NEW South Wales (abbreviated as NSW) is Australia's oldest and most populous state, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria, south of Queensland and east of South Australia. It was founded in 1788New and originally comprised much of the Australian mainland, as well as Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. New Zealand was not initially part of the colony, although when Britain annexed New Zealand in 1840 it was briefly a part of New South Wales. During the 19th century large areas were successively separated to form the British colonies of Tasmania (proclaimed as a separate colony named Van Diemen's Land in 1825), South Australia (1836), Victoria (1851) and Queensland (1859).
Inhabitants of New South Wales are referred to as being New South Welsh or New South Welshmen. New South Wales National parks
New South Wales, in a steadfast commitment to protect and preserve the ECOLOGY, has more than 780 national parks and reserves covering more than 8% of the state. These parks range from rain forests, spectacular waterfalls, rugged bush to marine wonderlands and outback deserts, including World Heritage areas.
The Royal National Park on the southern outskirts of Sydney became Australia's first National Park when proclaimed on 26 April 1879. Originally named The National Park until 1955, this park was the second National Park to be established in the world after Yellowstone National Park in the U.S. Kosciuszko National Park is the largest park in state encompassing New South Wales' alpine region.
The National Parks Association was formed in 1957 to create a system of national parks all over New South Wales. This government agency is responsible for developing and maintaining the parks and reserve system, and conserving natural and cultural heritage, in the state of New South Wales. These parks preserve special habitats, plants and wildlife, such as the Wollemi National Park where the Wollemi Pine grows and areas sacred to Australian Aboriginal such as Mutawintji National Park in western New South Wales, Agriculture is spread throughout the New South Wales state, except in the western third. Cattle, sheep and pigs are the predominant types of livestock produced in NSW and they have been present since their importation during the earliest days of European settlement. Economically the state is the most important state in Australia, with about a third of the country's sheep, a fifth of its cattle, and a third of its small number of pigs.
Murray Grey cows and calves, New South Wales produces a large share of Australia's hay, fruit, legumes, lucerne, maize, nuts, wool, wheat, oats, oilseeds (about 51%), poultry, rice (about 99%), vegetables, fishing including oyster farming, and forestry including wood chips. Bananas and sugar are grown chiefly in the Clarence, Richmond and Tweed River areas. The world's finest wool's are produced on the Northern Tablelands as well as prime lambs and beef cattle. The cotton industry is centered in the Namoi Valley in north western New South Wales. On the central slopes there are many orchards with the principal fruits grown being apples, cherries and pears. Approximately 40,200 ha of vineyards lie across the eastern region of the state with excellent wines produced in the Hunter Valley with the Riverina being the largest largest wine producer in New South Wales.[ Australia's largest and most valuable Thoroughbred horse breeding area is centered on Scone in the Hunter Valley.
About half of Australia's timber production is in New South Wales. Large areas of the state are now being replanted with eucalyptus forests.
Since the 1970s, New South Wales has undergone an increasingly rapid economic and social transformation. Old industries such as steel and shipbuilding have largely disappeared, and although agriculture remains important its share of the state's income is smaller than ever before. New industries such as information technology and financial services are largely centered in Sydney and have risen to take their place with many companies having their Australian headquarters in Sydney CBD. In addition, the Macquarie Park area of Sydney has attracted the Australian headquarters of many information technology firms. The Hunter Valley is known for its wineries.
Coal and related products are the state's biggest export. Its value to the state's economy is over AUD$5 billion accounting for about 19% of all exports from NSW.
Tourism has also become important, with Sydney as its centre but also stimulating growth on the North Coast, around Coffs Harbour and Byron Bay. Tourism is worth over $23 billion to the New South Wales economy and employs over 8% of the workforce.In 2007, the (then) Premier of New South Wales, Morris Iemma established Events New South Wales to "market Sydney and NSW as a leading global events destination".
New South Wales had a Gross State Product in 2006 (equivalent to Gross Domestic Product) of $310 billion which equalled $45,584 per capita | 
