Portal:New South Wales

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 Western 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 1955, 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. 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 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...)

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...)

Lieutenant Colonel Sir Michael Frederick Bruxner KBE, DSO, JP (25 March 1882 – 28 March 1970) was an Australian politician and soldier, serving for many years as leader of the Country Party (and its predecessors) in New South Wales. Born in the north of the state, Bruxner was educated at The Armidale School and started studies at University of Sydney but later dropped out to take up employment as a grazier and station agent in Tenterfield. After serving in the Citizen Military Forces from 1911, Bruxner enlisted into the Australian Light Horse upon the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. Serving with distinction in Gallipoli, Egypt and Palestine, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and awarded the Distinguished Service Order.

Returning to Australia in 1919, Bruxner sold his business and joined the Progressive Party, being elected to the Parliament of New South Wales for Northern Tablelands at the 1920 election. Bruxner came to political prominence when he led the rural "True Blues" faction of the Progressive Party that went against their Leader's decision to form a coalition in Sir George Fuller's short-lived government in 1921. Bruxner emerged as the leader of the reduced Progressive Party, which consisted of the members of his faction, but they nevertheless joined with Fuller's Nationalists to form government in 1922. Bruxner also became involved in the New England New State Movement. Bruxner resigned the party leadership, now for the renamed Country Party, at the end of 1925. (Full article...)

Blair Anderson Wark, VC, DSO (27 July 1894 – 13 June 1941) was an Australian soldier, quantity surveyor, and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry "in the face of the enemy" that can be awarded to members of the British and other Commonwealth armed forces. A member of the Citizen Military Forces from 1912, Wark enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 5 August 1915 for service in the First World War. After initially being employed in the defence of the Suez Canal, his battalion was shipped to the Western Front; it was here that Wark was twice decorated for his bravery and leadership. Having received the Distinguished Service Order in 1917 for his actions at the Battle of Polygon Wood, Wark was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1918 for his leadership and gallantry when in temporary command of his battalion over a three-day period, while conducting operations against the Hindenburg Line.

Returning to Australia after the war, Wark resumed work as a quantity surveyor and established his own business. He became a respected member of Australian society, holding positions and directorships in several companies and charities until 1940, when he re-enlisted in the Citizen Military Forces for service in the Second World War. Wark was promoted to lieutenant colonel and assumed command of the 1st Battalion (City of Sydney's Own Regiment), but died suddenly at Puckapunyal Camp, Victoria, of coronary heart disease, aged 46. (Full article...)

Alloxylon pinnatum, known as Dorrigo waratah, is a tree of the family Proteaceae found in warm-temperate rainforest of south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales in eastern Australia. It has shiny green leaves that are either pinnate (lobed) and up to 30 cm (12 in) long, or lanceolate (spear-shaped) and up to 15 cm (5.9 in) long. The prominent pinkish-red flower heads, known as inflorescences, appear in spring and summer; these are made up of 50 to 140 individual flowers arranged in corymb or raceme. These are followed by rectangular woody seed pods, which bear two rows of winged seeds.

Known for many years as Oreocallis pinnata, it was transferred to the new genus Alloxylon by Peter Weston and Mike Crisp in 1991. This genus contains the four species previously classified in Oreocallis that are found in Australasia. Its terminal globular flowers indicate that the species is pollinated by birds. Classified as near threatened under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act 1992, the Dorrigo waratah has proven difficult to keep alive in cultivation. (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...)

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...)

Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional association football club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL).

The Mariners were founded in 2004 and are one of the eight original A-League teams. It is the first professional sports club from the Gosford region to compete in a national competition. Despite being one of the smallest clubs in the league, the Central Coast Mariners are one of the most successful clubs in Australian soccer history, having won three A-League Championships from six Grand Final appearances, as well as the A-League Premiership three times. The club has also appeared in the AFC Champions League five times and won the AFC Cup once. (Full article...)

The 1999 Sydney hailstorm was the costliest natural disaster in Australian insurance history, causing extensive damage along the east coast of New South Wales. The storm developed south of Sydney on the afternoon of Wednesday, 14 April 1999, and struck the city's eastern suburbs, including the central business district, later that evening.

The storm dropped an estimated 500,000 tonnes of hailstones in its path. The insured damage bill caused by the storm was over A$1.7 billion, which is equivalent to A$3.2 billion in 2022 when adjusted for inflation, with the total bill (including uninsured damage) estimated to be around A$2.3 billion, or A$4.3 billion in 2022. It was the costliest single natural disaster in Australian history in insured damage, surpassing the A$1.1 billion in insured damage caused by the 1989 Newcastle earthquake. Lightning killed one person during the storm, and the event caused approximately 50 injuries. (Full article...)

The Sydney punchbowls, made in China during the Jiaqing Emperor's reign (1796–1820) over the mid-Qing dynasty, are the only two known examples of Chinese export porcelain hand painted with Sydney scenes and dating from the Macquarie era. The bowls were procured in Canton about three decades after the First Fleet's arrival at Port Jackson where the British settlement at Sydney Cove was established in 1788. They also represent the trading between Australia and China via India at the time. Decorated punchbowls were prestigious items used for drinking punch at social gatherings during the 18th and 19th centuries, but it is not known who commissioned these bowls or what occasion they were made for.

The punchbowls are a 'harlequin pair', similar but not exactly matching. They were donated independently of each other, one to the State Library of New South Wales (SLNSW) in 1926 and the other to the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) in 2006. The Library bowl is the more widely known of the pair. Its earliest provenance places it in England in the late 1840s, where it is said to have been commissioned for William Bligh; another source suggests Henry Colden Antill. It passed through several owners in Britain before it was presented to the State Library. The Museum bowl's first provenance is from England in 1932 and it has been suggested that it was made to the order of Arthur Phillip. Its whereabouts were unknown until it appeared in the Newark Museum, United States, in 1988, on loan from Peter Frelinghuysen Jr. Through donations, the Maritime Museum later acquired the punchbowl from Frelinghuysen. (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...)

Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional association football club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. The club was formed in November 2004, and the team played their first competitive match in May 2005, when they entered the 2005 Australian Club World Championship Qualifying Tournament. The Mariners play their home matches at Central Coast Stadium. 181 players have made a competitive first-team appearance for the club; those players are listed here. Players are listed in order of their first appearance for the Mariners, and alphabetical order by surname for players who debuted simultaneously.

The Mariners' record appearance-maker is John Hutchinson, who made 271 appearances over a 10-year playing career, ahead of Matt Simon. Hutchinson also holds the record for the most starts, having started in 232 games. Simon is the club's top goalscorer with 66 goals in his eleven seasons with the club, twenty-three more than next-highest scorer Adam Kwasnik. Nineteen players have made 100 appearances or more, including six members of the 2013 A-League Grand Final winning team and three members of the 2023 A-League Men Grand Final and 2024 A-League Men Grand Final winning teams. Danny Vukovic is the only goalkeeper to have made over 100 appearances for the side. Eight players have held the position of club captain, Alex Wilkinson for the longest period (five years). (Full article...)

Charles Hercules Green DSO (26 December 1919 – 1 November 1950) was an Australian military officer who was the youngest Australian Army infantry battalion commander during World War II. He went on to command the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR), during the Korean War, where he died of wounds. He remains the only commanding officer of a Royal Australian Regiment battalion to die on active service. Green joined the part-time Militia in 1936, and before the outbreak of World War II had been commissioned as a lieutenant. He volunteered for overseas service soon after the war began in September 1939, and served in the Middle East and the Battle of Greece with the 2/2nd Battalion. After the action at Pineios Gorge on 18 April 1941, Green became separated from the main body of the battalion, and made his way through Turkey to Palestine, to rejoin the reformed 2/2nd Battalion. The 2/2nd Battalion returned to Australia in August 1942 via Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka), to meet the threat posed by the Japanese.

Green performed instructional duties and attended courses until July 1943 when he rejoined the 2/2nd Battalion as its second-in-command. At the time, the unit was training in Queensland. From March to July 1945, Green commanded the 2/11th Battalion during the Aitape-Wewak campaign in New Guinea. For his performance during the campaign, Green was appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order. After the war, Green briefly returned to civilian life and part-time military service as commanding officer of the 41st Battalion. When the Regular Army was formed, Green returned to full-time service in early 1949. (Full article...)

The Riverina (/ˌrɪvəˈriːnə/)
is an agricultural region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, a climate with significant seasonal variation and an ample supply of water for irrigation. This combination has allowed the Riverina to develop into one of the most productive and agriculturally diverse areas of Australia. Bordered on the south by the state of Victoria and on the east by the Great Dividing Range, the Riverina covers those areas of New South Wales in the Murray and Murrumbidgee drainage zones to their confluence in the west.

Home to Aboriginal groups including the Wiradjuri people for over 40,000 years, the Riverina was colonised by Europeans in the mid-19th century as a pastoral region providing beef and wool to markets in Australia and beyond. In the 20th century, the development of major irrigation areas in the Murray and Murrumbidgee valleys has led to the introduction of crops such as rice and wine grapes. The Riverina has strong cultural ties to Victoria, and the region was the source of much of the impetus behind the federation of Australian colonies. (Full article...)