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South Australia is a state of Australia in the
southern central part of the country. It covers some
of the most arid parts of the continent; with a
total land area of 983,482 square kilometres
(379,725 sq mi), it is the fourth largest of
Australia's six states and two territories.
South Australia shares borders with all of the
mainland states and the Northern Territory. It is
bordered to the west by Western Australia, to the
north by the Northern Territory, to the north-east
by Queensland, to the east by New South Wales, to
the south-east by Victoria, and to the south by the
Great Australian Bight and the Indian Ocean. With
over 1.6 million people, the state comprises less
than 8% of the Australian population and ranks fifth
in population among the states and territories. The
majority of its people reside in the state capital,
Adelaide, with most of the remainder settled in
fertile areas along the south-eastern coast and
River Murray. The state's origins are unique in
Australia as a freely-settled, planned British
province, rather than as a convict settlement.
Official settlement began on 28 December 1836, when
the colony was proclaimed at The Old Gum Tree by
Governor John Hindmarsh.
The first settlement to be established was
Kingscote, Kangaroo Island, in July 1836, five
months before Adelaide was founded. The guiding
principle behind settlement was that of systematic
colonisation, a theory espoused by Edward Gibbon
Wakefield that was later employed by the New Zealand
Company. The aim was to establish the province as a
centre of civilisation for free immigrants,
promising civil liberties and religious tolerance.
Although its history is marked by economic hardship,
South Australia has remained politically innovative
and culturally vibrant. Today, the state is known as
a state of festivals and of fine wine. The state's
economy centres on the agricultural, manufacturing
and mining industries and has an increasingly
significant finance sector as well.
Evidence for human activity in South Australia dates
back as far as 20,000 years ago with flint mining
activity and rock art in the Koonalda Cave on the
Nullarbor Plain. In addition wooden spears and tools
were made in an area now covered in peat bog in the
South East. Kangaroo Island was inhabited long
before the island was cut off by rising sea levels.
The first recorded European sighting of the South
Australian coast was in 1627 when the Dutch ship the
Gulden Zeepaert, captained by Francois Thijssen,
examined the coastline. Thijssen named his discovery
"Pieter Nuyts Land", after the highest ranking
individual on board.
The coastline of South Australia was first mapped by
Matthew Flinders and Nicolas Baudin in 1802.
The land which now forms the state of South
Australia was claimed for Britain in 1788 as part of
the colony of New South Wales. Although the new
colony included almost two thirds of the continent,
early settlements were all on the eastern coast and
only a few intrepid explorers ventured this far
west. It took more than forty years before any
serious proposal to establish settlements in the
south-western portion of New South Wales were put
forward. In 1834, the British Parliament passed the
South Australia Act 1834 (Foundation Act), which
enabled the province of South Australia to be
established. The act stated that 802,511 square
kilometres (309,851 sq mi) would be allotted to the
colony and it would be convict-free. In contrast to
the rest of Australia, terra nullius did not apply
to the new province. The Letters of Patent attached
to the Act acknowledged Aboriginal ownership and
stated that no actions could be undertaken that
would affect the rights of any Aboriginal natives of
the said province to the actual occupation and
enjoyment in their own persons or in the persons of
their descendants of any land therein now actually
occupied or enjoyed by such natives. Although the
patent guaranteed land rights under force of law for
the indigenous inhabitants it was ignored by the
South Australian Company authorities and squatters.
Settlement of seven vessels and 636 people was
temporarily made at Kingscote on Kangaroo Island,
until the official site of the colony was selected
where Adelaide is currently located. The first
immigrants arrived at Holdfast Bay (near the present
day Glenelg) in November 1836, and the colony was
proclaimed on 28 December 1836, now known as
Proclamation Day. South Australia is the only
Australian state to be settled entirely by free
settlers.
The plan for the colony was that it would be the
ideal embodiment of the best qualities of British
society, that is, no religious discrimination or
unemployment and, as it was believed that this would
also result in very little crime, no provision was
made for a gaol. In early 1838 the colonists became
concerned after it was reported that convicts who
had escaped from the eastern states may make their
way to South Australia. The South Australia Police
was formed later that year to protect the community
and enforce government regulations and the first
gaol, a two roomed hut, was opened on 1 January
1839.
The current flag of South Australia was adopted on
13 January 1904, and is a British blue ensign
defaced with the state badge. The badge is described
as a Piping Shrike with wings outstretched on a
yellow disc. The state badge is believed to have
been designed by Robert Craig of Adelaide's School
of Design.
South Australia granted restricted women's suffrage
in 1861, and in 1895 became the second place in the
world to grant universal suffrage (after New
Zealand), and the first where women had the dual
rights to vote and to stand for election.
The terrain consists largely of arid and semi-arid
rangelands, with several low mountain ranges. The
most important (but not tallest) is the Mount
Lofty-Flinders Ranges system, which extends north
about 800 kilometres (497 mi) from Cape Jervis to
the northern end of Lake Torrens. The highest point
in the state is not in those ranges; Mount Woodroffe
(1,435 metres (4,708 ft)) is in the Musgrave Ranges
in the extreme northwest of the state. The
south-western portion of the state consists of the
sparsely-inhabited Nullarbor Plain, fronted by the
cliffs of the Great Australian Bight. Features of
the coast include Spencer Gulf and the Eyre and
Yorke Peninsulas that surround it.
The principal industries and exports of South
Australia are wheat, wine and wool. More than half
of Australia's wines are produced in the South
Australian wine regions which include: Barossa
Valley, Clare Valley, McLaren Vale, Coonawarra,
Adelaide Hills, Riverland and a number of others –
see South Australian wine.
South Australia has boundaries with every other
Australian state and territory except the Australian
Capital Territory and Tasmania. The area now known
as the Northern Territory was annexed to South
Australia in 1863, however it was handed over to the
federal government in 1911 and became a separate
territory. South Australia's south coast is flanked
by the Southern Ocean.
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