Colony of New South Wales: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|British colony (1788–19001788–1901)}}

| conventional_long_name = Colony of New South Wales

| common_name = New South Wales

| image_map = 1842NSWArrowsmith.jpg

| nation = United Kingdom

| status_text = [[British Crown Colony]]

| government_type = [[Self-governing colony]]

| title_leader = Monarch

| title_deputy = [[Governor of New South Wales|Governor]]

| leader1 = [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]] (first)

| year_leader1 = 1788–1820

| leader2 = [[Queen Victoria|Victoria]] (last)

| year_leader2 = 1837–19001837–1901

| deputy1 = [[Arthur Phillip]] (first)

| deputy2 = [[William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp]] (last)

| year_deputy1 = 1788–1792

| year_deputy2 = 1899–19001899–1901

| legislature = [[Parliament of New South Wales]]

| life_span = 1788–19001788–1901

| year_start = 1788

| year_end = 1901

| date_start = 18 January

| date_end = 1 January

| event_end = [[Federation of Australia]]

| event1 = Separation of [[Van Diemen's Land]]

| date_event1 = 3 December 1825

| event2 = Separation of [[History of South Australia#The Proclamation of South Australia (1836)|South Australia]]

| date_event2 = 28 December 1836

| event3 = Separation of [[Colony of New Zealand|New Zealand]]

| date_event3 = 1 July 1841

| event4 = Separation of [[Victoria (Australia)#Colonial Victoria|Victoria]]

| date_event4 = 1 July 1851

| event5 = Separation of [[Colony of Queensland|Queensland]]

| date_event5 = 6 June 1859

| event6 = Separation of the [[Northern Territory]]

| date_event6 = 6 July 1863

| image_flag = Flag of New South Wales.svg

| flag_type = Flag (1876–19001876–1901)

| anthem = "[[God Save the King|God Save the King/Queen]]" <div style="display:inline-block;margin-top:0.4em;">[[File:Rufst du, mein Vaterland, God Save the King, Íslands minni, Kongesangen and Oben am jungen Rhein (1938).oga]]</div>

| s1 = AustraliaColony of Tasmania

| s2 = NewColony of South WalesAustralia

| s3 = Colony of New Zealand

|flag_s1 s4 = FlagColony of Australia (1901–1903).svgVictoria

|flag_s2 s5 = Flag of New South Wales.svg = Colony of Queensland

|flag_s3 s6 = Flag of = New Zealand.svgSouth Wales

|today flag_s1 = {{UnbulletedFlag list|[[Australia]]|[[Newof Zealand]]}}Tasmania.svg

|image_coat flag_s2 = BadgeFlag of New South WalesAustralia.svg

The '''Colony of New South Wales''' was a [[colony]] of the [[British Empire]] from 1788 to the end of 19001901, when it became a [[State of Australia|State]] of the [[Commonwealth of Australia]]. At its greatest extent, the colony of New South Wales included the present-day Australian states of [[New South Wales]], [[Colony of Queensland|Queensland]], [[Victoria (Australia)#Colonial Victoria|Victoria]], [[Colony of Tasmania|Tasmania]], and [[History of South Australia#The Proclamation of South Australia (1836)|South Australia]], the [[Northern Territory]] as well as [[Colony of New Zealand|New Zealand]]. The first [[Responsible government|"responsible"]] self-government of New South Wales was formed on 6 June 1856 with [[Stuart Donaldson|Sir Stuart Alexander Donaldson]] appointed by Governor [[William Denison|Sir William Denison]] as its first [[Chief Secretary (British Empire)|Colonial Secretary]].<ref>Government Gazette June 1856</ref>

On 18 January 1788, the [[First Fleet]] led by Captain [[Arthur Phillip]] founded the first British settlement in [[Australian history]] as a [[penal colony]]. Having set sail on 13 May 1787, Captain Arthur Phillip assumed the role of governor of the settlement upon arrival. On 18 January 1788, the first ship of the First Fleet, [[HMS Supply (1759)|HMS ''Supply'']], with Phillip aboard, reached [[Botany Bay]]. However, Botany Bay was found to be unsuitable by Phillip. After Phillip led the exploration of [[Port Jackson]], he sailed and reached [[Sydney Cove]] on night of 25 January 1788. On the morning of 26 January, men on board this ship went ashore and started clearing land for a camp. In the afternoon-evening, they erected a flag pole, raised the Union Jack, and the officers ashore made toasts to the Royal Family and the success of the colony. Likely, some, or all, ships of the First Fleet were present for the flag raising. On the morning of 27 January, all the fit male convicts, marines, and likely some ships' crew went ashore to establish the camp and find food. The female convicts came ashore on 6 February 1788. About midday on 7 February, the convicts, marines and others who were staying were gathered by the Governor for the reading of the proclamation of New South Wales and a long reading of the rights of the convicts and others. Thus, the Colony of New South Wales was formally proclaimed on 7 February 1788. Before that, British naval administration applied.<ref>{{Cite web |title=7 Feb 1788 - Colony of NSW formally proclaimed |url=https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/archives/magazine/onthisday/7-february-1788 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601090936/https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/archives/magazine/onthisday/7-february-1788 |archive-date=1 June 2022 |access-date=15 July 2022 |website=State Archives & Records}}</ref> BeforeThe thatcolony faced extreme difficulty in its earliest years from water scarcity.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gergis |first=Joëlle |last2=Garden |first2=Don |last3=Fenby |first3=Claire |date=1 July 2010 |title=The Influence of Climate on the First European Settlement of Australia: A Comparison of Weather Journals, BritishDocumentary navalData administrationand appliedPalaeoclimate Records, 1788–1793 |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1093/envhis/emq079 |journal=[[Environmental History (journal)|Environmental History]] |language=en |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=485–507 |doi=10.1093/envhis/emq079 |issn=1084-5453 |access-date=28 April 2024}}</ref>

{{main|VictoriaColony (Australia)#Historyof Victoria}}

In the [[Australia Act 1986]], the states of Australia achieved independence from the United Kingdom as constituents of Australian confederation. The Act followed discovery that, when Australia ratified the 1931 Statute of Westminster, only the federal state became independent of the United Kingdom becausedue itto wasState forgottenconcerns thatof Australiaa wasgrab afor power by the Commonwealth confederacyGovernment. The 1986 Act thus clarifiedended the British government no longer had any's authority over the six Australian unitary states in confederation, just as wellit ashad noceased longerto havinghave authority over the AustralianCommonwealth federalduring state,the andinter-war thatperiod. allAll colonial-era laws were no longer were subject to powerImperial powers of disallowance and reservation. Acts of the federal state, i.e. the Commonwealth of Australia, remain subject to power of disallowance and reservation by the monarch of Australia, per sections 59 and 60 of the Australian Constitution. But as the Australian monarch can act only on the advice of the Australian Prime Minister, those two provisions are effectively dead letters.