NEW SOUTH WALES, a British colony in the s.e. of Australia. It originally com prised all the Australian settlements e. of the 135th meridian, but the formation, succes sively, of the separate colonies of South Australia (1830), Victoria (1851), and Queensland (1859) has reduced it to more moderate dimensions. It is now bounded on the n. by a hue which, beginning at Point Danger, in let. 28° 8' s., follows several lines of heights across the Dividing Range till it meets the 29th parallel, which forms the rest of the boundary westward; on the w. by the 141st meridian; on the e. by the Pacific ocean: and the line separating it from Victoria on the s. runs from cape Howe, at the s.c. csf the island, n.W. to the source of the Murray river, and then along that stream, in a direc tion w, by n., to the western boundary of the two colonies. Area, 323.437 sq.m., or somewhat less than four times that of the island of Great Britain; pop. '71, 503,981, of whom 275,551 were males, and 228,430 females; '76, 629,776. The more general phys ical character of the country is described under AUSTRALIA. Within the colony of New South Wales the mountain range, which girdles nearly the whole island, is most continu ous and elevated, and is known as the Dividing Range. The section of this mountain system on the southern boundary of the colony, called the Australian Alps, rises in mount Kosciusko to 7,808 feet. From this the range extends northward, the water-shed being from 50 to 130 m. distant from the e. coast, and thus divides the colony into two slopes, with two distinct water-systems. The rivers on the eastern side descend with great rapidity, and in oblique tortuous courses, their channels often forming deep ravines. Many of them are navigable in their lower course for sea-going steamers. The principal are the Richmond, Clarence, McLeay, Manning, Hunter. Ilawkesbuiy, and Shoalhaven. The Hunter river, about CO m. n. of Sydney, opens up one of the most fertile and delightful districts in the country. The Dividing Range, which, opposite to Sydney, is called the Blue mountains, being singularly abrupt and rugged, and full of frightful chasms, long presented an impenetrable barrier to the west, and kept the colonists shut in between it and the sea, and utterly ignorant of what lay beyond. At last, in 1813, when the cattle were likely to perish in one of those long droughts that appear to visit this country at intervals of a dozen years, three adventurous individuals scaled the for midable barrier, and discovered those downs on the western slope which now form the great sheep-ranges of Australia. A practicable line of road was immediately constructed by convict labor, and the tide of occupation entered on the new and limitless expanse.
The numerous streams that rise on the w. side of the water-shed within the colony, all converge and empty their waters into the sea through one channel within the colony of South Australia. The southern and main branch of this great river-system is the Mur ray. The other great trunks of the system are the Murrumbidgee, which is navigable; the'Lachlan, at times reduced to a string of ponds; and the Darling. The Macquarie, passing through the rich district of Bathurst (q.v.), is a large tributary of the Darling, but it reaches it only in the rainy seasons. The coast-line from cape Howe to Point Danger is upward of 700 m. long, and presents numerous good harbors formed by the estuaries of the rivers. Owing to the great extent of the colony, stretching as it does over eleven degrees of latitude, the climate is very various. In the northern districts. which are the warmest, the climate is tropical, the summer heat occasionally rising in inland districts to 120°, while on the high table-lands, weeks of severe frost are sometimes experienced. At Sydney, the mean temperature of the year is about 65°. The mean heat of summer, which lasts here from the beginning of December to the end of Febru ary, is about 80°, but it is much modified on the coast by the refreshing breeze. The annual fall of rain is about 50 inches. Rain sometimes descends in continuous torrents. and causes the rivers to rise to an extraordinary height. Sometimes the rains almost fail for two or three years in succession (see ACSTRALIA). The coast, for 300 in. from the northern boundary, is adapted for growing cotton, and in 1868, when a large quantity was grown, the average produce was 180 lbs. per acre; but cotton-planting seems now to have been abandoned. Further s., the climate is more temperate, and is fitted to pro duce all the grain products of Europe. Immense tracts of land, admirably adapted for agriculture, occur in the south-western interior; while in the s.c. coast districts, the soil is celebrated for its richness and fertility. In the n.. the cotton and tobacco plants, the vine, and sugar-cane are grown, and pine-apples, bananas, guavas, lemons, citrons and other tropical fruits are produced. In the cooler regions of the s., peaches, apricots, nec tarines, oranges, grapes, pears. pomegranates, melons, and all the British fruits, are grown in perfection, and sometimes in such abundance that the pigs are fed with them. Wheat, barley, oats, maize, and all the cereals and vegetables of Europe are also grown.