1788 Australia Day: 11 ships of First Fleet from Botany Bay led by Arthur Phillip land in what would become Sydney, Australia. Great Britain establishes the prison colony of New South Wales, the first permanent European settlement on the continent.
1795 The ''Battle of Richmond Hill'' in the colony of New South Wales between the Darug people and British Colonial Forces.
1808 Rum Rebellion: On the twentieth anniversary of the foundation of the colony of New South Wales, disgruntled military officers of the New South Wales Corps (the "Rum Corps") overthrow and imprison Governor William Bligh and seize control of the colony.
1851 Colony of Victoria separates from New South Wales.
1859 The British Crown colony of Queensland in Australia is created by devolving part of the territory of New South Wales
1859 Australia: Queensland is established as a separate colony from New South Wales.
1889 Sir Henry Parkes, Premier of New South Wales, delivers the Tenterfield Oration calling for the Federation of Australia.
1901 The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia. Edmund Barton becomes first Prime Minister.
1965 Bob (later Sir Robert) Askin replaces Jack Renshaw as Premier of New South Wales.
1966 Chatham High School is opened in Taree, New South Wales.
1977 Anti-drug campaigner Donald Mackay disappears near Griffith, New South Wales (presumed murdered).
1978 ''Wranslide'' in NSW: the Wran government is re-elected with an increased majority.
1979 Sydney: New South Wales Premier Neville Wran officially opens the Eastern Suburbs Railway. It operates as a shuttle between Central & Bondi Junction until full integration with the Illawarra Line during 1980.
1981 Public funding of election Campaigns introduced in New South Wales, Australia
1981 The second Wranslide occurs in New South Wales, with the Wran government re-elected for a third term with an increased majority, and reducing the Liberal Party to just 14 members in the Legislative Assembly. Simon and Garfunkel perform The Concert in Central Park, a free concert in New York in front of approximately a half a million people.
1983 New South Wales premier Neville Wran is exonerated by the Street Royal Commission, over claims raised by ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) programme ''Four Corners'', that he attempted to influence the NSW magistracy.
1986 A low pressure system moving from South Australia and redeveloping off the New South Wales coast dumps a record 328 millimetres of rain in a day on Sydney.
1997 Australian ski instructor Stuart Diver is rescued as the sole survivor from the Thredbo landslide in New South Wales, Australia, in which 18 lives were lost.