In 1770 Captain James Cook discovered the eastern coastline of New Holland, which he named ‘New Wales’, then soon after changed to ‘New South Wales’. But this was not the first use of either of those names. Over 150 years earlier, the name New Wales, subsequently to appear on maps as both New South Wales and New North Wales, was given to the western shore of Hudson Bay by Sir Thomas Button in 1612 (whose ships, coincidentally, were Discovery and Resolution). This paper traces the use of the name New [South] Wales in Canada, through a succession of explorers’ journals and maps, and offers explanations as to why the name of New South Wales fell into disuse in the sub-arctic wastes of Canada - although not until the second half of the 1800s - leaving the upstart Australian prison colony as the sole bearer of the name.