The East Australian Current (EAC) and its eddy field dominate the shelf circulation along the coast of SE Australia. It impacts the climate, weather and fisheries along the most populated part of the Australian coastline. Yet there is much we don't know about the EAC and its role in the transport of heat, generation of eddies, its role in upwelling and the associated biological processes. In this paper we introduce the New South Wales node of the Integrated Marine Observing System (NSW-IMOS). The observing system is designed to complement extant observations in the region and capture key continental shelf processes such as slope water intrusions and encroachments of the EAC, the generation of eddies and the biological response to such events.