What is a brief history of South Australia?

Answer 1

Regarding early discovery of South Australia, various early Dutch explorers ventured into South Australia's western coastline during the 1600s. South Australia could be said to have been discovered in 1627, when Thijssen recorded the first observations of the South Australian coast.

The main explorer credited with charting the South Australian coastline and naming numerous points was Matthew Flinders, in 1802. At the same time, French explorer Nicolas Baudin was charting the coastline of what is now South Australia. Little was made of Flinders' discoveries for over two decades. South Australia really became a viable contender as a site for a new colony after explorer Charles Sturt discovered that the inland rivers of New South Wales empties into the Murray River, which then flowed to the ocean at Discovery Bay in South Australia. This meant that the Murray would be a major navigable waterway to transport both goods and passengers from the southern colony right through to settled areas of western NSW.

In 1834, British Parliament passed the South Australian Colonisation Act. Adelaide, the first settlement and now the capital of South Australia, was founded by Colonel William Light in 1836. Light was the first Surveyor-General of South Australia. He arrived in South Australia in 1836 to decide on a suitable site for a new settlement, which would be the first in that region of Australia. The first settlers, all of whom were free settlers, arrived in 1836, accompanied by Governor John Hindmarsh. South Australia is the only state in Australia not to have either been founded by convicts or to have had convicts.

South Australia was officially proclaimed on 19 February 1836 in England. The Old Gum Tree at Glenelg North, South Australia, was the location of the reading of the Proclamation by Governor Hindmarsh on 28 December 1836.