In 1770 Captain James Cook sailed into what is now called Botany Bay. Cook later claimed a section of Australia's East Coast for Great Britain under the name of New South Wales. The colony became a state in 1901 after Australia was officially declared a nation.

The original inhabitants of NSW, the Aboriginal peoples, have lived in the area for more than 45,000 years and many reminders of this period still exists today. In Sydney and the surrounding regions alone there are more than 2,000 Aboriginal rock engraving sites and many of Sydney's suburbs have Aboriginal names such as Woolloomooloo, Parramatta and Yagoona.

The national parks, state conservation areas and marine parks of NSW are home to a vast array of exotic birds, animals and plant life including many threatened and endangered species.

Australia's highest mountain, Mount Kosciusko, towers 2,228 metres above the snowcapped ski fields in the southern alps of NSW while Australia's longest river, the Darling River, flows 2, 740km from northern NSW to join with the Murray River near the Victorian border in the state's south-west.