principal city of the Southern Tablelands, southeastern New South Wales, Australia. It lies at the confluence of the Wollondilly and Mulwaree rivers. It was established on a site chosen in 1818 by the explorer Hamilton Hume and was originally named Goulburn Plains after Henry Goulburn, then under secretary of state for the colonies. Surveyed in 1828 and founded in 1833 as a garrison and convict town, it was declared a municipality in 1859 and a city in 1864. Linked to Sydney by rail and the Hume Highway, the town serves a district producing wool, wheat, potatoes, fruits, and cattle. Its industries include wool and stock trading, railway workshops, tanneries, slaughterhouses, and textile and clothing factories. Goulburn has one of the largest prisons in the state, a psychiatric hospital, the Goulburn College of Advanced Education, a technical school, and Anglican and Roman Catholic cathedrals. Pop. (2006) 20,127.