New South Wales (redirected from Nsw South Wales)

New South Wales, state (1991 pop. 5,164,549), 309,443 sq mi (801,457 sq km), SE Australia. It is bounded on the E by the Pacific Ocean. Sydney is the capital. The other principal urban centers are Newcastle, Wagga Wagga, Lismore, Wollongong, and Broken Hill. More than half the population live in the Sydney metropolitan area. Located in the temperate zone, the state has a generally favorable climate. There are four main geographic regions: the coastal lowlands; the eastern highlands, culminating in Mt. Kosciusko (7,316 ft/2,230 m), the highest peak of the Australian Alps and of Australia; the western slopes; and the western plains, which cover about two thirds of the state. The Murray River, which forms the greater part of the southern border, and its principal tributaries are important for the state's extensive irrigation systems. New South Wales is economically the most important state in Australia. The Sydney-Newcastle-Wollongong area is Australia's greatest industrial region, with steel the principal product. Financial services and tourism are important, as is agriculture: wheat, wool, and meat are produced, and there is considerable dairy farming. Tropical fruits and sugarcane are grown in the northeast. The state's rich mineral resources include coal, gold, iron, copper, silver, lead, and zinc. New South Wales has a large aboriginal population; over 50% of the Australian aborigines live in New South Wales and Queensland. The coast of Queensland was explored in 1770 by Capt. James Cook, who proclaimed British sovereignty over the east coast of Australia. Sydney, the first Australian settlement, was founded in 1788 as a prison farm. During the 1820s and 30s the character of New South Wales changed as the wool industry grew and the importation of convicts ceased. In the early 19th cent. the colony included Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, the Northern Territory, and New Zealand. These territories were separated and made colonies in their own right between 1825 and 1863. In 1901, New South Wales was federated as a state of the Commonwealth of Australia. The Australian Capital Territory (site of Canberra, the federal capital), an enclave in New South Wales, was ceded to the commonwealth in 1911. Jervis Bay, S of Sydney, became commonwealth territory in 1915 as a potential port for Canberra; it is no longer part of the capital territory. The nominal head of the state government is the governor; however, actual executive functions are exercised by the premier and cabinet, who are responsible to a bicameral state parliament.

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New South Wales

State (pop., 2006: 6,549,177), southeastern Australia. Bounded by Queensland, the Pacific Ocean, Victoria, and South Australia, it has an area of 309,130 sq mi (800,640 sq km); the capital is Sydney. The dominant geographic feature is the Great Dividing Range. Inhabited from prehistoric times, New South Wales was claimed for Britain by Capt. James Cook in 1770. The colony included the entire continent except for Western Australia. The interior was explored throughout the 19th century, and colonies were set up there, separate from New South Wales. In 1901 it became part of the Commonwealth of Australia. The state ceded the area of the Australian Capital Territory in 1911. New South Wales is the centre of commercial farming, industry, and culture in Australia.

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New South Wales

a state of SE Australia: originally contained over half the continent, but was reduced by the formation of other states (1825--1911); consists of a narrow coastal plain, separated from extensive inland plains by the Great Dividing Range; the most populous state; mineral resources. Capital: Sydney. Pop.: 6 716 277 (2003 est.). Area: 801 428 sq. km (309 433 sq. miles)

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New South Wales 

a state in the Australian Commonwealth, in the southeastern part of the country. It has an area of 801,400 sq km and a population of 4.6 million (1971), about 90 percent of which is urban. The capital is Sydney. Canberra, Australia’s capital, is also located in New South Wales.

Most of New South Wales occupies a plain drained by the Murray River and two of its tributaries, the Darling and the Murrumbidgee. In the east lie the Great Dividing Range and a narrow strip (20–40 km) of coastal lowland. In the northwest are the Main Barrier and Grey ranges. The coastal lowland has a moist, subtropical climate, with 1,200–1,500 mm of precipitation annually; the climate on the plain is drier and more continental, with up to 250 mm of precipitation a year. Average monthly temperatures range from 10°12°C to 22°–26°C. There is dry open woodland and semidesert shrub savanna on the plain in the northwestern part of the state. The coast and the eastern slopes of the mountains are covered by eucalyptus rain forests, and the western slopes by dry eucalyptus forests.

New South Wales is the most populous and economically developed state in Australia. It accounts for more than 56 percent of the country’s coal reserves and 73 percent of the coal production, primarily near the cities of Lithgow, Bulli, and Newcastle. In the west, in the Broken Hill area, there are large deposits of complex ores—lead, zinc, silver, and copper. In 1970 the state accounted for about 70 percent of Australia’s zinc production, more than 50 percent of the lead, more than 40 percent of the silver, and more than 60 percent of the rutile concentrates. Ferrous metallurgy (about 74 percent of the country’s pig iron production and 83 percent of the steel production), nonferrous metallurgy, machine building, chemical industry, and shipbuilding (the last concentrated mainly in the large coastal cities) are well developed.

Agriculture plays an important part in the economy. About 44 percent of the total planted area (5 million hectares) is under wheat, which is grown in the eastern part; the state accounts for 38 percent of Australia’s wheat yield. Oats, barley, and corn are also planted. Fruit and vegetable growing is common. Sugarcane is grown in the northeast, and cotton in the Namoi River basin. Pastures occupy a considerable area. Livestock is raised for milk and meat. New South Wales accounts for (1970) about 40 percent of the country’s total number of sheep, about 27 percent of the cattle (including 19 percent of the dairy cattle), and about 36 percent of the grease wool.

There is navigation on the Murray River. The chief seaports are Sydney, Newcastle, and Port Kembla.

V. M. ANDREEVA

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New South Wales 

one of the main coal basins of Australia, located in the eastern part of the state of New South Wales. The basin has an area of about 43,000 sq km.

The coal is associated with the Permian beds that make up the Newcastle geosyncline; these beds contain the Greta, Tomago, and Newcastle coal measures, which are composed of conglomerates, sandstones, aleurolites, argillites, and coal seams. The Greta coal measures in the Hunter Valley have two seams of the best coal in Australia, with thicknesses of 10 m and 4–7 m, respectively. The Tomago coal measures contain between five and seven seams of varying thickness; the Newcastle coal measures have at least 14 seams, one of which is 1.2–6 m thick and yields more than 75 percent of the annual coal production of the entire basin.

The coal contains an average of 2.5–3.3 percent moisture, 2–2.2 percent ash, less than 1 percent sulfur, 33.8 percent volatile substances, and 74 percent carbon (in dry coal). The heat of combustion is 25.1–30.6 megajoules/kg (6,000–7,300 kilocalories/kg). The coal in the basin is of high quality and is used to obtain coke and as an energy-producing fuel. The coal seams occur at the surface or at shallow depths, with the exception of those in the vicinity of Sydney, where the coal measures are found at depths of 500–850 m. The total geological coal reserves of the basin are 13.9 billion tons, and annual coal production is 35 million tons (1971).

REFERENCES

Matveev, A. K. Ugol’nye mestorozhdeniia zarubezhnykh stran, vol. 2: Avstraliia; Okeaniia. Moscow, 1968.
Brown, D., K. Campbell, and C. Crook. Geologicheskoe razvitie Avstralii i Novoi Zelandii. Moscow, 1970. (Translated from English.)

IU. R. MAZOR