MAP: INFORMATION: AUSTRALIA: STATE: NEW SOUTH WALES

AREA: 800,628 Sq Km CAPITAL: Sydney (4,000,000) POPULATION: 6,204,000 (1996) New South Wales was the site of the first settlement in Australia - Sydney Cove in 1788. In little over 200 years since this tiny settlement of Sydney was first founded it has grown into, in our opinion, one of the most vibrant, exciting and greatest cities in the world. NSW in general also is one of the world's greatest agricultural producing areas with most of the eastern hinterland growing a variety of crops and the more remote western areas farming cattle and sheep. The Great Dividing Range runs the length of the state parallel to the sea and divides the rich coastal farming flats from the more arid sparsely populated inland regions. During the early settlement these ranges proved a great obstacle to the ever expanding settlers need for more land, and it was not until 1814 that Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson found a way over the ranges using a route which is now still more or less followed by the Great Western Highway through Katoomba and the spectacular Blue Mountains. The Australian Capital Territory and Canberra also is located in the south-eastern quarter of the state some 200 miles south of Sydney.