New South Wales, the “First State, Premier State” was founded in 1788. It is Australia's most populous state, with a population of 6,817,10 people (end of March 2006). NSW is located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria, south of Queensland, and borded on the west by South Australia.

New South Wales' three major cities are Sydney (its capital), Newcastle and Wollongong which all lie along the coast. Other notable settlements include Albury, a large town which borders with Victoria; Broken Hill, the most Westerly large town; Dubbo; Orange, Bathurst, home of the Bathurst 1000; Port Macquarie, Tamworth, home to the country music festival; Armidale, Inverell, Lismore, Nowra, Gosford, Griffith, Queanbeyan, Leeton, Wagga Wagga, Goulburn, where a large proportion of the Australia's fruit is grown and Coffs Harbour, a popular tourist destination.