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 voted to form an independent nation called the "Commonwealth of Australia".

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.