Portal:New South Wales
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New South Wales (abbreviated NSW) is Australia's most populous state and is located in the south-east of the country, to the north of Victoria and south of Queensland. The capital of New South Wales is Sydney, the most populous city in Australia. With an area of 809,444 km², it is the fifth largest state in Australia. New South Wales was founded in 1788 and originally comprised much of the Australian mainland, as well as New Zealand, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. During the 19th century large areas were successively separated to form the British colonies of Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria, Queensland and New Zealand. The state is bordered on the north by Queensland, on the west by South Australia, and on the south by Victoria. Its coast faces the Tasman Sea. New South Wales contains two Federal enclaves: the Australian Capital Territory, and the Jervis Bay Territory. New South Wales' three major cities are Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong, which all lie along the coast.
The 1947 Sydney hailstorm was a natural disaster which struck the New South Wales capital on January 1, 1947. The storm cell developed in the morning of New Years' Day, a public holiday in Australia, over the Blue Mountains before hitting Sydney and dissipating east of Bondi in the mid-afternoon. At the time, it was the most severe to strike the city since records began in 1792. The strength of the storm was put down to the high humidity, temperatures and weather patterns of Sydney. Damages associated with the storm were estimated at the time to be approximately £750,000 (US$3 million), approximately equal to A$45 million in modern figures. The supercell dropped hailstones larger than 8 centimetres (3.1 in) in diameter, with the most significant damage occurring in the central business district and eastern suburbs of Sydney. The event caused around 1000 injuries, with between 200 and 350 people requiring hospitalisation or other medical attention, predominantly caused by broken window shards. The most severe injuries were located on Sydney's beaches, where many people had no cover or shelter. The size of the hailstones would be the largest seen in Sydney for 52 years, until the 1999 Sydney hailstorm caused A$1.7 billion in insured damage in becoming the costliest natural disaster in Australian history.  The University of Sydney, established in Sydney in 1850, is the oldest university in Australia. It is a member of Australia's "Group of Eight" Australian universities that are highly ranked in terms of their research performance, and is one of the country's most prestigious educational institutions. In 2005, the University of Sydney had 45,966 students and 2,300 (full-time equivalent) academic staff, making it the second largest in Australia. The university's main campus has Oxbridge-inspired grounds and is situated in the south-west of the Sydney central business district.
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