matthew Flinders. Despite its title, which reflected the view of the Admiralty, Flinders used the word "Australia" in the book, which was widely read and gave the term general currency. Governor Lachlan Macquarie of New South Wales subsequently used the word in his dispatches to England. In 1817 he recommended that it be officially adopted. In 1824, the British Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia.

History

England, claiming the land for Britain in 1770. This replica was built in Fremantle in 1988 for Australia's bicentenary.]] The first human habitation of Australia is estimated to have occurred between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago. The first Australians were the ancestors of the current Indigenous Australians; they arrived via land bridges and short sea-crossings from present-day India or Southeast Asia. Most of these people were hunter-gatherers, with a complex oral culture and spiritual values based on reverence for the land and a belief in the Dreamtime. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, inhabited the Torres Strait Islands and parts of far-north Queensland; they possess distinct cultural practices and practised subsistence agriculture. The first undisputed recorded European sighting of the Australian continent was made by the Dutch navigator Willem Jansz, who sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in 1606. During the 17th century, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines of what they called New Holland, but made no attempt at settlement. In 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast of Australia, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Britain. The expedition's discoveries provided impetus for the establishment of a penal colony there following the loss of the American colonies that had previously filled that role. penal colony was Australia's largest penal colony.]] The British Crown Colony of New South Wales started with the establishment of a settlement at Port Jackson by Captain Arthur Phillip on 26 January 1788. This date was later to become Australia's national day, Australia Day. Van Diemen's Land, now known as Tasmania, was settled in 1803 and became a separate colony in 1825. Britain formally claimed the western part of Australia in 1829. Separate colonies were created from parts of New South Wales: South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859. The Northern Territory (NT) was founded in 1863 as part of the Province of South Australia. Victoria and South Australia were founded as "free colonies"—that is, they were never penal colonies, although the former did receive some convicts from Tasmania. Western Australia was also founded "free", but later accepted transported convicts due to an acute labour shortage. The transportation of convicts to Australia was phased out between 1840 and 1868. The Indigenous Australian population, estimated at about 350,000 at the time of European settlement, declined steeply for 150 years following settlement, mainly because of infectious disease, and forced migration, the removal of children and other colonial government policies, that some historians and Indigenous Australians have argued could be considered to constitute genocide by today's understanding. Such interpretations of Aboriginal history are disputed by some as being exaggerated or fabricated for political or ideological reasons. Following the 1967 referendum, the Federal government gained the power to implement policies and make laws with respect to Aborigines. Traditional ownership of land—native title—was not recognised until the High Court case Mabo v Queensland (No 2) overturned the notion of Australia as terra nullius at the time of European occupation. terra nullius ceremony in Port Melbourne, Victoria, 25 April 2005. Ceremonies such as this are held in virtually every suburb and town in Australia.]] A gold rush began in Australia in the early 1850s, and the Eureka Stockade rebellion in 1854 was an early expression of nationalist sentiment. Between 1855 and 1890, the six colonies individually gained responsible government, managing most of their own affairs while remaining part of the British Empire. The Colonial Office in London retained control of some matters, notably foreign affairs, defence and international shipping. On 1 January 1901, federation of the colonies was achieved after a decade of planning, consultation and voting, and the Commonwealth of Australia was born, as a Dominion of the British Empire. The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) was formed from New South Wales in 1911 to provide a location for the proposed new federal capital of Canberra (Melbourne was the capital from 1901 to 1927). The Northern Territory was transferred from the control of the South Australian government to the Commonwealth in 1911. Australia willingly participated in World War I; many Australians regard the defeat of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) at Gallipoli as the birth of the nation—its first major military action. Much like Gallipoli the Kokoda Track Campaign is regarded by many as a nation defining battle from World War II. The Statute of Westminster 1931 formally ended most of the constitutional links between Australia and Britain, but Australia did not adopt the Statute until 1942. The shock of Britain's defeat in Asia in 1942 and the threat of Japanese invasion caused Australia to turn to the United States as a new ally and protector. Since 1951, Australia has been a formal military ally of the US under the auspices of the ANZUS treaty. After World War II, Australia encouraged mass immigration from Europe; since the 1970s and the abolition of the White Australia policy, immigration from Asia and other parts of the world was also encouraged. As a result, Australia's demography, culture and image of itself were radically transformed. The final constitutional ties between Australia and Britain ended in 1986 with the passing of the Australia Act 1986, ending any British role in the Australian States, and ending judicial appeals to the UK Privy Council. Although Australian voters rejected a move to become a republic in 1999 by a 55% majority, Australia's links to its British past are increasingly tenuous. Since the election of the Whitlam Government in 1972, there has been an increasing focus on the nation's future as a part of the Asia-Pacific region.

Politics

Whitlam Government was opened in 1988 replacing the provisional Parliament House building opened in 1927.]] The Commonwealth of Australia is a constitutional monarchy and has a parliamentary system of government. Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of Australia, a role that is distinct from her position as Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. The Queen is nominally represented by the Governor-General; although the Constitution gives extensive executive powers to the Governor-General, these are normally exercised only on the advice of the Prime Minister. The most notable exercise of the Governor-General's reserve powers outside the Prime Minister's direction was the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in the constitutional crisis of 1975. There are three branches of government.
- The legislature: the Commonwealth Parliament, comprising the Queen, the Senate (the Red house), and the House of Representatives (the Green house); the Queen is represented by the Governor-General, who in practice exercises little or no power over the Parliament.
- The executive: the Federal Executive Council (the Governor-General as advised by the executive councillors); in practice, the councillors are the prime minister and ministers of state, whose advice the Governor-General accepts, with rare exceptions.
- The judiciary: the High Court of Australia and other federal courts. The State courts became formally independent from the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council when the Australia Act was passed in 1986. The bicameral Commonwealth Parliament consists of the Queen, the Senate (the upper house) of 76 senators, and a House of Representatives (the lower house) of 150 members. Members of the lower house are elected from single-member constituencies, commonly known as 'electorates' or 'seats'. Seats in the House of Representatives are allocated to states on the basis of population. In the Senate, each state, regardless of population, is represented by 12 senators, with the ACT and the NT each electing two. Elections for both chambers are held every three years; typically only half of the Senate seats are put to each election, because senators have overlapping six-year terms. The party with majority support in the House of Representatives forms Government, with its leader becoming Prime Minister. There are three major political parties: the Labor Party, the Liberal Party and the National Party. Independent members and several minor parties—including the Greens, Family First and the Australian Democrats—have achieved representation in Australian parliaments, mostly in upper houses, although their influence has been marginal. Since the 1996 election, the Liberal/National Coalition led by the Prime Minister, John Howard, has been in power in Canberra. In the 2004 election, the Coalition won control of the Senate, the first time that a party (or coalition of governing parties) has done so while in government in more than 20 years. The Labor Party is in power in every state and territory. Voting is compulsory in each state and territory and at the federal level.

States and territories

Voting is compulsory Australia consists of six states, two major mainland territories, and other minor territories. The states are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. The two major mainland territories are the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. In most respects, the territories function similarly to the states, but the Commonwealth Parliament can override any legislation of their parliaments. By contrast, federal legislation overrides state legislation only with respect to certain areas as set out in Section 51 of the Constitution; all residual legislative powers are retained by the state parliaments, including powers over hospitals, education, police, the judiciary, roads, public transport and local government. Each state and territory has its own legislature (unicameral in the case of the Northern Territory, the ACT and Queensland, and bicameral in the remaining states). The lower house is known as the Legislative Assembly (House of Assembly in South Australia and Tasmania) and the upper house the Legislative Council. The heads of the governments in each state and territory are called premiers and chief ministers, respectively. The Queen is represented in each state by a governor; an administrator in the Northern Territory, and the Governor-General in the ACT, have analogous roles. Australia also has several minor territories; the federal government administers a separate area within New South Wales, the Jervis Bay Territory, as a naval base and sea port for the national capital. In addition Australia has the following, inhabited, external territories: Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and several largely uninhabited external territories: Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands and the Australian Antarctic Territory.

Foreign relations and military

Over recent decades, Australia's foreign relations have been driven by a close association with the United States, through the ANZUS pact and by a desire to develop relationships with Asia and the Pacific, particularly through ASEAN and the Pacific Islands Forum. In 2005 Australia secured an inaugural seat at the East Asia Summit following its accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. Australia is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, in which the Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings provide the main forum for co-operation. Much of Australia's diplomatic energy is focused on international trade liberalisation. Australia led the formation of the Cairns Group and APEC, and is a member of the OECD and the WTO. Australia has pursued several major bilateral free trade agreements, most recently the US–Australia Free Trade Agreement. Australia is a founding member of the United Nations, and maintains an international aid program under which some 60 countries receive assistance. The 2005–06 budget provides A$2.5bn for development assistance; as a percentage of GDP, this contribution is less than that of the UN Millennium Development Goals. Australia's armed forces—the Australian Defence Force (ADF)—comprise the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the Australian Army, and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). All branches of the ADF have been involved in UN and regional peacekeeping (most recently in East Timor, the Solomon Islands and Sudan), disaster relief, and armed conflict, including the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. The government appoints the chief of the Defence Force from one of the armed services; the current chief is Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston. In 2005–06, the defence budget is A$17.5bn.

Geography and climate

Angus Houston Australia's 7,686,850 km² (2,967,909 mi²) landmass is on the Indo-Australian Plate. Surrounded by the Indian, Southern and Pacific oceans, Australia is separated from Asia by the Arafura and Timor seas. Australia has a total 25,760 km (16,007 mi) of coastline and claims an extensive Exclusive Economic Zone of 8,148,250 km² or 3,146,057 mi² (excluding the Australian Antarctic Territory). Climate is highly influenced by ocean currents, including the El Niño southern oscillation, which is correlated with periodic drought, and the seasonal tropical low pressure system that produces cyclones in northern Australia. By far the largest part of Australia is desert or semi-arid. Australia is the driest inhabited continent, the flattest, and has the oldest and least fertile soils. Only the south-east and south-west corners of the continent have a temperate climate. The northern part of the country, with a tropical climate, has a vegetation consisting of rainforest, woodland, grassland and desert. The Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef, lies a short distance off the north-east coast and extends for over 2,000 km (1,250 mi). The world's two largest monoliths are located in Australia, Mount Augustus in Western Australia is the largest and Uluru in central Australia is the second largest. At 2,228 m (7,310 ft), Mount Kosciuszko on the Great Dividing Range is the highest mountain on the Australian mainland, although Mawson Peak on the remote Australian territory of Heard Island is taller at 2,745 m (9,006 ft).

Flora and fauna

Heard Island of the wallaby is currently being sequenced; when the sequencing is completed, it will be a major contribution to marsupial biology.]] Although most of Australia is semi-arid or desert, it covers a diverse range of habitats, from alpine heaths to tropical rainforests. Because of the great age and consequent low levels of fertility of the continent, its extremely variable weather patterns, and its long-term geographic isolation, much of Australia's biota is unique and diverse. About 85% of flowering plants, 84% of mammals, more than 45% of birds, and 89% of in-shore, temperate-zone fish are endemic. Many of Australia's ecoregions, and the species within those regions, are threatened by human activities and introduced plant and animal species. The federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 is a legal framework used for the protection of threatened species. Numerous protected areas have been created to protect and preserve Australia's unique ecosystems, 64 wetlands are registered under the Ramsar Convention, and 16 World Heritage Sites have been established. Australia was ranked 13th in the World on the 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index. Environmental Sustainability Index.]] Most Australian plant species are evergreen and many are adapted to fire and drought, including the eucalypts and acacias. Australia has a rich variety of endemic legume species that thrive in nutrient-poor soils because of their symbiosis with Rhizobia bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi. Well-known Australian fauna include monotremes (the platypus and echidna), and a host of marsupials, including the koala, kangaroo, wombat, and birds such as the emu, cockatoo, and kookaburra. The dingo was introduced by Austronesian people that traded with Indigenous Australians around 4000 BCE. Many plant and animal species became extinct soon after human settlement, including the Australian megafauna; many more have become extinct since European settlement, among them the Thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger).

Economy

Thylacine Australia has a prosperous, Western-style mixed economy, with a per capita GDP slightly higher than those of the UK, Germany and France. The country was ranked third in the United Nations' 2005 Human Development Index and sixth in The Economist worldwide quality-of-life index 2005. In recent years, the Australian economy has been resilient in the face of global economic downturn. Rising output in the domestic economy has been offsetting the global slump, and business and consumer confidence remains robust. Australia's emphasis on reform is another key factor behind the economy's strength. In the 1980s, the Labor Party, led by Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Treasurer Paul Keating, started the process of modernising the Australian economy by floating the Australian dollar in 1983, and deregulating the financial system. Since 1996, the Howard government has continued the process of micro-economic reform, including the partial deregulation of the labour market and the privatisation of state-owned businesses, most notably in the telecommunications industry. Substantial reform of the indirect tax system was achieved in July 2000 with the introduction of a 10% Goods and Services Tax, which has slightly reduced the heavy reliance on personal and company income tax that still characterises Australia's tax system. The Australian economy has not suffered a recession since the early 1990s. As of July 2005, unemployment was 5.0% with 10,030,300 persons employed. The service sector of the economy, including tourism, education, and financial services, comprises 69% of GDP. Agriculture and natural-resources represent only 3% and 5% of GDP, respectively, but contribute substantially to Australia's export performance. Australia's largest export markets include Japan, China, the United States, South Korea and New Zealand. Areas of concern to some economists include the chronically high current account deficit and also high levels of net foreign debt.

Demographics

current account deficit Most of the estimated 20.4 million Australians are descended from 19th- and 20th-century immigrants, the majority from Britain and Ireland. Australia's population has quadrupled since the end of World War I , spurred by an ambitious immigration program. In 2001, the five largest groups of the 27.4% of Australians who were born overseas were from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy, Vietnam and China. Following the abolition of the White Australia policy, numerous government initiatives have been established to encourage and promote racial harmony based on a policy of multiculturalism. Australia’s population has increased by about 60 times since European settlement. The self-declared indigenous population—including Torres Strait Islanders, who are of Melanesian descent—was 410,003 (2.2% of the total population) in 2001, a significant increase from the 1977 census, which showed an indigenous population of 115,953. Indigenous Australians have higher rates of imprisonment and unemployment, lower levels of education and life expectancies for males and females that are 17 years lower than those of other Australians. Perceived racial inequality is an ongoing political and human rights issue for Australians. human rights.]] In common with many other developed countries, Australia is experiencing a demographic shift towards an older population, with more retirees and fewer people of working age. A large number of Australians (759,849 for the period 2002–03) live outside their home country. Australia has maintained one of the most active immigration programs in the world to boost population growth. Most immigrants are skilled; the quota includes categories for family members and refugees. English is the official language, and is spoken and written in a distinct variety known as Australian English. According to the 2001 census, English is the only language spoken in the home for around 80% of the population. The next most common languages spoken at home are Chinese (2.1%), Italian (1.9%) and Greek (1.4%). A considerable proportion of first- and second-generation migrants are bilingual. It is believed that there were between 200 and 300 Australian Aboriginal languages at the time of first European contact. Only about 70 of these languages have survived, and all but 20 of these are now endangered. An indigenous language remains the main language for about 50,000 (0.02%) people. Australia has a sign language known as Auslan, which is the main language of about 6,500 deaf people. The Australian Constitution guarantees the separation of church and state; there is no state religion. The 2001 census identified that 68% of Australians call themselves Christian: 27% identifying themselves as Roman Catholic and 21% as Anglican. Five per cent of Australians identify themselves as followers of non-Christian religions, and 26% as non-religious. Like many Western countries, the level of active participation in church worship is much lower than this; weekly attendance at church services is about 1.5 million, about 7.5% of the population. School attendance is compulsory throughout Australia between the ages of 6–15 years (16 years in South Australia and Tasmania), contributing to an adult literacy rate that is assumed to be 99%. Government grants have supported the establishment of Australia's 38 universities, and although several private universities have been established, the majority receive government funding. There is a state-based system of vocational training colleges, known as TAFE Institutes, and many trades conduct apprenticeships for training new tradespeople. Approximately 58% of Australians between the ages of 25 and 64 have vocational or tertiary qualifications.

Culture

apprenticeship.]] The primary basis of Australian culture up until the mid-20th century was Anglo-Celtic, although distinctive Australian features had been evolving from the environment and indigenous culture. Over the past 50 years, Australian culture has been strongly influenced by American popular culture (particularly television and cinema), large-scale immigration from non-English-speaking countries, and Australia's Asian neighbours. Australia has a long history of visual arts, starting with the cave and bark paintings of its indigenous peoples. From the time of European settlement, a common theme in Australian art has been the Australian landscape, seen in the works of Arthur Streeton, Arthur Boyd and Albert Namatjira, among others. The traditions of indigenous Australians are largely transmitted orally and are closely tied to ceremony and the telling of the stories of the Dreamtime. Australian Aboriginal music, dance and art have a palpable influence on contemporary Australian visual and performing arts. Australia has an active tradition of music, ballet and theatre; many of its performing arts companies receive public funding through the federal government's Australia Council. There is a symphony orchestra in each capital city, and a national opera company, Opera Australia, first made prominent by the renowned diva Dame Joan Sutherland; Australian music includes classical, jazz, and many popular music genres. Australian literature has also been influenced by the landscape; the works of writers such as Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson captured the experience of the Australian bush. The character of colonial Australia, as embodied in early literature, resonates with modern Australia and its perceived emphasis on egalitarianism, mateship, and anti-authoritarianism. In 1973, Patrick White was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the only Australian to have achieved this; he is recognised as one of the great English-language writers of the 20th century. Australian English is a major variety of the language; its grammar and spelling are largely based on those of British English, overlaid with a rich vernacular of unique lexical items and phrases, some of which have found their way into standard English. Australia has two public broadcasters (the ABC and SBS), three commercial television networks, three pay TV services, and numerous public, non-profit television and radio stations. Australia's film industry has achieved critical and commercial successes. Each major city has daily newspapers, and there are two national daily newspapers, The Australian and The Australian Financial Review. According to Reporters Without Borders in 2005, Australia is in 31st position on a list of countries ranked by press freedom, behind New Zealand (9th) and the United Kingdom (28th) but ahead of the United States. This ranking is primarily due to the limited diversity of commercial media ownership in Australia. Most Australian print media in particular is under the control of either News Corporation or John Fairfax Holdings. John Fairfax Holdings Sport is an important part of Australian culture, assisted by a climate that favours outdoor activities; 23.5% Australians over the age of 15 regularly participate in organised sporting activities. At an international level, Australia has particularly strong teams in cricket, field hockey, netball, rugby league, rugby union, and performs well in cycling and swimming. Australia has participated in every summer Olympic Games of the modern era, and every Commonwealth Games. Australia has hosted the 1956 and 2000 Summer Olympics, and has ranked among the top five medal-takers since 2000. It has also hosted the 1938, 1962 and 1982 Commonwealth Games, and will host the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. Australian rules football is one of the most popular national sports, albeit it, one that is only played in Australia; players gain some international prominence through International Rules which is an annual meeting between the Australian code and Irish Gaelic Football. Corporate and government sponsorship of many sports and élite athletes is common in Australia. Televised sport is popular; some of the highest rating television programs include the summer Olympic Games and the grand finals of local and international football competitions.

Related topics

References

Gillespie, R. (2002). Dating the first Australians. Radiocarbon 44:455-472
Smith, L. (1980), The Aboriginal Population of Australia, Australian National University Press, Canberra
Tatz, C. (1999). [http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/rsrch/rsrch_dp/genocide.htm Genocide in Australia], AIATSIS Research Discussion Papers No 8, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra
Windschuttle, K. (2001). [http://www.newcriterion.com/archive/20/sept01/keith.htm# The Fabrication of Aboriginal History], The New Criterion Vol. 20, No. 1, September 20.
Bean, C. Ed. (1941). [http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/ww1/1/index.asp Volume I - The Story of Anzac: the first phase], First World War Official Histories 11th Edition.
Australian Electoral Commission (2000). [http://www.aec.gov.au/_content/when/referendums/1999_report/index.htm 1999 Referendum Reports and Statistics]
Parliamentary Library (1997). [http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rn/1997-98/98rn25.htm The Reserve Powers of the Governor-General]
Australian Government. (2005). [http://www.budget.gov.au/ Budget 2005-2006]
Department of the Environment and Heritage. [http://www.deh.gov.au/biodiversity/about-biodiversity.html About Biodiversity]
Macfarlane, I. J. (1998). [http://www.rba.gov.au/PublicationsAndResearch/Bulletin/bu_oct98/bu_1098_2.pdf Australian Monetary Policy in the Last Quarter of the Twentieth Century]. Reserve Bank of Australia Bulletin, October
Parham, D. (2002). [http://www.pc.gov.au/research/confproc/mrrag/mrrag.pdf Microeconomic reforms and the revival in Australia’s growth in productivity and living standards]. Conference of Economists, Adelaide, 1 October
Australian Bureau of Statistics. Labour Force Australia. Cat#6202
Australian Bureau of Statistics. [http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/94713ad445ff1425ca25682000192af2/1a79e7ae231704f8ca256f720082feb9!OpenDocument Year Book Australia 2005]
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (2003). Advancing the National Interest, [http://www.dfat.gov.au/ani/appendix_one.pdf Appenidix 1]
Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2001 Census, [http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@census.nsf/ddc9b4f92657325cca256c3e000bdbaf/7dd97c937216e32fca256bbe008371f0!OpenDocument A Snapshot of Australia]
Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affiars. (2005). [http://www.immi.gov.au/facts/06evolution.htm The Evolution of Australia's Multicultural Policy]
Parliament of Australia, Senate (2005). [http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/legcon_ctte/expats03/ Inquiry into Australian Expatriates]
[http://www.ncls.org.au/default.aspx?docid=2250&track=82083 NCLS releases latest estimates of church attendance], National Church Life Survey, Media release, 28 February 2004
Australian Film Commission. What are Australians Watching?, [http://www.afc.gov.au/gtp/freetv.html Free-to-Air, 1999-2004 TV]
Australian Bureau of Statistics, [http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/68180154bf128d91ca2569d000164365?OpenDocument Population Growth - Australia’s Population Growth]

External links


- [http://wikitravel.org/en/Australia Wikitravel guide to Australia]
- [http://www.gov.au/ Australian Government Entry Portal]
- [http://www.australia.gov.au/ Commonwealth Government Online]
- [http://www.immi.gov.au/ Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA)]
- [http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/australia/index.html DFAT: Country Information]
- [http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-27.000000,133.000000&spn=38.871300,61.703613&t=h&hl=en Satellite images of Australia] (Google Maps)
- [http://www.nla.gov.au/ National Library of Australia]
- [http://www.nma.gov.au/ National Museum of Australia]
- [http://www.australia.com/ Official Australia Tourism Website]
- [http://www.bom.gov.au/ Bureau of Meteorology]
- [http://www.m2006.com.au/ Official website of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games] A Category:Continents Category:Island nations Category:Members of the Commonwealth of Nations Category:Monarchies Category:Oceanic countries zh-min-nan:Ò-tāi-lī-a ko:오스트레일리아 ms:Australia ja:オーストラリア simple:Australia th:ประเทศออสเตรเลีย

New South Wales

New South Wales (NSW) is Australia's most populous and oldest state, located in the south-east, north of Victoria and south of Queensland. It was founded in 1788 and originally comprised much of the Australian mainland. During the 19th century large areas were successively separated to form the British colonies of Tasmania (1825), Victoria (1851), Queensland (1859), and South Australia (which at that time included what is now the Northern Territory). In 1901 these colonies plus Western Australia federated to form the "Commonwealth of Australia". New South Wales is known the world over for the picturesque harbour of its capital, Sydney. Sydney is Australia's oldest and largest city and a centre of international finance. Sydney was the host city of the 2000 Olympic Summer Games.

Timeline


- 1770: Captain James Cook discovers the east coast of New Holland, what later became known as New South Wales, Australia.
- 1788: Captain Arthur Phillip establishes a British penal colony in Port Jackson.
- 1813: William Wentworth, Gregory Blaxland and William Lawson, leads an expedition which finds a route across the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, opening up the grazing lands of inland New South Wales.

Geography

Main article: Geography of New South Wales Its four main cities from north to south are Newcastle, Gosford, Sydney, and Wollongong which all lie along the coast. Towns include Albury, Broken Hill, Dubbo, Tamworth, Armidale, Lismore, Nowra, Griffith, Leeton, Wagga Wagga, Goulburn and Coffs Harbour. 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 can be divided physically into four sections:
- A thin 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 and the Central Coast and the North Coast, North of The Hunter, as well as others.
- The mountainous areas of the Great Dividing Range and the high country surrounding them. Whilst not particularly steep, many peaks rise above 1000 m, with the highest Mount Kosciuszko at 2229 m (7308 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 are unsuitable for settlements of any notable size. Wagga Wagga

Government

Main article: Government of New South Wales Main article: Constitution of New South Wales 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 complete 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. The State Parliament is composed of two houses, the Legislative Assembly (lower house), and the Legislative Council (upper house). The head of the State Government is the Premier, currently Morris Iemma.

Economy

New South Wales has a Gross Domestic Product of AU$265,966,000,000, which equalled AU$39,950 per capita, in 2003. This was equal to US$30,277, above the major European Union economies.

Another New South Wales

The Australian region was not the first piece of land to be called New South Wales. A map of North America printed in the 1780s gave the name New South Wales to a mostly unexplored area along the south shore of Hudson's Bay where the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario now lie.

External links


- [http://www.austlii.edu.au/databases.html#nsw NSW State Law]
- [http://www.nsw.gov.au Official state website]
- [http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au New South Wales Parliament]
- [http://www.police.nsw.gov.au New South Wales Police]
- [http://www.ga.gov.au/education/facts/mapproj/se.htm Map of South East Australia from Geoscience Australia]

See also


- Australian States and Territories
- Local Government Areas of New South Wales
- National Parks in New South Wales
- Stamps and postal history of New South Wales
- List of highways in New South Wales
- List of postcodes in New South Wales
- New South Wales Rural Fire Service
- Australian Bureau of Meteorology ko:뉴사우스웨일스 주 ja:ニューサウスウェールズ州

1788

1788 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar).

Events


- January 1 - First edition of The Times, previously The Daily Universal Register, was published.
- January 2 - Georgia ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 4th U.S. state.
- January 9 - Connecticut ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 5th U.S. state.
- January 18 - Captain Arthur Phillip's ship arrives at Botany Bay
- January 26 - Captain Arthur Phillip decides to make the permanent settlement at Sydney Cove
- January 22 - Cyrus Griffin becomes the tenth and last President of the United States in Congress Assembled.
- January 26 - Australia Day: 11 ships of First Fleet from Botany Bay led by Arthur Phillip land in what would become Sydney, Australia.Great Britain establishes the prison colony of New South Wales, the first permanent European settlement on the continent.
- January 31 - Henry Benedict Stuart becomes the new Stuart claimant to the throne of Great Britain as King Charles IX and the figurehead of Jacobitism.
- February 1 - Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet patent the steamboat.
- February 6 - Massachusetts ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 6th U.S. state.
- February 9 - Austria enters the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1792 and attacks Moldavia.
- March 14 - The Edinburgh Evening Courant carries a notice of £200 reward for capture of William Brodie, town councilor doubling as a burglar
- March 21 - A fire destroys 856 buildings in New Orleans leaving most of the town in ruins and twenty five percent of the population dead.
- April 28 - Maryland ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 7th U.S. state.
- May 23 - South Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 8th U.S. state.
- June 21 - New Hampshire ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 9th U.S. state.
- June 25 - Virginia ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 10th U.S. state.
- July 26 - New York ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 11th U.S. state.
- August 8 - The French king agreed to convene the Estates-General meeting in May of 1789. It was the first time since 1614.
- August 27 - Trial of William Brodie begins in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is sentenced to death by hanging
- October 1 - William Brodie hanged
- December 14 - King Charles III of Spain dies and is succeeded by his son Charles IV of Spain.
- "Battle" of Karansebes - Forces of Joseph II of Austria marching against Turks rout for nothing in Karansebes

Births


- January 22 - George Gordon, Lord Byron, English poet (d. 1824)
- February 5 - Robert Peel, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1850)
- February 22 - Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (d. 1860)
- March 10 - Joseph von Eichendorff, German poet (d. 1857)
- April 14 - David G. Burnet, President of the Republic of Texas (d, 1870)
- May 16 - Friedrich Rückert, German poet, translator, and professor of Oriental languages (d. 1866)
- September 22 - Theodore Edward Hook, English author (d. 1841)
- October 11 - Simon Sechter, Austrian music teacher
- October 24 - Sarah Josepha Hale, American author (d. 1879)

Deaths


- January 14 - François Joseph Paul, marquis de Grasetilly, comte de Grasse, French admiral (b. 1722)
- January 31 - Charles Edward Stuart, claimant to the British throne (b. 1720)
- February 18 - John Whitehurst, English clockmaker and scientist (b. 1713)
- February 21 - Johann Georg Palitzsch, German astronomer (b. 1723)
- February 28 - Thomas Cushing, American Continental Congressman (b. 1725)
- April 12 - Carlo Antonio Campioni, French-born composer (b. 1719)
- April 15 - Giuseppe Bonno, Austrian composer (b. 1711)
- April 16 -