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South Australia

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: South Australia
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State (pop., 2006: 1,514,337), south-central Australia. It covers an area of 379,725 sq mi (983,482 sq km), and its capital is Adelaide. The Dutch visited the coast in 1627. British explorers arrived in the early 1800s, and it was colonized as a British province in 1836. Its vast interior, a large part of which is barren, includes Lake Eyre and the Flinders Ranges. A major world source of opals, it also produces most of the wine and brandy consumed in Australia. It has the country's largest shipyards. It became a state of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. Its southeastern part has become industrialized since World War II.

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Columbia Encyclopedia: South Australia
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South Australia, state (1991 pop. 1,236,623), 380,070 sq mi (984,381 sq km), S central Australia. It is bounded on the S by the Indian Ocean. Kangaroo Island and many smaller islands off the south coast are included in the state. Adelaide is the capital; other important cities are Port Pirie, Port Augusta, Whyalla, and Mt. Gambier. Two thirds of the state's population live in the Adelaide metropolitan area. Much of South Australia is inhospitable terrain-deserts, mountains, salt lakes, and swampland. The Musgrave Ranges are in the north, the Flinders Ranges in the east, and the Great Victoria Desert and the Nullarbor Plain in the west. The only important river is the Murray, in the extreme southeast. The heavily populated southeastern area has a mild and healthful climate, while the north is arid to semiarid. Agriculture, confined almost exclusively to the Murray River area, consists of the raising of barley and grapes (for wine and brandy) and of wheat, oats, and rye. Livestock are grazed in the northern plains. There are valuable mineral deposits in the state; iron ore, salt, and gypsum are mined, and coal and natural gas are exploited. Industry developed rapidly during and after World War II; the chief products are industrial metals and transportation equipment. South Australia's coastal areas were visited by the Dutch in 1627. The British explorer Matthew Flinders noted likely settlement sites in 1802. Prompted by the writings of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a British colonial statesman, the English Parliament passed the South Australian Colonization Act in 1834, and in Dec., 1836, the first colonists arrived and proclaimed South Australia a colony. In South Australia, unlike most of Australia, convicts were not admitted as settlers. In 1901, South Australia was federated as a state of the commonwealth. Northern Territory, which had been included in the state in 1863, was transferred in 1911 to the commonwealth government. The government of South Australia consists of a premier, a cabinet, and a bicameral state parliament. The nominal chief executive is the governor, appointed by the British crown on advice of the cabinet.

Wine Lover's Companion: South Australia
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Australia's most important wine state, South Australia is located in the south central part of the country. It's bounded on the south by the Southern Ocean; on the east by the states of Queensland, new south wales and victoria on the west by the state of western australia and on the north by the Northern Territories. Its capital city is Adelaide, which contains more than two thirds of the state's population. South Australia's wine industry started in the late 1830s, and by the beginning of the twentieth century, it was becoming the dominant wine-producing state. Today, it produces between 45 and 55 percent of the nation's wines. It has over 150,000 acres of vineyards and is continuing to plant more each year, although recently the growth rate has slowed slightly. One distinct advantage for South Australia's wine industry is the fact that phylloxera hasn't infested the vineyards here as it has in some other states. And South Australia has an ongoing quarantine system to ensure that the vineyards remain phylloxera free. About two-thirds of the state's production is red wine. Using the Australian geographic indications system, South Australia officially has eight major zones and fifteen regions (although more are being approved all the time). Some 145 miles northeast of Adelaide lies the Lower Murray Zone, which contains the riverland region. This hot, irrigated region produces about 50 percent of South Australia's wines. The other remote zone (farthest from Adelaide in the state's southeast corner) is the Limestone Coast Zone. It contains well-known regions like coonawarra and padthaway, as well as some other regions (some quite new) like bordertown, mount benson, mount gambier, robe ranges and wrattonbully. Some of Australia's best cabernet sauvignon wines come from Coonawarra. A number of other zones surround Adelaide. Just to the northeast is the Barossa Zone, which includes the barossa valley and eden valley regions. The Barossa Valley, along with the hunter valley in New South Wales, is Australia's most famous wine region. Just south and slightly west of the Barossa Zone is the Mount Lofty Ranges Zone, which includes the clare valley, adelaide hills and Adelaide Plains regions. Father south is the Fleurieu Zone, whichincludes the regions of currency creek mclaren vale, langhorne creek, and Southern Fleurieu (all of which are located on the Fleurieu Peninsula), as well as the kangaroo island region, which lies 10 miles off the coast. Two other zones, The Peninsulas and Far North, do not have much viticultural activity at this point. The adelaide zone name can be used on labels for wines that include grapes from the following wine regions in the Adelaide area: Adelaide Hills, Barossa Valley, Clare Valley, Eden Valley, Langhorne Creek, and McLaren Vale. In addition, South Australia grapes can make their way into wines under the gigantic region called south eastern australia that covers three states and parts of two others.

Wikipedia: South Australia
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For the song, see South Australia (song).

Coordinates: 30°0′S 135°0′E / 30°S 135°E / -30; 135

South Australia
Flag of South Australia
Flag
Slogan or Nickname: Festival State
Map of Australia with South Australia highlighted
Other Australian states and territories
Capital Adelaide
Demonym South Australian
Government Constitutional monarchy
Governor Kevin Scarce
Premier Mike Rann (ALP)
Area  
 - Total  1,043,514 km² (4th)
402,903 sq mi
 - Land 983,482 km²
379,725 sq mi
 - Water 60,032 km² (5.75%)
23,178 sq mi
Population (September 2008)
 - Population  1,598,000 (5th)
 - Density  1.61/km² (6th)
4.2 /sq mi
Elevation  
 - Highest Mt. Woodroffe
1,435 m (4,708 ft)
Gross State Product (2006-07)
 - Product ($m)  $65,676[1] (5th)
 - Product per capita  $41,820 (7th)
Time zone UTC+9:30 (+10:30 DST)
Federal representation
 - House seats 11
 - Senate seats 12
Abbreviations  
 - Postal SA
 - ISO 3166-2 AU-SA
Emblems  
 - Fauna Hairy-Nosed Wombat
Lasiorhinus latifrons)
 - Bird Piping Shrike
 - Floral Sturt's Desert Pea
(Swainsona Formosa)
 - Aquatic Leafy Seadragon
(Phycodurus eques)
 - Gem Opal
 - Colour Red, Blue, Gold
Web site www.sa.gov.au
Satellite image of eastern South Australia. Note the dry lakes (white patches) in the north

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.

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 and Victoria, and along the south by the Great Australian Bight and the Southern Ocean.[2] With nearly 1.6 million people, the state comprises less than 10% 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 were unique in Australia as a freely-settled, planned British province rather than a convict settlement. Official settlement began on 28 December 1836, when the state was proclaimed at The Old Gum Tree by Governor John Hindmarsh.

The first city/town to be established was Kingscote, Kangaroo Island, established in 1836. 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.

Contents

History

Main article: History of South Australia

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. 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 (309,851 sq mi) would be allotted to the colony and it would be convict-free. 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.

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

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 the Adelaide School of Arts.

South Australia granted restricted women's suffrage in 1861, and in 1894 became the second place in the world to grant universal suffrage (after New Zealand) where women had the dual rights to vote and to stand for election.[3]

Geography

Main article: Geography of South Australia

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 (497 mi) 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 1,435 metres (4,708 ft) in the Musgrave Ranges in the extreme northwest of the state.[4] 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 there with approximately 30% coming from the Clare Valley region. Recent research necessitated by South Australia's relative scarcity of fossil fuels and baseline renewable energy sources has led to the development of a prototype 'dirt-fired' electricity generator in the eastern Nullarbor. The generator burns low-efficiency/high-volume particulate matter such as sand and dirt to produce energy for South Australian residents.

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.


Climate

Its main temperature range is 29 °C (84 °F) in January and 15 °C (59 °F) in July. Daily temperatures in parts of the state in January and February can be up to 48 °C (118 °F).

The highest maximum temperature was recorded as 50.7 °C (123.3 °F) at Oodnadatta on 2 January 1960, which is the highest official temperature recorded in Australia. The lowest minimum temperature was −8 °C (17.6 °F) at Yongala on 20 July 1976.[5]

Economy

See also: Australian economy

The manufacturing industry plays a very important role in South Australia's economy, generating 15% of the state's Gross State Product (GSP) and playing a large part in exports. The manufacturing industry consists of automotive (44% of total Australian production, 2006) and component manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, defence technology (2.1% of GSP, 2002-2003) and electronic systems (3.0% of GSP in 2006). 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.

Production of South Australian food and drink (including agriculture, horticulture, aquaculture, fisheries and manufacturing) is a $10 billion industry.

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. South Australia's credit rating was 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. Exports for 2006 were valued at $9.0bn with imports at $6.2bn. Private Residential Building Approvals experienced 80% growth over the year of 2006.

South Australia's economy includes the following major industries: meat and meat preparations, wheat, wine, wool and sheepskins, machinery,metal and metal manufactures, fish and crustaceans, road vehicles and parts, and petroleum products. Other industries, such as education and defence technology, are of growing importance.

South Australia receives the least amount of federal funding for its local road network than any other state on a per capita or per kilometre basis.[6]

Olympic Dam

South Australia possesses the world's single largest known deposit of uranium, at the Olympic Dam mine. Olympic Dam contains 40% of the world's known uranium reserves. The Olympic Dam mine is also the world's fourth largest remaining copper deposit, and the world's fifth largest gold deposit.

Government

Main article: Government of South Australia
Parliament House, Adelaide

South Australia is a constitutional monarchy with the Queen of Australia as Sovereign, and the Governor of South Australia as her representative.[7] It is a state of the Commonwealth of Australia. 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 held almost total power, derived from the Letters Patent of 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.[8] 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. 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 seen in the British Empire and provided for manhood suffrage. It created the bicameral Parliament of South Australia. 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.

Demographics

See also: Demographics of Australia

Population

See also: List of cities in South Australia by population

A majority of the states population live within Adelaide's metropolitan area which had an estimated population of 1,158,259 in 2007 (70.3% of the state). Other significant population centres include Mount Gambier (approx. 23,494), Whyalla (21,122), Murray Bridge (18,364), Port Augusta (13,257), Port Pirie (13,206), Port Lincoln (13,044), and Victor Harbor (10,380).[9]

Education

University of Adelaide from North Terrace.
See also: List of schools in South Australia

Education is compulsory for all children until age 17, 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, to schools on a per student basis, 89 percent of the total Government funding while the Commonwealth contributes 11 percent. Since the early 1970s it has been an ongoing controversy[10] that 68 percent of Commonwealth funding (increasing to 75% by 2008) goes to private schools that are attended by 32% of the states students.[11]

On 1 January 2009, the school leaving age was raised from 16 to 17.[12]

There are three public and two private universities in South Australia. The University of Adelaide (established 1874), The Flinders University of South Australia (est. 1966), and The University of South Australia (est. 1991) are the public universities. All three have their main campuses in the Adelaide metropolitan area (UofA and UniSA on North Terrace in the city, Flinders at Bedford Park), but also have other campuses distributed around the metropolitan area, around the state, and the University of Adelaide also has a campus in Singapore.

Metropolitan campuses include: The Waite at Urrbrae, Research Park at Thebarton, The National Wine Centre in the Adelaide Park Lands, Magill, Mawson Lakes and Parafield.

Rural and regional campuses include: The Flinders University Rural Clinical Schools at Mount Gambier, Goolwa and Renmark, The Lincoln Marine Science Centre at Port Lincoln, Roseworthy College near Roseworthy, and UniSA campuses in Mount Gambier and Whyalla.[13][14][15]

Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz School and "Entertainment Technology Center", and Cranfield University, also have campuses in Adelaide.[16]

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

Sport

Main article: Sport in South Australia

Australian rules football

Australian rules football is the most popular spectator sport in South Australia, with South Australians having the highest attendance rate in Australia.[17] The state also has the highest participation rate of people taking part in Australian rules football, with over 2.2% of the population aged 18 years and over participating in the sport.[18]

South Australia fields two teams in the Australian Football League national competition: the Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide Power. In 2006, The Adelaide Crows had a membership base of 50,000,[19] higher than any of the other 15 teams in the competition.

The South Australian National Football League, which owns the dedicated Australian Football stadium AAMI Stadium, is a popular local league comprising nine teams.

The South Australian Amateur Football League comprises sixty-eight member clubs playing over one hundred and ten matches per week across ten Senior divisions and three Junior Divisions. The SAAFL is one of Australia's largest and strongest Australian rules football associations.[20]

Cricket

Cricket is a popular sport in South Australia and attracts big crowds. South Australia has a cricket team, the Southern Redbacks, who play at Adelaide Oval in the Adelaide Park Lands during the summer; however they have not won a title since 1996. The Redbacks currently have three players who hold a contract with Cricket Australia. Many international matches have been played at the Adelaide Oval. It was one of the host cities of 1992 Cricket World Cup.

Other sports

South Australia's Association Football team in the new A-League is Adelaide United. Basketball also has a big following in South Australia with the Adelaide 36ers playing out of an 8,070 seat stadium in Findon and winning four championships in the last 20 years in the National Basketball League (Australia), and set to continue in both the interim and revamped National League.

Fifty-nine percent of children take part in organised sports. For boys, soccer has the highest participation rate (22%) followed by swimming (16%). For girls netball is most popular (18%) followed by swimming (16%).[21]

Notable places

South Australian cities, towns, settlements and road network

Regions:

Rivers:

Lakes:

Islands:

Main highways:

See also

Portal.svg Portal
South Australia

Food and drink:

Lists:

References

  1. ^ Australian National Accounts: State Accounts, 2006-07
  2. ^ Most Australians describe the body of water south of the continent as the Southern Ocean, rather than the Indian Ocean as officially defined by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO). In the year 2000, a vote of IHO member nations defined the term "Southern Ocean" as applying only to the waters between Antarctica and 60 degrees south latitude.
  3. ^ Women and Politics in South Australia The State Library of South Australia
  4. ^ "Highest Mountains". Geoscience Australia. http://www.ga.gov.au/education/facts/landforms/highmtns.htm#state. Retrieved 28 May 2006. 
  5. ^ "World temperature extremes". 17 October 2005. http://members.iinet.net.au/~jacob/worldtp.html. Retrieved 28 May 2006. 
  6. ^ "Inquiry into Local Government and Cost Shifting". Australian House of Representatives. 2003. http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/efpa/localgovt/submissions/sub308.pdf. Retrieved 11 June 2007. 
  7. ^ "R v Governor of South Australia (1907) HCA 31; (1907) 4 CLR 1497 (8 August 1907)". Australasian Legal Information Institute. 2008. http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/1907/31.html. Retrieved 19 July 2008. 
  8. ^ "Legislative Council 1843-1856". Parliament of South Australia. 2005. http://www.parliament.sa.gov.au/about/1_1_1_legcouncil.shtm. Retrieved 28 May 2006. 
  9. ^ "Estimated Resident Population, SA". ABS. 31 March 2008. http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/3218.02006-07?OpenDocument. Retrieved 16 September 2008. 
  10. ^ The Redefinition of Public Education
  11. ^ Ministerial Council National Report on Schooling in Australia
  12. ^ Owen, Michael (22 May 2006). "School leaving age to be raised". The Advertiser (News Corp). http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19215505-1246,00.html. Retrieved 28 May 2006. 
  13. ^ "Regional and interstate locations". Flinders University. 5 June 2009. http://www.flinders.edu.au/campus/location/regional-interstate-locations.cfm. Retrieved 5 June 2009. 
  14. ^ "Campuses and maps". University of Adelaide. 5 June 2009. http://www.adelaide.edu.au/campuses/. Retrieved 5 June 2009. 
  15. ^ "Campuses and maps". University of South Australia. 17 April 2009. http://www.unisa.edu.au/about/campuses/default.asp. Retrieved 17 April 2009. 
  16. ^ "Welcome to ETC: Australia". Carnegie Mellon University. http://www.etc.cmu.edu/australia/. Retrieved 28 May 2006. 
  17. ^ 4174.0 Sports Attendance, Australia, 2005-06, 25 Jan 2007, Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved on 5 July 2009.
  18. ^ source AuSport 2000[not specific enough to verify]
  19. ^ Adelaide Crows (23 May 2006). "50,000 milestone coming closer". Press release. http://afc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=267980. Retrieved 28 May 2006. 
  20. ^ South Australian Amateur Football League. Retrieved on 5 July 2009.
  21. ^ Children's Participation in Cultural and Leisure Activities, Australian Bureau of Statistics.

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Translations: South Australia
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中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
南澳大利亚

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n. - 南澳大利亞

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more
Wine Lover's Companion. Wine Lover's Companion. Copyright © 2003 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "South Australia".  Read more
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