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State of South Australia
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Flag of South Australiasvg
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South_Australia_coat_of_armsjpg
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South Australia locator-MJCpng
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"United for the Common Wealth"
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Festival State
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Hairy Nosed Wombat (faunal) Sturt's Desert Pea (floral) Opal (gemstone) Leafy Seadragon (marine)
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Adelaide
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Premier
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Mike Rann
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ALP
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Marjorie Jackson-Nelson
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Governor
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SA
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4<sup>th</sup>
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1,043,514
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983,482
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60,032
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575
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5<sup>th</sup>
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1,540,200
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End of March 2005
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6<sup>th</sup>
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157
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State
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$59,819
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2004-05
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5<sup>th</sup>
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$38,838
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7<sup>th</sup>
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)
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Mt Woodroffe +1,435 m
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Lake Eyre -16 m
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11
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12
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AU-SA
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is a
State of
Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent and with a total land area of
984 377 Km&2 (380 070
Sq Mi ), it is the fourth largest of Australia's states and territories. It is bordered to the west by
Western Australia , to the north by the
Northern Territory and
Queensland , to the east by Queensland,
New South Wales and
Victoria , and along the south by the
Great Australian Bight and the
Southern Ocean . With 1.5 million people, the state comprises less than 10 per cent of the Australian population and ranks fifth in population among the states and territories. The majority of its people reside in the capital city
Adelaide , with most of the remainder settled in fertile areas along the south-eastern coast and
River Murray .
The state's origins were unique in Australia as a freely-settled, planned
British province. Official settlement began on
28 December 1836 when the state was proclaimed at
The Old Gum Tree by
Governor Hindmarsh . The guiding principle behind settlement was that of ''systematic colonisation'', a theory espoused by
Edward Gibbon Wakefield that was later employed by
New Zealand . 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 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.
See Also: History of 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 Colonisation Act 1834 which enabled a province of South Australia to be established. The Act stated that 802,511 square kilometres would be allotted to the colony and to be convict-free. The plan for the colony to be the ideal embodiment of the best qualities of British society, that is, no religious discrmination 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 .
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 western portion of the state consists of the sparsely-inhabited
Nullarbor Plain . The principal industries and export 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.
50.7C (123.3F),
Oodnadatta ,
2 January 1960 (The highest official temperature recorded in the whole of Australia).
-8.2C (17.2F),
Yongala ,
20 July 1976 {Link without Title}
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 export more than any other state in Australia, which stands at AUD$10 billion worth per year, which grew by 8.8% from 2002 to 2003.
South Australia's economic growth has lagged behind the rest of Australia for some time (grew by 2.1% from 2002 to 2003), but performance seems to be improving (grew by 4.3% in 2003/2004). 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%
See Also: Government of South Australia
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). 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 was created 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 the 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 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). It is the responsibility of the South Australian government, but Adelaide's 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, the theory being that the price of private education will be reduced and accessible to a larger portion of the population, in practice this often hasn't been the case. The issue was raised in the 2004 Federal election but has died down in the meantime.
Australian Rules Football is a major 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. 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.
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 have a sucessful cricket team, the Redbacks who play at Adelaide Oval in North Adelaide during the summer. They have several players contracted by Australia, Jason Gillespie, Dan Cullen and Shaun Tait.
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- Dorothy Jauncey, Bardi Grubs and Frog Cakes — South Australian Words, Oxford University Press (2004) ISBN 0195517709
