The Regions of New South Wales, Australia
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New South Wales was founded in 1788 and is Australia’s oldest state. It has an area of 800,642 square kilometres which is 10% of Australia’s total area It has the highest population with around 6, 947, 000 residents as at 31 March 2008 which is 32.6% of the Australian population, and over half of the NSW population lives in Sydney. It is in the south-east of Australia and has a temperate climate.
NSW can be roughly divided into four geographical regions: the coastal strip; the Great Dividing Range, the western slopes and the western plains.
The narrow coastal strip extends from subtropical areas near the Queensland border to cool temperate areas on the far south coast, and contains the three largest cities in NSW which are Sydney, the capital city of NSW, Newcastle and Wollongong. The coastal strip contains several smaller regions. In the south lie the Sapphire Coast, Eurobodalla and Shoalhaven. The Illawarra region centres around Wollongong, then between Sydney and Newcastle is the Central Coast. Further north are the North Coast and Northern Rivers regions.
The Great Dividing Range extends from Victoria in the south through New South Wales to Queensland, about 100km inland from the coast. This area includes the Blue Mountains west of Sydney; and the Snowy Mountains in the south, the Northern, Central, and Southern Tablelands, the Southern Highlands and the South West Slopes. The Snowy Mountains include Mount Kosciuszko which is Australia’s highest peak at 2,229 metres. The Snowy Mountains live up to their name in winter with a relatively short ski season. Agriculture, particularly wool, is important throughout the highlands. Major centres include Armidale, Bathurst, Bowral, Cooma, Goulburn, Inverell, Orange, Queanbeyan and Tamworth. West of the Great Dividing Range is farming country.
The western slopes are a large portion of the state's area and have a much sparser population than areas nearer the coast. Agriculture is a major component of the economy, particularly in the Riverina region and Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area in the state's south-west. Major towns include Albury, Dubbo, Griffith, Leeton and Wagga Wagga.
The western slopes descend slowly to the western plains and are largely arid or semi-arid. The mining town of Broken Hill is the largest centre in this area and the western-most town in NSW. Broken Hill is further from Sydney than it is from Adelaide or Melbourne