South Australia

The first recorded European sighting of the South Australian coast was in 1627 when the Dutch ship the Gulden Zeepaert, skippered 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. Baudin referred to the land as "Terre Napoléon".

In 1834, the British Parliament passed the South Australia Act 1834, which enabled the province of South Australia to be established. The Act stated that 802,511 square kilometres would be allotted to the colony, and it would be convict-free. The plan for the colony was that it be the ideal embodiment of the best qualities of British society, that is, no religious discrimination or unemployment.

Settlement of nine 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 December 28, 1836, now known as Proclamation Day. South Australia is the only Australian state to be settled by free settlers.

The flag of South Australia was adopted on January 13, 1904, and is a British blue ensign faced with the state badge. The badge is described as a piping shrike with wings outstretched on a yellow disc. However, because the term piping shrike has no meaning other than "the bird on the South Australian flag", there is some controversy over whether it was intended to denote an Australian Magpie or a Magpie-lark. The state badge is believed to have been designed by Robert Craig of the Adelaide School of Arts.

Geography

The terrain consists largely of arid and semi-arid rangelands, with several low mountain ranges in which the most important mountains are the Mt Lofty-Flinders Ranges system which extends north about 800 kilometres from Cape Jervis to the northern end of Lake Torrens and salt lakes. The highest point in the state is not in those ranges, but Mount Woodroffe at 1435 metres in the Musgrave Ranges in the extreme northwest of the state. The western portion of the state consists of the sparsely-inhabited Nullarbor Plain fronting the cliffs of the Great Australian Bight.

The principal industries and exports of South Australia are wheat, wine and wool. More than half of Australia's wines are produced here.

South Australia has boundaries with every other Australian state and territory except the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania. The Northern Territory was originally the Northern Territory of South Australia, becoming a separate territory in 1911. South Australia's south coast is flanked by the Southern Ocean. Its mean temperature range is 29°C in January and 15°C in July. Daily temperatures in parts of the state in January & February can be up to 48°C.

Highest maximum temperature: 50.7C (123.3F), Oodnadatta, 2 January 1960 (The highest official temperature recorded in the whole of Australia).

Lowest minimum temperature: -8.2C (17.2F), Yongala, 20 July 1976

Economy

Satellite image of eastern South Australia, note the dry lakes (white patches) in the north

The manufacturing industry plays a very important role in South Australia's economy, generating 15% of the state's Gross State Product and playing a large part in exports. The manufacturing industry consists of automotive and component manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and defence technology. South Australia's economy relies on exports more than any other state in Australia. Export earnings stand at AUD$10 billion worth per year and grew by 8.8% from 2002 to 2003.

South Australia's economic growth has lagged behind the rest of Australia for some time (2.1% from 2002 to 2003), but performance seems to be improving (4.3% from 2003 to 2004). South Australia's credit rating was recently upgraded to AAA+, having lost it in the State Bank collapse. South Australia's Gross State Product was AUD$48.9 billion starting 2004, making it AUD$32,996 per capita.

South Australia's economy is made of the following industries:
*Services - 66.7%
*Manufacturing - 14.2%
*Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing - 4.5%
*Mining - 2.2%
*Other - 10.7%

Government

South Australia is a constitutional monarchy with the Queen of Australia as the head of state. Its bicameral parliament consists of a House of Assembly (lower house) and a Legislative Council (upper house), with legislative elections held every four years. The current Premier of South Australia is Mike Rann, a member of the Australian Labor Party.

Initially, the Governor of South Australia (the first was Captain John Hindmarsh) held almost total power that he derived from the Letters Patent created by the Imperial Government to create the colony. He was only accountable to the British Colonial Office and thus democracy did not exist in the colony. A new body was created to advise the Governor on the administration of South Australia in 1843 called the Legislative Council. It consisted of three representatives of the British Government and four colonists appointed by the Governor. The Governor retained total executive power.

In 1851, the Imperial Parliament enacted the Australian Colonies Government Act which allowed for the election of representatives to each of the colonial legislatures and the drafting of a Constitution to properly create representative and responsible Government in South Australia and later that year, wealthy male colonists were allowed to vote for 16 members on a new 24 seat Legislative Council. Eight members continued to be appointed by the Governor.

The main responsibility of this body was to draft a Constitution for South Australia. The body drafted the most democratic constitution ever before seen in the British Empire and provided for manhood suffrage. It created the bicameral Parliament of South Australia and the two houses of parliament. For the first time in the colony, the executive was elected by the people and the colony used the Westminster system where the government is the party or coalition that exerts a majority in the House of Assembly. In 1894, South Australia was the first Australian colony to allow women to vote and it had the first Parliament in the world to allow women to be elected as members. Catherine Helen Spence was the first woman in Australia to be a candidate for political office when she nominated to be one of South Australia's delegates to the constitutional conventions that drafted the Constitution. South Australia became an original state of the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901.

Education

Education is compulsory for all children until the age of 16, however, the majority of students stay on to complete their South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE). School education is the responsibility of the South Australian government, but the public and private education systems are funded jointly by it and the Commonwealth Government. The South Australian Government provides 89 percent of the total Government funding while the Commonwealth contributes 11 percent. 58 percent of Commonwealth funding goes to non-government schools.

From January 1 2009, the school leaving age will be raised to 17.

There are three universities in South Australia: University of Adelaide, Flinders University and the University of South Australia. All are based in Adelaide, although the University of South Australia also has campuses in Whyalla and Mount Gambier. Carnegie Mellon University "Entertainment Technology Center" has a campus in Adelaide.

Tertiary vocational education is provided by TAFE South Australia colleges throughout the state.

Sport

Australian rules football is the most popular sport in South Australia. The state has the highest participation rate of people taking part in Australian Football, with over 2.2% of the population aged 18 years and over participating in the sport source AuSport 2000. South Australia fields 2 teams, the Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide Power in the Australian Football League national competition. The Adelaide Crows have a membership base of 50,000 , higher than any of the other 15 teams in the competition. Both teams regularly draw large crowds. The South Australian National Football League, which owns the dedicated Australian Football stadium AAMI Stadium, is a popular local league comprising nine teams.Cricket is also a popular sport in the state. South Australia's soccer team in the new A-League is Adelaide United. Basketball also has a big following in South Australia with the Adelaide 36ers playing out an 8,000 seat stadium in Findon and winning 4 championships in the last 20 years in the National Basketball League. South Australia also has a cricket team, the Southern Redbacks, who play at Adelaide Oval in North Adelaide during the summer; however they have not won a title since 1996. The Redbacks currently have four players who hold a contract with Cricket Australia.

Notable places

South Australian cities, towns, settlements and road network

{| valign=top style="font-size:95%;"|-