The discovery of Gold in NSW in the 1850s brought a new wave of settlers, an influx which continued throughout the remainder of the century. Although, gold finds in Victoria were far greater, the population of New South Wales had outnumbered that of Victoria by the 1880s.

Certainly by the early 1860s, the population of New South Wales had reached 350,000, and by 1892 it was just short of 1.2 million. As the nineteenth century progressed, the majority of people had taken up residency in urban areas.

The arrival of the railways assisted farmers greatly, as it meant that they could occupy land further afield, with the assurance that their produce could be transported to urban centres. The first steam railway owned by the Government in Australia, ran from Sydney to Parramatta and started operating in 1855. By 1890, some 3200 kilometres of track had been laid.

Like much of Australia, New South Wales experienced some difficult economic times in the 1890s, with the wool price collapsing, British investors losing their confidence, drought taking a firm hold and rabbits infesting areas in the west of the state. Fortunately for settlers the banks did not collapse, and unlike in Victoria, people did not need to leave in search of work in other states.

In 1901, the Commonwealth of Australia was created, and Sir Edmund Barton was elected as the first Prime Minister. The Commonwealth was proclaimed in Sydney's Centennial Park, although the federal parliament was to be in Melbourne.

This situation led to very strained relations between Sydney and Melbourne, with each city vying for the right to be the nation's capital. After much dispute, it was agreed to form the Australian Capital Territory, and locate the nation's capital here.

What had started out as a tent filled outpost, with nothing developed and everything to do, became Australia's premier state. Neither James Cook nor Arthur Phillip could possibly have imagined what would become of the colony they had helped to found. Its capital is the most populous city in Australia, and is where you will find a whole host of cultural features and the financial centre of the nation.

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