New South Wales
New South Wales (NSW) is Australia’s fifth biggest state and covers an area of 801,428 km². If it were a country in its own right, it would probably be the 37th biggest in the world, just behind Pakistan but ahead of Turkey. The UK could fit into NSW about 3 1/4 times and it is bigger than California and New Mexico put together.
It has a population of around 7 million people. It is known as “The Premier State” and the residents are known as “Cockroaches” – very nice!
The second most visited location in NSW is why Byron Bay, Australia mainland’s furthest point east. But the main attractions are, of course, Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House, both in Sydney.
Famous Australians originally from the state include Clive James, satirist, Paul Hogan, comedian turned Crocodile Dundee, Kerry Packer, media magnate and film directors Baz Luhrmann and Peter Weir.
Places in New South Wales
Sydney is the capital of New South Wales, but there are plenty of other towns and localities with a population in excess of 10,000 people. Here’s a list….
- Newcastle – about 289,000
- Gosford – around 283,000
- Wollongong – about 235,000
- Maitland – over 60,000
- Wagga Wagga – about 47,000
- Port Macquarie – roughly 40,000
- Tamworth – about 33,000
- Orange – just over 31,000
- Dubbo – around 30,000
- Bathurst – 29,000
- Nowra-Bomaderry- over 27,000
- Lismore- about 27,000
- Coffs Harbour – 26,000
- Richmond-Windsor – 25,000
- Goulburn – just over 20,000
- Armidalle – nearly 20,000
- Broken Hill – 19,000
- Forster-Tuncurry 18,000
- Cessnock – 18,000
- Grafton – 17,000
- Taree – 16,000
- Ballina – 16,000
- Griffith – 16,000
- Sawtell – 15,000
- Singlet – nearly 14,000
- Raymond Terrace – 12,000
- Kurri Kurri-Weston – 12,000
- Kiama – 12,000
- Bowral – 11,000
- Lithgow – just over 11,000
- Batemans Bay – about 11,000
- Ulladulla – just over 10,000
- Muswellbrook- just over 10,000
Then, of couse, there are all those towns with a population below 10,000, including the afore mentioned Byron Bay, which has about 9,000 residents. Perhaps you live in one of these towns, want to own it? You can! Find out how at Own Your Town
{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Bob,
Just thought I would drop you a line and say what a mine of info you are and a brilliant website you have, nothing fancy just the truth as you see it, keep up the good work.
I am hoping to move out to ozz after I retire in august 2011 and be nearer to my son and his family who live in ulladulla. My wife passed away last year and we went out to see our son and family in December 2007 and both of us loved the place and the way of life and of course the people, and we both wanted to retire in the sunshine and put our feet up,but the big man decided i had to go on my own, but she will be with me.
Hi Alan
Thanks for the compliments about my website, I truly appreciate it. So sorry to hear about your wife, but I do hope your plans to retire in Australia come off. I’ve actually driven through Ulladulla, my wife and I had a small debate about how it would be pronounced. I went for exactly as it’s written, ull-a-dull-a and my wife went for oolah-doolah.
I asked the girl in the petrol station, and I won!
I don’t get many of those
Take care Alan.
hi bob, great site, loads of great honest info. My family and i are moving to campbelltown in november as soon as the army are done with me hehe. Ive heard a few rumours that campbelltown (nsw) has a bad rep ? Whats your take on it ?
Hi Christian,
I’m afraid I can’t help you with that one, I’ve never been.
Maybe someone else knows some information about Campbelltown in New South Wales?
I have lived in Campbelltown area for the last ten years and have found it to be no better or worse than any other part of Sydney.Best advice ,there are so many places to live better than Sydney,actually just about anywhere in Australia.Your pick.
cheers alan, not got a lot of choice though coz my new job is at the airport, campbelltown seems to be a cheap option, my friend has bought a house in the currans hill area, we will rent for two years and have a good nosey around…… beach life seems unattainable so we gonna look at something affordable and with a pool (is that too much to ask for these days), would like to go to wollongong but everything seems far too expensive ?
That’s a thumbs down for Sydney from Alan, and I’d agree from my very limited knowledge of the city. I don’t really know enough to vote, but this is coming from a resident.
That said, I know some people who love it there, hopefully you’ll be one of then christian.
Thanks Alan!
Hi Christian,
Campbelltown can be a bit on the hard side. Better than Blacktown or Mt Druit or Rooty Hill. It has a diverse cultural background and is typical “Westy”, where the people are fairly pragmatic about life and just on with living. Not particularly scenic. Probably a better area as far as rent costs go. Good access to the city via the M5.
hey andy, thanks for your advice, truley noted, im out in 12 days and the family follow in november so there is little choice to change my mind. campbelltown will do for now (gotta be better than england) will have a good look around before i make any commitments. my friend has bought up in the currans hill area and says its very nice ? i am staying at his house for 4 weeks until i get my own place for the family. its all a bit ooooeeer lol x
Cheers Andy,
I will be out 2/3 months before my family so can have a good look around….. a friend of mine has moved to the mount annan/curran hills area and thinks its ok around that area, think its camden and not campbelltown though.
Would there be a nicer area for the same rents in that area or do you simply pay for what you get !!!
Hello,
i think you disgrace our country and your map of Australia is plainly RUDE expecially to Steve Irwin !
I dont like you
cya
Hi Bob,
I would like to say that i strongly agree with Kaitlyn !
I think it is totally disgraceful how you discribe your country !!!
xxx
Hi Bob,
I would like to say that i strongly agree with Kaitlyn !
xxx
Wow!
Kaitlyn and Isabella, I don’t know what you girls put into your coffee this morning, but I wouldn’t use it again. I’m really not sure what either of you are on about, unless you think this is my map of Australia. It’s actually a map to show people where New South Wales is in Australia.
My map of Australia, with all the Australian states on it, is on my page called, unsurprisingly, Australian States.
Great emotional use of Steve Irwin’s name, although I’m struggling to see why you brought him into it.
But I’m just guessing, maybe you’d like to pop back and explain what exactly your problems are?
Cheers
Bob
Hi Bob, could not agree more with you, cannot see what they are talking about that is so offensive to ozz or the memory of Steve Irwin and look forward to their explanation which i am sure will be just as whacky as their complaint.
Keep up the good work.
I don’t think we’ll ever know what the problem was Alan, seems the girls are too busy to give us a response. Maybe they are posting more wacky messages on other blogs? Never mind.
Hi Bob,
Great news, our visa,s have come through and im flying out to NSW on 30th sept to set up shop prior to family joining me in November. Got a job at Sydney Airport but will be travelling to all Airports throughout Australia so you never know, best get that kettle on standby hahaha.
We all very excited now and i have been pleasantly suprised how smoothly everything went.
Keep up the good work Bob and standby with that kettle (and pg tips lol).
Take care
Chris
Congratulations Christian, and welcome to Australia. I hope everything goes smoothly and yes, the kettle is on standby. Long way to come for a cup of tea though, it’d be about 14 hours by car, hehe!
Welcome?back to Oz Alan Watterson (are you the same AW who wrote he lived in Campbelltown for ten years?)! Sorry to hear about your wife. Who knows you may find another soulmate in OZ and your wife who has passed on, would be happy for you.
Best of luck and great times with your son and his family!
Hi Veronica, there must be another Alan Watterson, surely not, as i am still living in Dunoon Scotland waiting to get approval to move to ozz to be nearer my son and his family in ulladulla.
“there must be another Alan Watterson, surely not,” – surely there is!
To the Alan Wattersons and Veronica, how bizarre is this? There are, indeed, two Alan Wattersons commenting here; there’s ALAN WATTERSON and then there’s alan watterson.
Veronica, it is alan watterson who lived in Campbelltown for ten years (see his comment dated 17th September 2011 above), not ALAN WATTERSON, who, as you now know, lives in Dunoon, Scotland.
There, I hope that’s cleared that up, I’m going to have a lie down.
So there is a soft alan watterson, and a shouting ALAN WATTERSON? OK.
Sydney is IMHO the most beautiful city in OZ!
As it living here, some places are more beautiful and more expensive than others. I have lived in Eastwood, Lane Cove, Westmead and now am in Liverpool CBD. Liverpool is cheaper to rent than the other places mentioned, but it is not the best place to live in though. Of the places I have lived in, I have liked Lane Cove best, then Eastwood, then Westmead.
Thumbs up for Sydney there then! Thanks Veronica, very useful info about those suburbs.
BobinOz
Don’t get me wrong, my love for Sydney has to do with the fact it has been my only home in OZ. We all love our hometowns with all its warts, don’t we? Luckily Sydney has very few of them!
I have heard that Melbourne is always in competition with Sydney. And loses of course, all the sophistication of Melbournites notwithstanding.
I have been to Brisbane a couple of times, and quite like the tropical air about it, but then it is something I am prepared to give up to live in Sydney, the most beautiful city in OZ.
Of course for those who can afford it, Vaucluse, Mosman, Potts Point etc are great places to live in. Way more classier than Lane Cove!
Veronica, I don’t understand what you mean by us all loving our hometowns. Even though I have only ever lived in Brisbane, I am in no way biased towards it at all.
But, it is the best city in Australia
Hi Bob, Very bizzare and wait till i get over to ozz next year hopefully and there are 2 of us living in NSW.
And another strange thing is that Dunoon Scotland where i live is just a few miles away from Cambeltown Scotland.
What a small world indeed.
Alan { Dunoon Scotland } Watterson
ALAN WATTERSON October 6, 2011 at 7:45 pm
Hi Veronica, there must be another Alan Watterson, surely not, as i am still living in Dunoon Scotland waiting to get approval to move to ozz to be nearer my son and his family in ulladulla.
Alan (Dunoon, Scotland) Watterson
When I wrote, shouting ALAN WATTERSON, I was simply referring to nettiquette which states: ALL CAPS = SHOUTING.
So there is a Cambeltown in Scotland? But we have CamPbelLTown, he! he!
Two Alan Wattersons in NSW? Now that is a lot of Alan Wattersons for a state like NSW. We are going to run into Alan Wattersons on every street corner.
Jokes aside, I wish you luck with your visa and your chance to live nearer your son and his family, especially since you are now a widower. But do not lose hope of finding a new soulmate in Ulladulla.
Alan: yes, small world, but I wouldn’t want to paint it. (The old jokes are the best).
Veronica: yes, agreed. We all wish Alan good luck with his visa.
Both: Ulladulla, I’ve been there, only bought petrol though.
BobinOz wrote that people of NSW are known as “cockroaches.” I didn’t know that!
Where did you get that info from BobinOz?
Anyway those who live in Sydney (a number which btw makes up a quarter of the whole population of Australia!) are known as Sydneysiders. So non-Sydneysiders from NSW are known as cockroaches? But why? Because they live forever or what?
To all prospective migrants to OZ: every state and every city in OZ has its charms. Just go where destiny leads you and bloom where you are planted.
Amen.
Initially, I heard all these nicknames from my Aussie mate, Pete. But I got the full list from Wikipedia. Check it out here.
As for why, well, Queenslanders are called either cane toads or banana benders. We have a lot of cane toads and bananas up here. You wouldn’t happen to have a lot of cockroaches down there, would you?
hey bob,
well we are here………eventually lol. all going very well, my job at the airport seems good, the wife loves the place and the teenagers hate the place as per hahaha ! managed to rent a nice house in harrington park not far from nerrellan/camden but the hike to work on the M5 can be emotional. having a few issues with getting a phone line/adsl broadband connection, just had a huge row with telstra (big pond) who turned me down on my credit check…..al 8 weeks of it ???? so no landline and no decent internet for us apparently ??? and i thought BT were rubbish. we get the dog on 23rd from quarantine so he’s with us for christmas hurray, they have been very strict with the visiting times, tuesdays and thursdays 1300hrs to 1500hrs so we have not managed to see him since he has been here : (. Took the family to bondi beach on sunday and it rained constantly hahaha, least we had the beach to ourselves ! weather has been pretty poor since my wife and girls joined me although i have promised it will improve, they think I’m telling porkies ha ! All in all a pretty smooth ride up to now and i must thank victoria at 4 corners immigration for all the help she has given us, now its time to get christmas over and done with and get out there and see what this huge place has to offer !!!!! hope all is well with you and yours bob, take it easy, no doubt you will lol x
Christian.
Congratulations! Glad you made it.
I think having an argument with Telstra is part of the initiation when moving to Australia. I don’t want to frighten you, but the longest blog post ever written in the whole wide world was written by me, about Telstra. You can read it by clicking this little blue link called #$@&!! Telstra!
Some day your teenagers will love you for bringing them here, but that they will probably not be whilst they are still teenagers hehe. Hope you are settling in, the first few months can be a bit tricky, hang on in there.
Cheers!
Hello all
My hearts desire is to get a job i an office in Sydney -my son lives and works there and I so want to move from the UK and put down roots in Sydney -I need the 457 visa and sponsor.I speak fluent Spanish and French -if anyone knows of an employer who has jobs going please let me know as I could do with a few miracles!
Love and thanks
Anna
I hope something turns up for you Anna