Maddison Gae Elliott, OAM (born 3 November 1998) is an Australian swimmer. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, she became the youngest Australian Paralympic medallist by winning bronze medals in the women's 400 m and 100 m freestyle S8 events. She then became the youngest Australian gold medallist when she was a member of the women's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay 34 points team. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, she won three gold and two silver medals. (Full article...)

Philip Henry (Pat) Morton (28 October 1910 – 18 January 1999) was an Australian businessman and politician. Born in Lismore in Northern New South Wales to a prominent political family and educated at Lismore High School, Morton left school at fourteen to be employed in a legal firm, before branching out into various businesses. Moving to Sydney, Morton first entered politics in 1944 as an Alderman on Mosman Municipal Council, rising to be Mayor in 1946. Morton then entered the New South Wales Legislative Assembly on 3 May 1947, representing the Electoral district of Mosman for the Liberal Party.

Morton soon rose through the party ranks, becoming touted as a possible leader. When the Liberals lost their third election under party leader Vernon Treatt, Morton contested the leadership in July 1954. Although Morton was defeated, Treatt did not stay long, resigning in August. Morton then stood, but was deadlocked against party whip, Robert Askin, and Askin then asked Murray Robson to take the leadership. Robson proved ineffective and was deposed in September 1955 in a party spill and Morton was elected to succeed him as Leader of the New South Wales Opposition. (Full article...)

The Pacific blue-eye (Pseudomugil signifer) is a species of fish in the subfamily Pseudomugilinae native to eastern Australia. Described by Austrian naturalist Rudolf Kner in 1866, it comprises two subspecies that have been regarded as separate species in the past and may be once again with further study. It is a common fish of rivers and estuaries along the eastern seaboard from Cape York in North Queensland to southern New South Wales, the Burdekin Gap in central-north Queensland dividing the ranges of the two subspecies.

A small silvery fish averaging around 3.25 cm in total length (1+1⁄8–1+3⁄8 in), the Pacific blue-eye is recognisable by its blue eye-ring and two dorsal fins. It forms loose schools of tens to thousands of individuals. It eats water-borne insects as well as flying insects that land on the water's surface, foraging for them by sight. The Pacific blue-eye adapts readily to captivity. (Full article...)

Florence Violet McKenzie OBE (née Granville; 28 September 1890 – 23 May 1982), affectionately known as "Mrs Mac", was Australia's first female electrical engineer, founder of the Women's Emergency Signalling Corps (WESC) and lifelong promoter for technical education for women. She campaigned successfully to have some of her female trainees accepted into the all-male Navy, thereby originating the Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS). Some 12,000 servicemen passed through her signal instruction school in Sydney, acquiring skill in Morse code and visual signalling (flag semaphore and International Code of Signals).

She set up her own electrical contracting business in 1918, and apprenticed herself to it, in order to meet the requirements of the Diploma in Electrical Engineering at Sydney Technical College. Described at the time as Australia's "Mademoiselle Edison", in 1922 she became the first Australian woman to take out an amateur radio operator's licence. Through the 1920s and 1930s, her "Wireless Shop" in Sydney's Royal Arcade was renowned amongst Sydney radio experimenters and hobbyists. She founded The Wireless Weekly in 1922, established an Australian version of the UIK's Electrical Association for Women in 1934, and wrote the first "all-electric cookbook" in 1936. She corresponded with Albert Einstein in the postwar years. (Full article...)

Ernest Raymond Herbert Toshack (8 December 1914 – 11 May 2003) was an Australian cricketer who played in 12 Tests from 1946 to 1948. A left arm medium paced bowler known for his accuracy and stamina in the application of leg theory, Toshack was a member of Don Bradman's "Invincibles" that toured England in 1948 without being defeated. Toshack reinforced the Australian new ball attack of Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller.

Born in 1914, Toshack overcame many obstacles to reach international level cricket. He was orphaned as an infant, and his early cricket career was hindered because of financial difficulties caused by the Great Depression. The Second World War prevented Toshack from competing at first-class level until he was into his thirties. In 1945–46, the first season of cricket after the end of the War, Toshack made his debut at first-class level and after only seven matches in the Sheffield Shield he was selected for Australia's tour of New Zealand. In Wellington, he opened the bowling in a match that was retrospectively classed as an official Test match. Toshack became a regular member of the Australian team, playing in all of its Tests until the 1947–48 series against India. He took his career-best match bowling figures of 11 wickets for 31 runs (11/31) in the First Test but began to suffer recurring knee injuries, and a medical board had to approve his selection for the 1948 England tour. Toshack played in the first four Tests before being injured. After a long convalescence, he attempted a comeback during Australia's 1949–50 season, but further injury forced him to retire. He was a parsimonious bowler, who was popular with crowds for his sense of humour. (Full article...)

Snowy Mountains Highway is a 333-kilometre-long (207 mi) state highway located in New South Wales, Australia. Its two sections connect the New South Wales South Coast to the Monaro region, and the Monaro to the South West Slopes via the Snowy Mountains. The higher altitude regions of this road are subject to snow over the winter months, and the road also provides access to many parts of the Snowy Mountains Scheme. The highway bears the B72 shield along its entire length.

The highway originally bore the name Monaro Highway until 1958, when it received its current name. It originally ran from Tathra to Wagga Wagga but has been shortened to run from Princes Highway to Hume Highway instead. Part of the roadway was reallocated to what is now known as Monaro Highway in 1955. Reservoirs created as a result of dams built in the 1950s and 1960s as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme required the creation of major realignments to avoid submerged areas. Previous to New South Wales' conversion to alphanumeric route markers, it was signed as National Route 18. (Full article...)

The Governor's Body Guard of Light Horse was a military unit maintained in the Colony of New South Wales between 1801 and 1834, and reputedly the "first full-time military unit raised in Australia". It was established by Governor Philip Gidley King by drawing men from the New South Wales Corps, the British garrison in the colony. Normally consisting of one or two non-commissioned officers and six privates, the Guard provided an escort to the governor and carried his despatches to outposts across the colony. From 1802, the men of the Guard were drawn from convicts pardoned by King. Men from the unit were deployed during the Castle Hill convict rebellion of 1804 and a trooper of the Guard assisted in the capture of two of the rebel leaders.

After King was succeeded by William Bligh in 1806, the Guard reverted to being drawn from the New South Wales Corps. The unit seems to have been absent during the Corps' 1808 mutiny against Bligh and, by one report, supported it. It was ordered to disband by the Earl of Liverpool but was granted a reprieve in 1812 by Liverpool's successor Earl Bathurst. Viscount Goderich ordered disbandment again in 1832 and Governor Richard Bourke transformed the unit into the Mounted Orderlies in 1834. These were absorbed into the New South Wales Mounted Police in 1836 and continued as a separate component within that force until at least 1860. (Full article...)

The 1994 FIFA World Cup CONCACAF–OFC qualification play-off was an association football match played over two-legs between Australia and Canada. The first leg was played at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Canada, on 31 July 1993; the second leg was played on 15 August 1993 at Sydney Football Stadium in Sydney, Australia.

Both teams had played in their regional qualifiers to qualify for the play-off. The Canadians played in twelve matches in North American qualifying across two rounds. After finishing second in their second-round group to El Salvador, they qualified to the final round where they finished second by three points to Mexico. Australia, played in six matches across two rounds in Oceania qualifying. After winning their group, they defeated New Zealand across two-legs to make it to the play-off. (Full article...)

Edward Davis Millen (7 November 1860 – 14 September 1923) was an Australian journalist and politician who served as the first Minister for Repatriation.

Millen emigrated to Australia from England around 1880 and established himself as a journalist, subsequently serving in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1894 to 1898, during which time he fiercely opposed the proposed Federation despite supporting the principle. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1899 until his election to the Australian Senate as a Free Trader from New South Wales at the first federal election in 1901. Millen led the conservative parties in the Senate from 1907 until shortly before his death in 1923. (Full article...)

Central Area Command was one of several geographically based commands raised by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during World War II. It was formed in March 1940, and covered the central portion of New South Wales. Headquartered at Sydney, Central Area Command was responsible for air defence, aerial reconnaissance and protection of the sea lanes within its boundaries. It was disbanded in August 1941 and control of its units taken over by other RAAF formations. Proposals in 1943–44 to raise a new Central Area Command did not come to fruition. (Full article...)

Persoonia levis, commonly known as the broad-leaved geebung, is a shrub native to New South Wales and Victoria in eastern Australia. It reaches 5 m (16 ft) in height and has dark grey papery bark and bright green asymmetrical sickle-shaped leaves up to 14 cm (5.5 in) long and 8 cm (3.2 in) wide. The small yellow flowers appear in summer and autumn (December to April), followed by small green fleshy fruit, which are classified as drupes. Within the genus Persoonia, it is a member of the Lanceolata group of 58 closely related species. P. levis interbreeds with several other species where they grow together.

Found in dry sclerophyll forest on sandstone-based nutrient-deficient soils, P. levis is adapted to a fire-prone environment; the plants resprout epicormic buds from beneath their thick bark after bushfires, and can live for over 60 years. Regeneration also takes place after fire by a ground-stored seed bank. The longtongue bee Leioproctus carinatifrons is a pollinator of the flowers, and the fruit are consumed by vertebrates such as kangaroos, possums and currawongs. Despite its horticultural appeal, P. levis is rare in cultivation as it is very hard to propagate, either by seed or cuttings. (Full article...)

The dismissal of the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council on 27 February 2008 marked the end of a series of events involving a project which was initiated in 2001 in the New South Wales coastal town of Port Macquarie to build a cultural and entertainment centre, known to locals as the Glasshouse. The project, initially a joint venture with the management of the neighbouring shopping centre, Port Central, was originally expected to cost the Council A$7.3 million. However, by late 2007, despite the centre not yet having opened, the costs had blown out to over A$41.7 million, with interest repayments likely to extend the council's liability to A$66 million.

On 27 July 2007, a full public inquiry was announced by the Minister for Local Government, Paul Lynch. The inquiry reported its findings in February 2008. It found that the council had failed to provide appropriate financial and project management and had lost control of the costs, that the project costs had harmed the council's ability to provide services and amenities to the community, and that the council's communications management strategy had resulted in inadequate consultation with the public and inappropriate regard to their concerns. The Minister for Local Government dismissed the council and its mayor, Rob Drew, and appointed an administrator upon receiving the inquiry's report. Drew was critical of the process throughout, maintaining that errors had been made and misinformation had been accepted as fact; however, the New South Wales Urban Task Force, a property development lobby group, believed the sacking served as a warning to other councils to stick to "core responsibilities". (Full article...)

Telopea speciosissima, commonly known as the New South Wales waratah or simply waratah, is a large shrub in the plant family Proteaceae. It is endemic to New South Wales in Australia and is the floral emblem of that state. No subspecies are recognised, but the closely related Telopea aspera was only recently classified as a separate species.

T. speciosissima is a shrub to 3 or 4 m (9.8 or 13.1 ft) high and 2 m (6.6 ft) wide, with dark green leaves. Its several stems arise from a pronounced woody base known as a lignotuber. The species is well renowned for its striking large red springtime inflorescences (flowerheads), each including hundreds of individual flowers. These are visited by the eastern pygmy possum (Cercartetus nanus), birds such as honeyeaters (Meliphagidae), and various insects. (Full article...)

St James' Church, commonly known as St James', King Street, is an Australian heritage-listed Anglican parish church located at 173 King Street, in the Sydney central business district in New South Wales. Consecrated in February 1824 and named in honour of St James the Great, it became a parish church in 1835. Designed in the style of a Georgian town church by the transported convict architect Francis Greenway during the governorship of Lachlan Macquarie, St James' is part of the historical precinct of Macquarie Street which includes other early colonial era buildings such as the World Heritage listed Hyde Park Barracks.

The church remains historically, socially and architecturally significant. The building is the oldest one extant in Sydney's inner city region. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 3 September 2004; and was listed on the (now defunct) Register of the National Estate. (Full article...)

John Cash Neild (4 January 1846 – 8 March 1911) was an Australian politician who served as a Senator from New South Wales from 1901 to 1910.

Neild's family arrived in Australia in 1860, and he worked as an insurance agent and company manager before winning election to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1885. He served intermittently until 1901 and had a tumultuous career as a backbencher, eventually contributing significantly to the fall of the Reid government in 1899. He also established his own volunteer regiment, which had a difficult and sometimes hostile relationship with military command. (Full article...)

Sport in New South Wales describes participation in and attendance at organised sports events in the state of New South Wales in Australia. Sport forms an integral part of the culture of the state.

New South Wales has attracted many international multi-sport events including the 2000 Summer Olympics, held in Sydney. There are many professional sporting teams in New South Wales. The biggest sport in the state by a wide margin is rugby league, in which the state has 10 professional clubs in the National Rugby League. Other popular spectator sports include rugby union, cricket, Australian rules football and soccer. In terms of participation, the most popular sports in the state are netball, tennis, soccer, rugby league and touch football. (Full article...)

The New South Wales Police Force is a law enforcement agency of the state of New South Wales, Australia, established in 1862. With more than 17,000 police, it is the largest police organisation in Australia, policing an area of 801,600 square kilometres with a population of more than 8.2 million people.

In 2020, it had 21,455 employees - 17,348 police and 4,107 support staff, 432 police stations, 3,300 vehicles, 52 boats, 9 aircraft and a budget of AUD $4.8 billion. It is organised into police area commands (PACs) in metropolitan areas, police districts (PDs) in rural areas and specialist commands. (Full article...)

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, spanning Sydney Harbour from the central business district (CBD) to the North Shore. The view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is widely regarded as an iconic image of Sydney, and of Australia itself. Nicknamed "The Coathanger" because of its arch-based design, the bridge carries rail, vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic.

Under the direction of John Bradfield of the New South Wales Department of Public Works, the bridge was designed and built by British firm Dorman Long of Middlesbrough, and opened in 1932. The bridge's general design, which Bradfield tasked the NSW Department of Public Works with producing, was a rough copy of the Hell Gate Bridge in New York City. This general design document, however, did not form any part of the request for tender, which remained sufficiently broad as to allow cantilever (Bradfield's original preference) and even suspension bridge proposals. The design chosen from the tender responses was original work created by Dorman Long, who leveraged some of the design from its own Tyne Bridge which, though superficially similar, does not share the graceful flares at the ends of each arch which make the harbour bridge so distinctive. It is the tenth longest spanning-arch bridge in the world and the tallest steel arch bridge, measuring 134 m (440 ft) from top to water level. It was also the world's widest long-span bridge, at 48.8 m (160 ft) wide, until construction of the new Port Mann Bridge in Vancouver was completed in 2012. (Full article...)

The Big Golden Guitar is one of the many "big" attractions that can be found around Australia. Located in Tamworth, New South Wales, the monument is one of the best-known points of interest in New England.

It is also a major attraction during the Tamworth Country Music Festival. (Full article...)

The Hydro Majestic Hotel is located in Medlow Bath, New South Wales, Australia. The hotel is located on a clifftop overlooking the Megalong Valley on the western side of the Great Western Highway.

The hotel is heritage listed and is notable for its unusual mix of architectural styles, including Art Deco and Edwardian. One key feature is the Casino dome (pictured). The dome was bought in Chicago and shipped to Australia, before being shipped to the Blue Mountains by bullock train and reassembled at the site. (Full article...)

Charles Edwin Woodrow Bean (18 November 1879 – 30 August 1968), usually identified as C. E. W. Bean, was a historian and one of Australia's official war correspondents.
He was editor and principal author of the 12-volume Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918, and a primary advocate for establishing the Australian War Memorial (AWM).

According to the Online International Encyclopedia of the First World War, no other Australian has been more influential in shaping the way the First World War is remembered in Australia. (Full article...)

Tooth and Co was the major brewer of beer in New South Wales, Australia. The company owned a large brewery on Broadway in Sydney from 1835 until 1985, known as the Kent Brewery. It was historically one of Australia's oldest companies, having been established as a partnership in 1835 and listed on the then Sydney Stock Exchange in July 1961. The brand has undergone a revival in 2015. (Full article...)

Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (colloquially Mascot Airport, Kingsford Smith Airport, or Sydney Airport; IATA: SYD, ICAO: YSSY; ASX: SYD) is an international airport in Sydney, Australia, located 8 km (5 mi) south of the Sydney central business district, in the suburb of Mascot. The airport is owned by Sydney Airport Holdings. It is the primary airport serving Sydney and is a primary hub for Qantas, as well as a secondary hub for Virgin Australia and Jetstar, and a focus city for Air New Zealand. Situated next to Botany Bay, the airport has three runways. Sydney Kingsford Int'l Airport covers 907 hectares (2,241 acres) of land.

Sydney Airport is one of the world's longest continuously operated commercial airports and is the busiest airport in Australia, handling 42.6 million passengers and 348,904 aircraft movements in 2016–17. It was the 38th busiest airport in the world in 2016. Currently, 46 domestic and 43 international destinations are served to Sydney directly. (Full article...)

The Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope (MOST) is a radio telescope operating at 843 MHz. It is operated by the School of Physics of the University of Sydney. The telescope is located in Hoskinstown, near the Molonglo River and Canberra, and was constructed by modification of the east–west arm of the former Molonglo Cross Telescope, a larger version of the Mills Cross Telescope. Construction of the original "Super Cross" telescope with 1.6-kilometre arms began in 1960 by Professor Bernard Y. Mills. It became operational in 1967. (Full article...)

The Parramatta River is an intermediate tide-dominated, drowned valley estuary located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. With an average depth of 5.1 metres (17 ft), the Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, a branch of Port Jackson. Secondary tributaries include the smaller Lane Cove and Duck rivers.

Formed by the confluence of Toongabbie Creek and Darling Mills Creek at North Parramatta, the river flows in an easterly direction to a line between Yurulbin in Birchgrove and Manns Point in Greenwich. Here it flows into Port Jackson, about 21 kilometres (13 mi) from the Tasman Sea. The total catchment area of the river is approximately 252.4 square kilometres (97.5 sq mi) and is tidal to Charles Street Weir in Parramatta, approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the Sydney Heads. (Full article...)

Mount Warning (Bundjalung: Wollumbin), a mountain in the Tweed Range in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia, was formed from a volcanic plug of the now-gone Tweed Volcano. The mountain is located 14 kilometres (9 mi) west-south-west of Murwillumbah, near the border between New South Wales and Queensland.
Lieutenant James Cook saw the mountain from the sea and named it Mount Warning. (Full article...)

Wollongong (/ˈwʊlənɡɒŋ/ WUUL-ən-gong; Dharawal: Woolyungah), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near water' or 'sound of the sea'. Wollongong lies on the narrow coastal strip between the Illawarra Escarpment and the Pacific Ocean, 85 kilometres (53 miles) south of central Sydney. Wollongong had an estimated urban population of 302,739 at June 2018, making it the third-largest city in New South Wales after Sydney and Newcastle and the tenth-largest city in Australia by population. The city's current Lord Mayor is Gordon Bradbery AM who was elected in 2021.

The Wollongong area extends from Helensburgh in the north to Windang and Yallah in the south. Geologically, the city is located in the south-eastern part of the Sydney basin, which extends from Newcastle to Nowra. (Full article...)

Maitland (/ˈmeɪtlənd/) is a city in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia and the seat of Maitland City Council, situated on the Hunter River approximately 166 kilometres (103 mi) by road north of Sydney and 35 km (22 mi) north-west of Newcastle. It is on the New England Highway approximately 17 km (11 mi) from its origin at Hexham.

At the 2021 census it had approximately 90,226 inhabitants, spread over an area of 392 square kilometres (151 sq mi), with most of the population located in a strip along the New England Highway between the suburbs of Lochinvar and Thornton respectively. The city centre is located on the right bank of the Hunter River, protected from moderate potential flooding by a levee. (Full article...)

The Strand Arcade is a heritage-listed Victorian-style retail arcade located at 195–197 Pitt Street in the heart of the Sydney central business district, between Pitt Street Mall and George Street in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by John B. Spencer, assisted by Charles E. Fairfax; and built from 1890 to 1892 by Bignell and Clark (1891), with renovations completed by Stephenson & Turner (1976). The only remaining arcade of its kind in Sydney, the property was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 13 December 2011.

Being three storeys high, the arcade has the traditional-styled protruding galleries, cedar staircases, tiled floors, cast iron balusters and timber framed shop fronts, under a prominent, tinted glass roof to reduce glare. The arcade contains the preliminary boutiques that characterized the Sydney shopping experience of the 1890s. When the arcade opened in 1892, it was said to be the very latest in shopping centre designs and was described as, "The finest public thoroughfare in the Australian colonies". The arcade has endured two depressions, two World Wars and two major fires. The restored shop fronts are an exact replica of the original internal shopping facades. (Full article...)

The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or city centre is often referred to simply as "Town" or "the City". The Sydney city centre extends southwards for about 3 km (2 mi) from Sydney Cove, the point of first European settlement in which the Sydney region was initially established.

Geographically, its north–south axis runs from Circular Quay in the north to Central railway station in the south. Its east–west axis runs from a chain of parkland that includes Hyde Park, The Domain, Royal Botanic Garden and Farm Cove on Sydney Harbour in the east; to Darling Harbour and the Western Distributor in the west. (Full article...)