1770 James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.
1804 Castle Hill Rebellion: Irish convicts rebel against British colonial authority in the Colony of New South Wales.
1815 The Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie, officially names the town of Blackheath in the upper Blue Mountains.
1840 The transporting of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished.
1859 Australia: Queensland is established as a separate colony from New South Wales (Queensland Day).
1901 The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia; Edmund Barton is appointed the first Prime Minister.
1944 World War II: possibly the biggest prison breakout in history occurs as 545 Japanese POWs attempt to escape outside the town of Cowra, New South Wales, Australia.
1964 Melbourne-Voyager collision: The aircraft carrier {{HMAS|Melbourne|R21|6}} collides with the destroyer {{HMAS|Voyager|D04|6}} off the south coast of New South Wales, Australia.
1979 The Ghost Train Fire at Luna Park Sydney (New South Wales, Australia) kills seven.
1984 Homosexuality is declared legal in the Australian state of New South Wales.
1986 A low-pressure system that redeveloped off the New South Wales coast dumps a record 328 millimeters (13 inches) of rain in a day on Sydney.
1999 Glenbrook rail accident near Sydney, New South Wales.